Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC
AN INVESTIGATION by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has concluded that the country's en route air-traffic-control (ATC) system is safe, but that equipment breakdowns have had a detrimental effect on air- traffic-movement efficiency.
The NTSB probe is one of three launched to investigate computer and equipment failures at five US Federal Aviation Administration en route ATC centres. The US aviation agency conducted an internal review, and experts from industry and other government agencies also investigated.
The problems are blamed on faulty power systems and sporadic breakdown of aging IBM 9020E computers. New power-conditioning systems are being installed at 15 FAA centres, with the work to be completed by February 1998.
The FAA's Display Channel Complex Rehost project is replacing the IBM computers with off-the-shelf hardware, until the Display System Replacement computer workstation is fully developed and fielded. Meanwhile, over 400 technicians are being hired to alleviate problems caused by breakdowns.
The NTSB says that the public should not be alarmed, because back-up systems are in place which take over in the event of any systems failure. "Nonetheless, any degradation of radar and communications capability increases the complexity of the tasks facing controllers and flight crews, and reduces the normal margin of safety afforded by the primary system," says the NTSB.
Source: Flight International
