The agency plans to install the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System at 173 sites where controllers track planes from takeoff to cruising altitude. It replaces several different models of computers now in use and offers full-color displays instead of monochrome. It contains weather maps and can be expanded to produce even more detail about storms.
STARS has been plagued by cost overruns and delays; DOT Inspector General Kenneth Mead told a House subcommittee in March that the system is four years behind schedule and $700 million over its original $1 billion price tag. Mead said there were 71 specific software problems that could prevent the system from operating as designed, or could threaten safety or security.
The only STARS system now in use, in El Paso, Texas, has been plagued with problems, according to Mead and the Professional Airways Systems Specialists, the union that represents the FAA employees who certify and maintain air traffic control equipment.
When the technicians refused to certify the system in Syracuse, N.Y., the FAA invoked a never-before-used clause in its contract with its employees and ordered them to approve the equipment. The Syracuse system was turned on Monday night.
In a report released Wednesday, Mead said controllers in El Paso had to track airplanes manually because the computer system didn't properly display the flights. The old system remained in place as a backup, because "tower managers stated controllers were not comfortable relying solely on STARS," Mead said.
Union vice president Tom Brantley said the radar doesn't always work, and it may require several minutes before controllers realize the problem. In addition, he said, the system has failed several diagnostic tests.
As a result, Brantley said, the FAA technicians consider the system unready to go into service.
"They don't believe it's operationally suitable," Brantley said. "It's failing. It has a lot of errors. They can't verify that it works because it fails a lot of the tests."
FAA spokesman Scott Brenner said the only problems are the normal bugs that accompany any new technology.
"The testing on this program is the most severe, the most intense and the most comprehensive ever," Brenner said. "We would not put a system online that we didn't have confidence that it was presenting an accurate portrayal of the position of the aircraft to ensure safe separation, nor would we put a system in service that we did not believe we could adequately maintain."
Blanche Necessary, a spokeswoman for the equipment builder, Raytheon Co., said the system was working well in El Paso and Syracuse.
Brantley disagreed. Though technicians certified the Syracuse system, he said they had no choice after the FAA invoked the emergency clause.
"It was against their professional judgment; they don't feel it's safe," Brantley said. "The emergency clause was never intended for something like this. That was intended if there were an actual emergency."
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