2022-05 · NASA ASRS report 1903322
ORF TRACON/Tower Controllers reported radio interference on all frequencies near ORF airport resulting in communications issues with pilots. Reportedly; this has been an ongoing problem.
ORF has been experiencing radio interference on all frequencies approximately 15 NM southwest of the airport to approximately 5 NM southwest of the airport for well over a year. It seems to be worse during wet weather; but is not exclusive to the weather.Today I worked Arrival/Departure sectors combined with a feeder position and most aircraft in the affected area complained of the static and that they couldn't hear my entire control instructions. The airport was IFR all day; and turning planes to final took more than one try or parts of the clearance had to be rebroadcast. This presented very dangerous situations of aircraft not being able to hear their turn on to final instructions; inability to adjust speeds on final; inability to correct wrong read backs; as well as creating more work for me as I had to repeat instructions multiple times and not attend to other aircraft control instructions in a timely manner. I also had multiple over flights ask for a new frequency because of the static.I later worked in the Tower on Local and Ground positions; and aircraft were basically unreachable between 15 and 5 mile final at times. Sometimes causing the aircraft to switch back to the Arrival Controller with 400 [to] 600 feet ceilings most of the day.This problem has persisted so long that we have a memory aide next to the ATIS with the phraseology; 'Expect Interference on all frequencies within 10 NM southwest of ORF' and is included on the ATIS for weeks on end sometimes. We have been told that the techs have tried to find the source but haven't been able to for well over a year. Fix the radio interference before we put two planes together.
Throughout the day working Arrival on radar and Local Control; the frequencies around ORF below 3;000 [ft.] are so bad [that] pilots can barely hear my instructions; multiple times; when clearing an aircraft for the ILS; they can't hear the altitude or heading. I had to contact them on guard or tell the Tower to verify they are maintaining a safe altitude until established.There are multiple times where the plane doesn't make the turn and will head toward NTU's airspace. It's adding more stress to the job and the pilots are frustrated. It's creating conversation between the pilot and controllers and mutual frustration. This has been going on for over 10 months and multiple close calls have happened due to this. The answer always is it fixes itself; and we don't know what is causing it. At some point; a bigger investigation needs to happen. We are about to be very short staffed and our equipment is extremely dated. We are an Approach Control working surface to 23;000 [feet] but I feel we are overlooked because we just deal with our issues and don't complain.I recommend bringing an outside group to troubleshoot the issue. It always happens after rain and thunderstorms; and this time a year; happens multiple times a week. I've sent in multiple reports about this issue and other equipment and I know these things take time to be addressed; but at some point; it needs to jump other low level issues due to how unsafe this issue is. You can call me anytime if you need more info as well.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.