- NEW YORK (AP) -- A technicians' union wants to delay the 1999 start-up
of a $1 billion air traffic control system, saying it will jeopardize traveler
safety, The New York Times reported Saturday.
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- The Professional Airways Systems Specialists
said the new system lacks the alarms and monitoring features to give warnings
when it is beginning to fail.
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- Current technology sounds alarms and
lights if there is a glitch that drops an airplane from a controller's
screen. The union said the new system doesn't do that; a controller has
to keep constant watch.
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- The system is slated to be launched in
March 1999 at the Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, with later
installations likely in New York and Dallas. The union wants a delay.
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- Federal Aviation Administration officials
acknowledged shortcomings with the new system, but said the current system
is falling apart and needs to be replaced.
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- They insisted that the new program, the
Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS), can be safely
used. Monte Belger, a deputy FAA administrator, said the agency is talking
with the union but all problems may not be addressed by March.
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- The union and the FAA also are not sure
the system will function properly when the calendar rolls over in 2000,
when computers may have a problem adjusting.
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- Raytheon, which made the system, said
there is nothing to fear from the calendar change but said tests to prove
it would cost $2.6 million, the Times reported. The FAA has told Raytheon
to spend $500,000 to design a test.
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