Problems in Air Traffic Control and Proposed Solutions
In northern California this summer, the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) unintentionally performed it's first operational test of "free flight";
aviation without direct air traffic control. This was an unintentional
experiment because it was a result of a total shut-down of the Oakland Air Route
Traffic Control Center (ARTCC).
Although Oakland is only the 16th busiest ARTCC, it's responsible for
the largest block of airspace of any ATC facility; 18 million square miles.
Oakland directs all upper-level flight from San Luis Obispo, California to the
California/Oregon boarder, including most Pacific oceanic routes. The failure
happened at 7:13 a.m. local time during the morning "departure push".
Controllers estimated there were 60-80 aircraft under their control when the
power died. All radar screens went dark and all radios went silent. It took 45
minutes to restore radios and bring up a backup radar system. It was more than
an hour before the main radar presentations came on line.
One controller described the sudden quiet in the control suite as "the
loudest silence I've ever heard" (UPI , 1995). He went on to say there was
"panic on everybody's face" as they realized they had been rendered deaf, dumb,
and blind by this catastrophic equipment failure. It took a few minutes for
controllers to realize the shut-down had affected the entire facility. There was
no book procedure to cover this emergency scenario, so most controllers
improvised.
Controllers in adjourning Los Angeles, Salt Lake, and Seattle ARTCCs and
various Terminal Radar Approach Controls (TRACON; the level of radar coverage
below upper-level ARTCC radar) were asked to take control over all airspace
within their radar coverage, and divert aircraft under their control inbound to
Northern California. Control towers in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose,
Sacramento, and other airports in the area were instructed to hold all IFR
departures on the ground. The most difficult problem was getting notification to
the airborne flight crews. In one case, controller Mike Seko said, "We had Napa
tower telling high altitude aircraft Oakland Center had lost everything, and to
switch to emergency frequencies" (Seko, UPI, 1995). But most airborne aircraft
on Oakland Center frequencies were in a state of "l...
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...ly privatize it, another to
rework it from within, and a few other variations of those. Legislators have
their own reasons to support certain bills; is our safety one of them?
The Federal Times editorial sums up an everyday controllers concern.
He's the one working with that aged computer equipment, he's the one working the
unnecessarily long shifts, he's the one scared every day his screen will go dark
during the morning rush hour. I would be inclined to listen very closely to his
concerns and follow his recommendations towards a solution.
The FAA's Quality statement declares the agency as an organization
dedicated to "eliminating barriers, improving communication, providing
additional opportunities for training, and constantly encouraging all personnel
to seek ways to improve". The FAA is proud of its Quality activities because
they "foster such initiatives as continuous improvement of work processes,
empowerment of employees, partnering of labor and management, and re-
engineering". (World Wide Web FAA Home-page, 1995) These are very lofty goals
that always require improvement. But will disaster strike before their processes
gets us a new ATC system?
what it looked like after the tornado struck up the street). More than 25 auto
All power all lights were lost forward. The fact that the [torpedo] hits were there, at least we think they were up forward, are borne out by the fact we have almost no Marines who were reported in that section of the ship. We have not a single steward's mate and their compartment was up there and we have very few officers that were in their rooms at the time of the explosion. So we believe all of those people were killed almost instantly.
On its voyage the Fitzgerald skippered by Captain McSorley, was closely followed by Captain Cooper of the S.S. Arthur M. Anderson which was another cargo carrying ship. Captain McSorley radioed Captain Cooper saying “Anderson, this is the Fitzgerald. I have sustained some topside damage. I have a fence rail laid down, two vents lost or damaged, and a list. I'm checking down. Will you stay by me till I get to Whitefish?" (McCall). The storm had begun to do damage to the Fitzgerald and things were starting to go south hastily. For being the most technologically advanced ship of its day the Fitzgerald managed to lose both of its two radar systems, making it difficult to traverse the waters. Radar allowed the ship to find shallow spots in the water and any other obstacles they may have needed to try to
Los Angeles was a very different world in the tumultuous era of the 1930’s and 1940’s. There were many things that made the headlines, not all of them outstanding events to be remembered for their daring or heartwarming abilities. In 1930, LAX was opened in Mines Field, so named for the real estate agent that secured the deal for the 640 acres in southern Westchester to be converted into landing strips instead of fields of wheat, barley and lima beans, as the field was prior. The city bought it as a municipal airfield in 1937, and the airport continued as Mines Field until 1941 when it changed to Los Angeles Airport, then to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in 1949. Although LAX is currently a world renowned airport, it wasn’t always the center of attention. Prior to its inception, the primary airports for Los Angeles were Burbank and Grand Central Airport in Glendale. It wasn’t until 1946 that they started serving LAX, because it was just too far out of the way. At that time, it was located east of Sepulveda Boulevard, which ended up being rerouted to the west to loop around the new runways that were created in 1950. Nowadays, LAX is considered one of the busiest airports in the world, with nearly 60 million passengers using the airport each year. They also have a dual function as a civil-military base, providing the U. S. Coast Guard an area to launch, operate and repair their HH-65 Dolphin helicopters. (Delta Mike Airfield, 2008). Although the birth of LAX is a notable part of history in L.A., it was only the beginning of many not-so-good firsts for the city.
silence, But in the first few days it was so still We listened to our breathing and were afraid. On the second day The radios failed; we turned the knobs; no
Chicago. On one occasion while flying this route his engine failed and he did a
"Radar during World War II." - GHN: IEEE Global History Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. .
...ory two took fourteen days and had sixteen experts five for the families and eleven for the government.
The timesaving realized from start to finish of that inspection is 30-50% depending on the inspector and the aircraft.
crash. Later, air routes were established and civil aeronautics board came up with rules that
It created a gouge several hundred feet long and was scattered over a large area. Some of the debris had strange physical properties. He took some debris to show his neighbors then his son. Soon after that he notified the sheriff. The sheriff then contacted the authorities at Roswell Army Air Field Base. The are was closed off and the debris was eventually flown by B-29 and C-54 aircraft to Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio.
wreckage was finally uncovered. Five Grumman TBM Avenger bombers took off from the Naval Air
The time during a SAR incident when SAR teams and companies return to their normal places and get ready for another incident.
Your first decision when running your airline was to choose the sector it operated in — discount, normal or luxury. Therefore, you had to segment the market. How did you do this? As the simulation progressed, did you change your market segmentation? Why? In your judgement, did you segment the market successfully? Why? If not, why not?
During these two hours radios on land were trying to get a hold of the squadron but had no luck until they heard an unclear radio transmission at 6:20 p.m. from the leader of the squadron, who was telling his men to jump off the aircraft (Edwards 1 of 15).... ... middle of paper ... ... Without a doubt, there are many incidents which have taken place around the Bermuda Triangle that nobody in the world has answers to.