AIRWAYS FACILITIES TECHNICIANS AT ZOA PREMATURELY REMOVED RADAR SECTOR 42 FOR MAINT BEFORE MOVED THE TFC TO RADAR SECTOR 41.

Date: 2003-07

Anomalies: other-atc-coord-w-main-tenance

Synopsis

AIRWAYS FACILITIES TECHNICIANS AT ZOA PREMATURELY REMOVED RADAR SECTOR 42 FOR MAINT BEFORE MOVED THE TFC TO RADAR SECTOR 41.

Narrative

SECTOR 42 IS THE NORMAL 'MID' CONFIGURED SECTOR FOR THE AREA. AIRWAYS FACILITIES (AF) ADVISED THE SATCS THAT THE R42 DISPLAY WOULD BE NEEDED FOR MAINT. SATCS MAY NOT HAVE COMMUNICATED CLRLY WITH AF AS TO APPROVAL FOR THE REQUESTED ACTION. THE CTLR WORKING R42/D42 WAS ADVISED THAT OPS WOULD BE MOVING TO R/D41. A CTLR WAS ASKED BY THE SATCS TO OPEN SECTOR 41 AND SET UP TO RECEIVE SECTOR 42 TFC. THE SECTOR 41 CTLR HAD JUST SAT DOWN TO BEGIN RECONFIGURATION WHEN THE R42 DISPLAY SHOWED A RED 'X' AND ALL DATA 'FROZE.' THERE WERE 4 IFR AND 1 VFR ACFT IN THE SECTOR AT THE TIME. THE R41 CTLR SCRAMBLED TO BEGIN WORKING THE TFC WITHOUT A BRIEFING OR PROPERLY CONFIGURED LAND LINES. 15 MINS LATER; AT XA26 LCL; THE VSCS LAND LINES WERE PROPERLY CONFIGURED. SOME 15-20 MINS LATER; THE FREQS WERE PROPERLY PLACED. ASIDE FROM THE ERROR BY THE SATCS OR AF OR BOTH (THE CLOSING SECTOR 42 DURING LIVE TFC) THE SATCS HAD INSUFFICIENT TRAINING TO ACCOMPLISH THE RELATIVELY SIMPLE TASKS OF RECONFIGURING THE LAND LINES AND FREQS. THE CTLRS WORKED QUICKLY TO MAINTAIN SAFETY AND POSITIVE CTL OF INVOLVED ACFT.

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