Monday, July 17, 2006
An FAA technician said the current radar works, but it's old.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
VIENNA -- A Federal Aviation Administration technician working on the installation of the new ASR-11 radar system at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport says the system will be like going from a film camera to a digital, or a regular television to a high-definition set.
Frank Mecozzi says the new radar system will be operational by about February 2007 and will be a powerful new tool for monitoring the air space in the region.
The high-definition analogy is apt, he said, because the new system allows air traffic controllers to see much greater detail on their monitors. And the digital camera analogy is indicative of the many more things the new radar can do, Mecozzi said.
Construction was completed last week on the ASR-11 system, including the new 87-foot radar tower, electronic equipment shelter/building and fiber-optic cable buried underground. Over the next nine months, Mecozzi and workers from the government contractor Raytheon will complete the electronics installation and test the system.
Daryl Stinson, air traffic manager at the Vienna facility, agreed the fully-digital system will enable air traffic controllers to see aircraft much better. "It will be a real enhancement to the airport," he said.
Steve Bowser, the airport's director of aviation, said the local airport is one of about 100 locations around the country selected by the FAA to receive the new radar system at government cost. He said government officials haven't revealed the exact cost, but he has heard it is between $5 million and $10 million.
The installation began just before Thanksgiving last year. The current analog radar system will be removed once the new system is operational.
The FAA says the airport's current system, known as an ASR-8, was among about 100 systems installed around the country in the 1970s. It has a limited ability to discern aircraft from clutter, which is often caused by precipitation, buildings and road traffic, the FAA says.
The current system, built in 1977, requires experienced controllers to interpret the information on their displays and lacks detailed weather information, the FAA says. The ASR-11 systems started being installed in airports around the country in 2002.
Benefits
The local air-traffic controllers manage the air space 15 miles to the west, 60 miles to the east, 35 miles to the north and 20 miles to the south from the ground to 10,000 feet, Stinson said. "It will be much more reliable by being digital," Stinson said. "We should be able to see airport targets much better."
Bowser said the current radar updates in about five to six seconds, and the new one will be twice as fast. He said it is much more accurate and provides the controller with much more information, which improves safety and reliability. The FAA says the system increases the volume of air space that can be monitored to around 120 miles and 60,000 feet in altitude.
Weather information will be greatly improved, the FAA says, by providing six levels of precipitation intensity and enabling controllers to give better weather information to pilots.
Radar systems work by sending out radio signals, which echo off of transponders on airplanes and off of the skin of the airplane. The craft then sends a signal back telling the type of airplane and its altitude, the FAA says. The radar can also measure the distance of the aircraft from the radar antenna and the direction of the aircraft from the antenna.
The government has determined that maintaining the current radar system would be more expensive than installing the new one, the FAA says, because of the cost for replacement parts.
For several months, the local installation will be on hold, Bowser said, because there is a shortage of electrical engineers capable of installing the electronics that operate the system.
Mecozzi, who agrees that radar technology is complicated for average people, said comparing the ASR-11 to the present system is a little like comparing 40-something Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens to 20-something slugger Albert Pujols.
"It's working fine, but it's old," he said of the current radar.
runyan@vindy.com