COS CTLR EXPRESSED CONCERN REGARDING WX DISPLAY LIMITATION ON NEWLY OPERATIONAL ASR-11 EQUIP.

Date: 2007-06

Anomalies: other-asr-11-lox-display

Synopsis

COS CTLR EXPRESSED CONCERN REGARDING WX DISPLAY LIMITATION ON NEWLY OPERATIONAL ASR-11 EQUIP.

Narrative

COS ATCT IS AN ATC-8 FACILITY. WE HAVE A GREAT MIX OF ACR; GA; AND MIL STYLE TFC. WE RECEIVED AN UPDATED RADAR SYS (ASR-11) LATE LAST YR. UNFORTUNATELY OUR DISPLAYS AND SOFTWARE WERE NOT UPDATED TO ENABLE US TO EASILY DISPLAY ALL THE WX INFO WE NOW HAVE THE CAPABILITY OF DISPLAYING. WHEN TSTMS ARE IN THE AREA AND WE HAVE THE ASR-11 WX RADAR SHOWING THAT THERE IS ALL 6 LEVELS OF WX INFO AVAILABLE WE CAN ONLY DISPLAY 2 LEVELS OF WX INFO AT A TIME. SO BASICALLY WHAT THIS DOES IS MAKE THE CTLR HAVE TO TRY AND EXTRAPOLATE WHERE THE OTHER LEVELS OF WX ARE LOCATED AND TRY NOT TO TURN ACFT INTO THEM. IN OTHER WORDS; IT WILL DISPLAY THE 2 LEVELS OF WX DATA YOU SET UP TO DISPLAY; BUT THE REST OF THE DISPLAY IS BLANK AS IF THERE WAS NO OTHER WX IN THE AREA. THE ONLY WAY FOR THIS ISSUE TO BE RESOLVED IS FOR THE FAA TO UPDATE OUR RADAR DISPLAYS AND SOFTWARE TO BE ABLE TO FULLY UTILIZE THE INFO THAT THE ASR-11 IS CAPABLE OF PROVIDING. THIS WOULD INCLUDE NEWER DIGITAL DISPLAYS CAPABLE OF DISPLAYING MULTIPLE LEVELS OF WX INFO. SOFTWARE CAPABLE OF DECIPHERING THIS ENHANCED WX INFO. WITHOUT THESE UPDATES/ENHANCEMENTS THE ACFT CARRYING THE THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF FLYERS FLYING INTO AND OUT OF THE COLORADO SPRINGS AREA ARE AT RISK.

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