Maintenance policy on ASOS.

Attributes
ACN	281415
Time
Date	199406
Day	Tue
Local Time Of Day	0601 To 1200
Place
Locale Reference	atc facility : syr
State Reference	NY
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Person 1
Affiliation	government : faa
Function	other personnel other
Qualification	controller : radar
Experience	controller radar : 8
ASRS Report	281415
Events
Anomaly	other anomaly other
Independent Detector	other other : unspecified
Resolutory Action	none taken : unable
Consequence	Other
Supplementary
Air Traffic Incident	other

Narrative:

Jun/xx/94, we learned that the ASOS exhibits chronic equipment failures. According to the NWS procedures, safety related outages have a recall time of 12 hours, flight operation outages have a recall time of 24 hours for maintenance. The maintenance personnel are located in buffalo, ny, 3 1/2 hours away. During severe winter WX, the equipment has been OTS up to 25 days. This is an unacceptable maintenance procedure. The NWS is proposing to remove the necessary WX personnel from the airfield and have the current ASOS as sole WX aviation reporter.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MAINT POLICY ON ASOS.

Narrative: JUN/XX/94, WE LEARNED THAT THE ASOS EXHIBITS CHRONIC EQUIP FAILURES. ACCORDING TO THE NWS PROCS, SAFETY RELATED OUTAGES HAVE A RECALL TIME OF 12 HRS, FLT OP OUTAGES HAVE A RECALL TIME OF 24 HRS FOR MAINT. THE MAINT PERSONNEL ARE LOCATED IN BUFFALO, NY, 3 1/2 HRS AWAY. DURING SEVERE WINTER WX, THE EQUIP HAS BEEN OTS UP TO 25 DAYS. THIS IS AN UNACCEPTABLE MAINT PROC. THE NWS IS PROPOSING TO REMOVE THE NECESSARY WX PERSONNEL FROM THE AIRFIELD AND HAVE THE CURRENT ASOS AS SOLE WX AVIATION RPTR.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.