Problems in Air Traffic Control and Proposed Solutions Essay -- Aviati

Problems in Air Traffic Control and Proposed Solutions In blue California this summer, the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) unwittingly performed its first operational test of free flightaviation without direct air traffic control. This was an unintentionalexperiment because it was a result of a total shut-d make of the Oakland Air RouteTraffic Control Center (ARTCC).Although Oakland is only the 16th busiest ARTCC, its responsible forthe largest block of airspace of any ATC facility 18 million square miles.Oakland directs all upper- take flight from San Luis Obispo, California to theCalifornia/Oregon boarder, including most Pacific oceanic routes. The ill fortunehappened at 713 a.m. local time during the morning departure push.Controllers estimated there were 60-80 aircraft under their control when thepower died. All radar screens went dusky and all radios went silent. It took 45minutes to restore radios and bring up a backup radar system. It was more thanan hour before the main radar presentations came on line. One controller described the sudden quiet in the control suite as theloudest silence Ive ever heard (UPI , 1995). He went on to offer there waspanic on everybodys face as they realized they had been rendered deaf, dumb,and blind by this catastrophic equipment failure. It took a few minutes forcontrollers to realize the shut-down had affected the unblemished facility. There wasno book procedure to cover this emergency scenario, so most controllersimprovised. Controllers in adjourning Los Angeles, Salt Lake, and Seattle ARTCCs andvarious Terminal Radar Approach Controls (TRACON the level of radar coveragebelow upper-level ARTCC radar) were asked to take control over all airspacewithin their radar coverage, and divert aircraft under their control incoming toNorthern California. Control towers in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose,Sacramento, and other airports in the area were instructed to hold all IFRdepartures on the ground. The mo st difficult problem was getting notification tothe mobile flight crews. In one case, controller Mike Seko said, We had Napatower telling high altitude aircraft Oakland Center had lost everything, and toswitch to emergency frequencies (Seko, UPI, 1995). simply most airborne aircrafton Oakland Center frequencies were in a state of l... ...ly privatize it, another torework it from within, and a few other variations of those. Legislators havetheir own reasons to support certain bills is our safety one of them? The Federal Times editorial sums up an everyday controllers concern.Hes the one works with that aged computer equipment, hes the one working theunnecessarily long shifts, hes the one scared every day his screen will go darkduring the morning rush hour. I would be be to listen very closely to hisconcerns and follow his recommendations towards a solution. The FAAs Quality statement declares the agency as an organizationdedicated to eliminating barriers, improving commun ication, providingadditional opportunities for training, and constantly encourage all personnelto seek ways to improve. The FAA is proud of its Quality activities becausethey foster such initiatives as continuous improvement of work processes,empowerment of employees, partnering of weary and management, and re-engineering. (World Wide Web FAA Home-page, 1995) These are very lofty goalsthat always require improvement. But will disaster strike before their processesgets us a new ATC system?