Narrative:

Low ceilings vectoring aircraft for ILS approaches (getting visuals sometimes). I was vectoring a king air IFR inbound to ads airport. I was also working aircraft inbound to dal. I observed an aircraft pop up approximately 3 miles southwest of ads heading northeast bound. It showed a computer assigned beacon code; not local but I do not remember the code; but no altitude and only showed something like 90 or 100 KTS. This target moved directly across ads airport and I had thought it was being worked by ads and probably landing there. I cleared the king air for a visual and the target continued across the airport nne bound toward the king air. I called ads and asked them if they were working the aircraft and they said no and that they could not see any traffic out the window. I told them I would hold on to the king air (he was approaching 5 NM from the airport) so that I could continue to call traffic. The king air never saw any traffic and then after they crossed paths; in about a mile or two the other target just disappeared. This took a lot of my attention away from all of the other aircraft to call traffic for a 'ghost target.' I originally had all of the beacon codes and call signs; but lost my notes. We did full route the ghost target beacon code and the computer showed not stored. The target looked real and it was observed on ads radar; also (they get their feed off of ours.) all of the data was reported to D10 management through our stars reporting sheets. Shut down this system until they can figure out what is causing these false targets.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: D10 Controller described a 'Ghost Target' event while vectoring an aircraft to the ADS Airport. The reporter noted the STARS equipment should be shut down until the cause of these false targets can be fixed.

Narrative: Low ceilings vectoring aircraft for ILS approaches (getting visuals sometimes). I was vectoring a King Air IFR inbound to ADS Airport. I was also working aircraft inbound to DAL. I observed an aircraft pop up approximately 3 miles SW of ADS heading NE bound. It showed a computer assigned beacon code; not local but I do not remember the code; but no altitude and only showed something like 90 or 100 KTS. This target moved directly across ADS Airport and I had thought it was being worked by ADS and probably landing there. I cleared the King Air for a visual and the target continued across the airport NNE bound toward the King Air. I called ADS and asked them if they were working the aircraft and they said no and that they could not see any traffic out the window. I told them I would hold on to the King Air (he was approaching 5 NM from the airport) so that I could continue to call traffic. The King Air never saw any traffic and then after they crossed paths; in about a mile or two the other target just disappeared. This took a lot of my attention away from all of the other aircraft to call traffic for a 'Ghost Target.' I originally had all of the beacon codes and call signs; but lost my notes. We did full route the Ghost Target beacon code and the computer showed not stored. The target looked real and it was observed on ADS RADAR; also (they get their feed off of ours.) All of the data was reported to D10 Management through our STARS reporting sheets. Shut down this system until they can figure out what is causing these false targets.

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.