Narrative:

Grr has been in ATC alert for about a week now. Our management and our technology operations know about it and nothing is getting done. All that is told to the controllers is that due to budget issues they are not able to order parts for channel a until channel B goes out which means we then go ATC zero until we can get cenrap up and running. With more and more nicer days it means more and more vfrs are out flying and doing practice approaches and we still have all of our scheduled flights in and out. I just can't believe that we are sitting down in the radar room just waiting for a scope full of planes to fail and go blank putting not only the pilots and the passengers at risk; but the controllers who once cenrap is enabled and notice they have planes to close and no time to separate them. I don't know what or how much is being done about this issue; or if it is happening at other facilities; but the answer of it being a budget thing is just not sitting well with me or any of my other fellow controllers. Not sure what I can recommend because again not sure what is being done; but when we (the controllers) just don't get answers to questions and are told that it's a budget issue and cenrap is being sent; that is just not an acceptable answer. It does not give you a good feeling sitting in the radar room working planes to the best of your ability and knowing that it could go out at any time. My biggest concern is that this is happening at very few facilities and the controllers there are being told the same thing we are and are doing nothing about it. I understand there are budget issues; but when it comes to the radar this is not a place to implement cuts.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: GRR Controller voiced concern regarding the single RADAR channel limitation currently be experienced; noting budgetary limitations should not govern ATC equipment availability.

Narrative: GRR has been in ATC ALERT for about a week now. Our Management and our Technology Operations know about it and nothing is getting done. All that is told to the controllers is that due to budget issues they are not able to order parts for Channel A until Channel B goes out which means we then go ATC Zero until we can get CENRAP up and running. With more and more nicer days it means more and more VFRs are out flying and doing practice approaches and we still have all of our scheduled flights in and out. I just can't believe that we are sitting down in the RADAR room just waiting for a scope full of planes to fail and go blank putting not only the pilots and the passengers at risk; but the controllers who once CENRAP is enabled and notice they have planes to close and no time to separate them. I don't know what or how much is being done about this issue; or if it is happening at other facilities; but the answer of it being a budget thing is just not sitting well with me or any of my other fellow controllers. Not sure what I can recommend because again not sure what is being done; but when we (the controllers) just don't get answers to questions and are told that it's a budget issue and CENRAP is being sent; that is just not an acceptable answer. It does not give you a good feeling sitting in the RADAR room working planes to the best of your ability and knowing that it could go out at any time. My biggest concern is that this is happening at very few facilities and the controllers there are being told the same thing we are and are doing nothing about it. I understand there are budget issues; but when it comes to the RADAR this is not a place to implement cuts.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.