KPRC GC ALLEGES FREQ LIMITATIONS DUE TO ARPT TERRAIN; PHYSICAL LOCATION OF EFFECTED ACFT ON ARPT AND PRIMARY RECEIVER LOCATION.

2004-01 · NASA ASRS report 606155

Date: 2004-01

Anomalies: other-primary-receiver-limitations

Synopsis

KPRC GC ALLEGES FREQ LIMITATIONS DUE TO ARPT TERRAIN; PHYSICAL LOCATION OF EFFECTED ACFT ON ARPT AND PRIMARY RECEIVER LOCATION.

Narrative

ARPT VEHICLE COMPLETED RWY INSPECTION OF RWY 21L AND EXITED THE RWY AT TXWY DELTA 6. I WAS UNABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE ARPT VEHICLE ON PRIMARY XMITTER/RECEIVER. I SWITCHED TO STANDBY AND HE WAS LOUD AND CLEAR. WE HAVE CARRIED OVER THIS PROBLEM ON OUR FACILITY 7230-4 LOG FOR THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS. THIS ONGOING PROBLEM WITH THE LOCATION OF PRIMARY XMITTER/RECEIVER HAS BEEN REPORTED BY RIAT; RSAT AND EVALUATORS. WE WERE APPROVED AND FUNDED FOR A RAG SITE TO RELOCATE THESE RADIOS; AND THEN FUNDING WAS PULLED BECAUSE HEAD QUARTERS SHOWED THE PROBLEM WAS FOR RWY 12 (NON-PRIMARY RWY); INSTEAD OF RWY 21L (PRIMARY RWY). CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATES THAT THE TWRS PRIMARY LCL AND GND CTLR XMITTERS/RECEIVERS ARE LOCATED ON THE TOP OF THE FSS BUILDING - A SINGLE STORY STRUCTURE - ADJOINING THE CTL TOWER. THE SECONDARY XMITTER/RECEIVER ANTENNAS ARE LOCATED ON THE ROOF OF THE CTL TWR. A HILL; APPROX 20 FT IN HEIGHT; IS LOCATED ALONG THE SOUTH SIDE OF TXWY D; BETWEEN APPROX TXWY D3 TO TXWY D5. THIS IS APPARENTLY THE PHYSICAL OBSTRUCTION THAT BLOCKS PRIMARY TWR RADIO RECEPTION FOR ACFT THAT ARE IN THE RUN-UP AREA FOR RWY 21L; IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF TXWY D6. THE CTLR STATES THAT IT IS COMMON FOR OTHER ACFT TAXIING ON THE ARPT; OTHER THAN ON TXWY D; TO ADVISE THE TWR THAT AN ACFT AT THE APCH END OF RWY 21L IS CALLING THEM. THE LCL/GND CTLR WILL THEN CHANGE LCL/GND FREQ TO STANDBY AND SUBSEQUENTLY RECEIVE ACFT XMISSIONS 'LOUD AND CLEAR'. THE CTLR ALLEGES THE BREAKDOWN IN 'PAPER WORK' COM OCCURRED BETWEEN LCL MAINT; ATC; THE FAA WESTERN PACIFIC REGION AND FAA HEAD QUARTERS OVER THE APPROVED $200;000 FUNDING TO RELOCATE THE PRIMARY XMITTER/RECEIVER FROM THE FSS BUILDING TO ANOTHER SITE LOCATION ON THE ARPT. SOMEONE PERCEIVED THAT THE $200;000 WAS DIRECTED TO REPAIR ACTIVITY FOR RWY 12/30 AND TERMINATED THE $200;000. THIS HAPPENED IN THE FALL OF 2003; AND HAS NOT BEEN CORRECTED OR RESOLVED TO PRESENT. THE RPTR STATED THAT HE IS NOT AWARE OF THE PROPOSED ANTENNA SITE; BUT IT COULD NOT BE ATOP THE TWR DUE TO EXISTING ANTENNA AND OTHER PHYSICAL EQUIP CLUTTER. THE CTLR ADVISED THAT OTHER FAA INSPECTION OFFICES HAVE BEEN ALERTED TO THE PROB. THE CTLR WAS NOT AWARE OF ANY RECENT GND CONFLICT OR RWY INCURSION THAT WAS; OR COULD BE ATTRIBUTED TO THIS RADIO COVERAGE LIMITATION.

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

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

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.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

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.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

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.

Where does the route data come from?

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.