Reporter alleges there was no prior notification to a scheduled center radar outage until the day of...

Narrative:

The anson radar, located approximately 19 mi northwest of abilene provides long range radar coverage for ZFW. On oct/xx/97, it went OTS for a 3 week period. This was a scheduled outage. The outage affects radar procedures between abilene approach and ZFW. The limited to non existent low level radar coverage of ZFW requires the use of non radar procedures and additional manual coordination by both facilities. The abilene controllers were not aware of the outage prior to the anson radar going down. Even after some questioning by controllers the day of the outage, a briefing item was not put out until early the next day. This briefing item only noted the outage and the dates. Lack of communication has become common place in the work environment. This appears acceptable to management levels since it continues to happen, no matter how much the control force complains, reports and write up these incidents. On this particular outage with prior notification, more specific procedures could have been established and the control staff briefed on them. This would have enabled a much smoother transition, less confusion, less aircraft delays, less manual coordination and overall better safety.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: RPTR ALLEGES THERE WAS NO PRIOR NOTIFICATION TO A SCHEDULED CTR RADAR OUTAGE UNTIL THE DAY OF THE OUTAGE. OUTAGE AFFECTED TRACON ARTCC PROCS.

Narrative: THE ANSON RADAR, LOCATED APPROX 19 MI NW OF ABILENE PROVIDES LONG RANGE RADAR COVERAGE FOR ZFW. ON OCT/XX/97, IT WENT OTS FOR A 3 WK PERIOD. THIS WAS A SCHEDULED OUTAGE. THE OUTAGE AFFECTS RADAR PROCS BTWN ABILENE APCH AND ZFW. THE LIMITED TO NON EXISTENT LOW LEVEL RADAR COVERAGE OF ZFW REQUIRES THE USE OF NON RADAR PROCS AND ADDITIONAL MANUAL COORD BY BOTH FACILITIES. THE ABILENE CTLRS WERE NOT AWARE OF THE OUTAGE PRIOR TO THE ANSON RADAR GOING DOWN. EVEN AFTER SOME QUESTIONING BY CTLRS THE DAY OF THE OUTAGE, A BRIEFING ITEM WAS NOT PUT OUT UNTIL EARLY THE NEXT DAY. THIS BRIEFING ITEM ONLY NOTED THE OUTAGE AND THE DATES. LACK OF COM HAS BECOME COMMON PLACE IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT. THIS APPEARS ACCEPTABLE TO MGMNT LEVELS SINCE IT CONTINUES TO HAPPEN, NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE CTL FORCE COMPLAINS, RPTS AND WRITE UP THESE INCIDENTS. ON THIS PARTICULAR OUTAGE WITH PRIOR NOTIFICATION, MORE SPECIFIC PROCS COULD HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED AND THE CTL STAFF BRIEFED ON THEM. THIS WOULD HAVE ENABLED A MUCH SMOOTHER TRANSITION, LESS CONFUSION, LESS ACFT DELAYS, LESS MANUAL COORD AND OVERALL BETTER SAFETY.

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.

Attributes
ACN	382669
Time
Date	199710
Day	Wed
Local Time Of Day	0601 To 1200
Place
Locale Reference	atc facility : abi
State Reference	TX
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Person 1
Affiliation	government : faa
Function	controller : approach
Qualification	controller : radar
Experience	controller military : 10 controller radar : 7 controller supervisory : 3
ASRS Report	382669
Events
Anomaly	other anomaly other other anomaly other
Supplementary
Primary Problem	ATC Human Performance
Air Traffic Incident	other

Reporter alleges there was no prior notification to a scheduled center radar outage until the day of the outage. Outage affected TRACON ARTCC procedures.