A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/826356
jurisdiction between ATC and the Ramp Coordinator, which should be avoided. SCT members present at the safety panel worked with NASA to amend the ConUse language to designate ATC as the 51% vote on any metering, but that ATC could designate another party with the role of introducing a metering program, as long a s ATC was informed in a timely manner. NASA will draft a proposed amendment to the ConUse that the SCT will review. TERMINAL AUTOMATION MOD ERNIZATION REPLACEMENT (TAMR) Aaron Rose (NCT) is the TAMR Articl e 114 Representative for NATCA. His re port to the membership is below: Hybrid Mode, WAM, IOC, software, and TWP1 : these five thin gs took up most of the month. MDM (Main Display Monitor) evaluations continue throughout the NAS and within the WJHTC (Willia m J. Hughes Technical Center). Both TPA and S46 hav e been testing hybrid mode, FSL (Full Service Level) with a digital feed and EFSL (Emergency Full Service Level) in analog. TSLE (Second Level Engin eering) would like to go nationwide with this configuration. It seems that the shifting, blanking, and verti cal lines reporte d go away with a digital feed. TAMR NATCA has advised the agency we support the initiative as long as in parallel, testing is done for a digital switch that wil l run both systems in digital. WAM (Wide Area Multi - Lat Radar) will be availab le at SCT at the end of the summer. With this new radar input it should fix the tracking issues in the LA basin that is caused by poorly placed ASR9 radars. SCT seems to be the only facility that is havi ng major issues with tracking. In the short term TSLE will once again deploy resources to SCT. They will be working with Mike Sanders (SCT) and Matt Morter (SCT) to improve the track ing portion of the adaptation. Mr. Rose attended the Baton Rouge, L a., transition from ARTS 2E to STARS ELITE on April 22nd. T he transition was smooth, the facility ready, and Greg Jahn (NATCA OSF) played an important role ensuring BTR adaptation was u p to par and issues corrected. Tech Center testing the week of May 8th saw the conclusion of a three - week software test, which in cluded a trackball test and evaluation. NATCA TAMR is taking seriously the reports from the field about poorly pe rforming trackballs. We have tested and made suggestions about trackball cursor speed that should be changed in software. TWP1 (Terminal Work Package 1), which includes improvements to software within the STARS baseline were tested by the Terminal CHI te am this reporting period. TWP1 will now become part of the TAMR teams' responsibil ity for testing and evaluation. It includes upgrades and new functionality like inter - facility pointouts. Utilizing the keyboard for more ERAM functionality vice using the FDIO and includes spacin g and sequencing functionality. Mr. Rose is working closely with Mickey Vitti (ART 114 ATPA Rep) on the turnover of duti es to the new ART 114 ATPA Rep Adam Rhodes (I90). ATPA wil l eventually be baseline STARS. NATCA TAMR is looking forward to working with Adam. Working Nashville's req uest for early MDM transition. Training of tech ops starts in early June with MDM transiti on scheduled later in the month. This is almost a year earlier than scheduled.