Requirement to keep strips
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 22
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From: UK
Requirement to keep strips
Could anyone confirm how long FPS must legally be kept for after use? I've heard guesses from 3 months to more than a year and reckon it's a year at LACC. Does this differ in your mats 2?
More than just an ATCO
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 1,773
Likes: 1
From: Up someone's nose
When someone pulls the plug the system degrades through a number of levels - we have multi radar, parallel processing of data, alternative power etc.- so we should have plenty of warning before the picture remains frozen and an print out of traffic is produced: by this stage no more new traffic should be entering the system.
Having said that, of course it is possible for a collosal failure or external action to take the system out In this case strips would provide some degree of back up, provided they are 100% up to date - it only needs 1 missed FL update Can you guarantee your strip marking?
In any case, do you think that anybody would be able to restore procedural separation anywhere in W. Europe with today's traffic levels. In such a case I think TCAS would be the most effective separation tool
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Lon More
More than just an ATCO
Having said that, of course it is possible for a collosal failure or external action to take the system out In this case strips would provide some degree of back up, provided they are 100% up to date - it only needs 1 missed FL update Can you guarantee your strip marking?
In any case, do you think that anybody would be able to restore procedural separation anywhere in W. Europe with today's traffic levels. In such a case I think TCAS would be the most effective separation tool
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Lon More
More than just an ATCO
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,585
Likes: 0
From: Surrey, Uk
Strips.
Anyone remember the airmiss at LATCC on TMA North in the seventies involving one of our now senior managers ? He pocketed the strips and requested a new set of blanks from 9020D. He rewrote on them and submitted them along with his report for investigation. Naughty, naughty, but it didn’t do his career any harm though. Must be a moral there somewhere.
Mr G.
Mr G.
Joined: Sep 1999
Posts: 106
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From: The Shire
Stripless
Feel like working stripless when the power goes off (including the backup/UPS?).
See what happened a few years back down under:
ATSB occurence number 200002836
See what happened a few years back down under:
ATSB occurence number 200002836
This loss of electrical power caused TCU Air Traffic Control (ATC) workstations, software switching of voice communications channels, satellite communications, provision of the Sydney Terminal Approach Radar to Melbourne and Brisbane and operational room lighting, to fail.
The ATC workstations automatically began rebooting after the initial 14 second power outage. The workstations were not available for about 7 to 10 minutes longer while they rebooted.
The air traffic controllers in the TCU were unable to determine the relative positions of aircraft under their jurisdiction for about 7 to 10 minutes. By using the emergency bypass air/ground radio, controllers were able to direct flight crews to keep a visual lookout for aircraft and to turn on their Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS).
...
It was expected that the reliability and redundancies incorporated in the system design would preclude a total electrical failure.
The ATC workstations automatically began rebooting after the initial 14 second power outage. The workstations were not available for about 7 to 10 minutes longer while they rebooted.
The air traffic controllers in the TCU were unable to determine the relative positions of aircraft under their jurisdiction for about 7 to 10 minutes. By using the emergency bypass air/ground radio, controllers were able to direct flight crews to keep a visual lookout for aircraft and to turn on their Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS).
...
It was expected that the reliability and redundancies incorporated in the system design would preclude a total electrical failure.
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
From: UK
And then there are those of us, underpaid and overworked, in the private sector - no radar, just good old procedural control!
On a good sunny summer Sunday on any South Coast GA airfield - combined aerodrome and Approach - a movement every minute and a half plus transits - you would be surprised how handy those little bits of paper can be!
On a good sunny summer Sunday on any South Coast GA airfield - combined aerodrome and Approach - a movement every minute and a half plus transits - you would be surprised how handy those little bits of paper can be!
