Phantom Radar blips at Boston Logan
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Phantom Radar blips at Boston Logan
As if Logan is a big enough problem!
New antenna installed at Logan, normal radar in operation
By GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer
BOSTON (AP) - Operations were back to normal at Logan International Airport on Wednesday, following two days of serious delays caused by a faulty radar antenna.
The malfunctioning antenna was replaced overnight with one borrowed from the airport in Bangor, Maine, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Murray said.
Air traffic controllers began seeing phantom blips on their radar screens over the weekend that they knew were not incoming planes.
An FAA troubleshooting team from New Jersey arrived Tuesday and identified the radar antenna as the source of the problem. The replacement antenna was brought down from Maine and brought online early Wednesday morning.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation ruled out sabotage as a possible cause of the problem, an airport spokesman said.
"We're all happy that it has nothing to do with sabotage or terrorism or anything like that," said Phil Orlandella of the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan.
Logan officials reported minor delays on Wednesday, and those were caused by heavy rains to the southwest and not by faulty radar.
However, arriving flights were between two and four hours late on Monday and Tuesday, at the peak of the problem, as airport officials switched to a long-range backup radar system in New Hampshire that required a greater distance between incoming planes.
"They worked through the night to install the antenna," Murray said Wednesday. Logan began using it at 6:45 a.m.
Before switching to the new antenna, Murray said, technicians ran a series of tests and found no problems.
She said Bangor, which sees less air traffic than Logan, will use backup long-range radar until a new antenna is installed there.
Murray said the radar problem at Logan is not common, but it has occurred at other airports in the past. She said relying on the long-range system requires increasing the distance between planes from three miles to five miles, resulting in the delays.
New antenna installed at Logan, normal radar in operation
By GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer
BOSTON (AP) - Operations were back to normal at Logan International Airport on Wednesday, following two days of serious delays caused by a faulty radar antenna.
The malfunctioning antenna was replaced overnight with one borrowed from the airport in Bangor, Maine, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Murray said.
Air traffic controllers began seeing phantom blips on their radar screens over the weekend that they knew were not incoming planes.
An FAA troubleshooting team from New Jersey arrived Tuesday and identified the radar antenna as the source of the problem. The replacement antenna was brought down from Maine and brought online early Wednesday morning.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation ruled out sabotage as a possible cause of the problem, an airport spokesman said.
"We're all happy that it has nothing to do with sabotage or terrorism or anything like that," said Phil Orlandella of the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan.
Logan officials reported minor delays on Wednesday, and those were caused by heavy rains to the southwest and not by faulty radar.
However, arriving flights were between two and four hours late on Monday and Tuesday, at the peak of the problem, as airport officials switched to a long-range backup radar system in New Hampshire that required a greater distance between incoming planes.
"They worked through the night to install the antenna," Murray said Wednesday. Logan began using it at 6:45 a.m.
Before switching to the new antenna, Murray said, technicians ran a series of tests and found no problems.
She said Bangor, which sees less air traffic than Logan, will use backup long-range radar until a new antenna is installed there.
Murray said the radar problem at Logan is not common, but it has occurred at other airports in the past. She said relying on the long-range system requires increasing the distance between planes from three miles to five miles, resulting in the delays.
