A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/838362
the data block will display a "wrong airport" indication and an audible alarm will sound. Adapting this function in terminal areas that have airports with similar layouts in close proximity can alert controllers to the situation sooner and allow them to intervene. Program Trouble R eport Working Group (PTRWG) The June 8 meeting held at the tech center was attended by NATCA SMEs from M98, SCT and D10. SMEs reviewed and ranked several STARS PTRs relating to: alerting controller to an aircraft landing at wrong airport, handoffs from ER AM back to approach, flight plan entry syntax, alerting controller to aircraft type change in data block, ATPA entries and restriction areas. MSAW/CA Board The Board is reviewing a submission from Chicago TRACON (C90) to reduce nuisance conflict alerts v ia adaptation along parallel runways. Recent changes to Conflict Alert parameters haven't produced desired results. STARS Hardware Mr. Ness travelled to Chicago TRACON to support a MDM monitor configuration modification. C90 has recently been experiencing some TCW display anomalies (white flashing and vertical lines) that are likely attributed to an inconsistent analog video feed. This feed may cause MDM internal algorithms to reset resulting in momentary display issues. Currently both FSL and EFSL provide an analog signal to the MDM passing thru an analog video switch. The modification allows the MDM to switch between the two separate input feeds – an input to FSL via digital DVI and an input to ESFL via existing analog. This hybrid mode is transparent to Air Traffic with very slight changes to the MDM presentation from the digital signal. Feedback from C90 so far has been positive. Operating Testing and Evaluation (OT&E) Monday, June 12 marks the beginning OT&E event for the R6 build at the tech center. T his test event is another step toward eventually fielding R6, which merges multiple STARS software baselines onto a single build. Several NATCA SMEs will attend the test event over a three - week period. Concurrently, other NATCA SMEs will test the R4a build that begins Monday June 19 and ends June 30. In addition to mitigating potential RDP failures, R4a contains an important fix to Predicted Track Line (PTL) behavior that allows select Legacy STARS sites to upgrade to the R4 build. Deployment Mr. Ness trav elled to Pittsburgh tower (PIT) and Portland TRACON (P80) during May to brief each site on the changes and new functionality contained in the R4 build that each site will soon transition to. Mr. Ness also attended the Duluth (DLH) STARS IOC event mid - May. It was very gratifying to see DLH successfully transition to STARS after all the work that has been done to rectify significant primary search radar issues over the last four years. DLH local NATCA deserves recognition for being very involved in every step toward that success. TAMR and Common Terminal Digitizer (CTD) Deployment Update Submitted by Scott Robillard (K90) NATCA met with the CTD PMO, AJV - 7, PASS and AJW on May 17, 2017 to draft what is being called the Initial Operating Capacity (IOC) to In S ervice Decision (ISD) agreement. Very good progress was made and a second meeting has been scheduled