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New york TRACON controller reported lack of communication from management about a radar site going out mid-shift causing confusion and panic.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1612587 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201901 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | N90.TRACON |
| State Reference | NY |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Approach |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Experience | Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 5 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types |
Narrative:
Positions were combined up to one position in the lga area for the night shift operation. I went on break and was recalled into the area by the controller on within 5 minutes. The controller on said his scope completely blanked out and was working at the adjacent scope that was not consolidated. At the time; there were about 15 aircraft on frequency with winds aloft very strong out of the south. I examined the screen and noticed the jfk sensor was not operational. Tech ops was in our area when the incident occurred and notified us that the sensor was scheduled to go out at [this time] and that this was a prior coordinated event. The operations manager failed to notify our area of the outage thus causing a brief; yet highly chaotic moment for the controller on duty. The jfk area was the only area notified of the outage. All areas must be notified of a radar outage regardless of whether or not the area uses the sensor on a regular basis. Especially when positions are combined in the evening.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: New York TRACON Controller reported lack of communication from management about a RADAR site going out mid-shift causing confusion and panic.
Narrative: Positions were combined up to one position in the LGA area for the night shift operation. I went on break and was recalled into the area by the controller on within 5 minutes. The Controller on said his scope completely blanked out and was working at the adjacent scope that was not consolidated. At the time; there were about 15 aircraft on frequency with winds aloft very strong out of the South. I examined the screen and noticed the JFK sensor was not operational. Tech Ops was in our area when the incident occurred and notified us that the sensor was scheduled to go out at [this time] and that this was a prior coordinated event. The Operations Manager failed to notify our area of the outage thus causing a brief; yet highly chaotic moment for the controller on duty. The JFK area was the only area notified of the outage. All areas must be notified of a RADAR outage regardless of whether or not the area uses the sensor on a regular basis. Especially when positions are combined in the evening.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.