NATCA Bookshelf

National Office Week in Review: January 24, 2018

A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association

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TAMR Deployment And Common Terminal Digitizer (Ctd) Update Submitted by Jim VanZee (GRR) January is a rather slow month for TAMR activities as things spool back up from the end of the holiday season and getting groups (TSLE, ES, OSF, etc.) back on site at facilities with ongoing work. We are working with the Program Office and ES on the logistics related to complexities involved with the 804 sites (A90, AZO, CLE, and BUF). January significant TAMR activities: • Equipment deliveries • Monroe (MLU) Jan. 9 • Elmira (ELM) Jan. 22 Site Surveys (Tech Refresh) • Rochester, Minn. (ROC) Jan. 10 • Tucson (U90) Jan. 17 Work continues toward deployment of the CTD (Common Terminal Digitizer). A user evaluation is scheduled for the of week 01/22 in Rockford, Ill. This hopefully will allow us to lower all but one PTR to an acceptable priority level that allows for an In-Service Decision for the key sites. The last remaining PTR relates to false weather (AP). The resolution path for this issue is a new software build from the vendor, with an interim mitigation that defines a path for Air Traffic at the facility level to identify, and subsequently not issue, false weather that is displayed on the STARS presentation. TAMR Software/Hardware Report Submitted by Kyle Ness (M98) System Technical Reports Working Group (STRWG) Stakeholders are reviewing a software change that will force indications in the System Status area when important safety functions have been disabled system-wide – Conflict Alert, MSAW, etc. Stakeholders are also working their way on two new Conflict Alert algorithms with the MSAW/CA board. MSAW/CA Board Frequently terminal facilities ask why CARTS/STARS doesn't provide the controller an MSAW alert when aircraft violates 1,000 foot vertical and 3/5 nm lateral obstruction clearances noted by the 7110.65. The answer is that MSAW monitoring employs altitude data considerably different than the Minimum Vectoring Altitude (MVA) or Minimum IFR Altitude (MIA) to generate alerts. To help all facilities and controllers better understand how MSAW works, Mr. Ness reached out the NATCA Partnership for Safety representative, Chrissy Padgett, in hopes of delivering some MSAW related inform ation via PFS presentations. Padgett and Mr. Ness are currently developing briefing material. Operating Testing and Evaluation (OT&E) February and March are going to be busy months for NATCA SMEs. Two software builds will be tested in addition to Tower Display Monitor (TDM) evaluation. Other Activities S6R4c testing has been rescheduled for March 5-9. S6R7 testing Feb. 12 – March 9.

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