SOME ACR ACFT AT DTW ARE BEING INSTRUCTED BY COMPANY RAMP CTL TO TAXI WITH THEIR XPONDERS ON.

Date: 2002-03

Anomalies: other-atc-new-software-causing-arts-anomaly

Synopsis

SOME ACR ACFT AT DTW ARE BEING INSTRUCTED BY COMPANY RAMP CTL TO TAXI WITH THEIR XPONDERS ON.

Narrative

LOSS OF ARTS DATA AT ATC APCH CTL FACILITY. UPON COMPLETION OF THE NEW TERMINAL AT DTW; TAXI RTES HAVE CHANGED ALLOWING ACFT TO TAXI FOR DEP IN CLOSE PROX TO THE ASR-9 RADAR. ACR HAS CTL OF THE RAMP AREA; AND IS USING XPONDER CODES TO KEEP TRACK OF ACFT. THE PROB ARISES THAT THESE ACFT WILL BE PICKED UP BY THE ASR-9; A DEP MESSAGE IS GENERATED AND THE ARTS TAG WILL ACQUIRE. SINCE THE ACFT DOESN'T DEPART (IT IS TAXIING OVER 2 MI TO THE RWY); THE ARTS TAG GOES TO THE CTLR'S COAST LIST. IF IT ISN'T NOTICED; IT WILL DROP OUT OF COAST AND BE LOST. THUS; WHEN THE ACFT ACTUALLY DEPARTS; THE CTLR IS LEFT WITHOUT THE ARTS DATA. THIS INCREASES THE WORKLOAD TO UNACCEPTABLE LEVELS. ALSO; THIS IS A SAFETY ISSUE AS THE CTLR'S ATTN IS DIVERTED FROM SEPARATING TFC TO DEALING WITH THIS SIT. IF YOU ARE BUSY WITH TFC AND YOU HAVE 2 OF THESE BACK-TO-BACK; IT CAUSES ENOUGH DISTR THAT DEPS SHOULD BE STOPPED UNTIL YOU HAVE THE APPROPRIATE DATA. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 541905: ACFT TAXIING FOR DEP WHEN DTW IS ON RWYS 27R&L WILL SOMETIMES ARTS ACQUIRE ON THE GND. IF THIS IS NOT CAUGHT BY THE DEP CTLR; THE TAG WILL GO INTO THE COAST TAB THEN DROP OUT OF THE SYS. SO WHEN YOU GET BUSY YOU HAVE TO MANUALLY TAG NUMEROUS DEPS AND DO MANUAL HDOFS TO THE CTR. THIS IS BEING DONE WHILE PROVIDING RADAR SEPARATION TO ALL THE OTHER ACFT ON YOUR FREQ. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 541906: D21/DTW ARRIVING ON RWY 27L/R AND DEPARTING RWY 22R DUE TO HIGH WINDS. DEPARTING ACFT WERE TAXIING VIA TXWY Q AND TXWY A FOR RWY 22R. DURING THIS TIME; THE DEPARTING ACFT TAXIED WITH XPONDER 'ON.' DURING THIS GND TIME; ON TXWY Q TO TXWY A; THE ASR-9 (DTWA) RECEIVES THE XPONDER WHICH DEPARTS THE ACFT; THEN DATA BLOCK GOES INTO 'COAST' LIST SOMETIMES TIMING OUT OF SYS. THIS PREVENTS AUTO-ACQUIRE FOR DEP AND PREVENTS AUTO-HDOF TO ZOB. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR ACN 541796 REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: SOME LOSS OF DATA HAS OCCURRED DUE TO ACFT TAXIING NEAR THE ASR-9 SITE. HE SAID THAT ALTHOUGH THE ASR-9 SITE IS W OF THE NEW RWY 22R; THE CLOSE PROX TO TAXIING ACFT CAUSES DATA TO DROP FROM THE CTLR'S LIST RESULTING IN A DEP NOT TAGGING UP AFTER TKOF. HE SAID HE WAS NOT AWARE OF AND NOT FAMILIAR WITH ANY NEW EQUIP BEING USED BY THE AIRLINES. HE SAID THE FACILITY HAS NOT PROVIDED ANY BRIEFINGS ON THE NEW EQUIP AND HAS NOT SEEN ANYTHING POSTED IN THE READING BINDER ON THE SUBJECT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR ACN 541905 REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATED THE ARTS PROB STARTED APPROX IN MAR/2002. HE SAID IT WAS FIRST NOTICED WHEN THE ARPT WAS CONFIGURED TO LAND AND DEPART ON RWYS 27R&L. HE STATED THESE RWYS ARE RARELY USED EXCEPT WHEN REQUIRED BECAUSE OF STRONG WIND CONDITIONS. HE ALSO MENTIONED AT LEAST 2 UCR'S HAVE BEEN FILED BY CTLRS.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.