What happened
On February 27, 2016, an incident occurred at EPLB airport involving inconsistent visibility measurements. During operations, Runway Visual Range (RVR) measurements obtained via dedicated equipment showed significant discrepancies within the same monitoring system. Due to the lack of reliability in these automated readings, the meteorological observer was forced to perform a manual visual assessment of the visibility.
The investigation
The PKBWL examined the technical infrastructure responsible for transmitting visibility data. The investigation established that the conflicting RVR values were the result of a technical configuration error in the data transmission process. Specifically, the system was utilizing two different server addresses that were transmitting RVR information to operational stations without being synchronized.
Findings
- The primary cause of the inconsistent visibility readings was the use of two different server addresses that were not synchronized.
- This lack of synchronization resulted in the presentation of differing RVR values across the airport's operational workstations.