Lgb controller described power outage event that rendered the tower out of service; alleging the FAA...

Narrative:

There was a major power outage at the lbg tower facility. The source of the power outage is yet unknown; but may have occurred as part of a city grid. The generator back up did not power up any equipment in the tower; forcing lgb tower to declare ATC alert. Air traffic services were thus curtailed as well as all that was available in the tower were FAA landlines with socal TRACON (sct) and back up hand held radios. Phone lines were also out and we were forced to use cellular telephones in the tower to coordinate with sct. Runway lights were no longer under our control as the panel requires electricity; prompting a threat to shut down lgb airport at sunset. After almost two hours after the incident occurred; long beach airport operations was able to turn the runway lights on. The cab was getting uncomfortably hot because the air conditioning unit wasn't working properly. This affected all controllers' ability to perform at their best. I addition; the FAA technical operations were able to restore power by linking the generator to the equipment. It was then decided by the technical operations to keep the facility running on the backup generator until the required switch was fixed. The technical operations also installed a back-up power unit for the fdio printer. Remedy: the FAA must fix the switch to link down commercial services with the required generator back up. The FAA must fix the stairwell lighting in case of a power outage. The FAA should have a back up to failed airport lighting. The FAA needs to fix the racd so that it resets to ARTS mode and not rgw mode. The FAA must allow cell phones in the tower in case of phone line outages; so that required personnel do not have leave the operation. A checklist and required phone numbers to call for a power outage needs to be readily accessible to expedite a power outage contingency plan. Get proper staffing due to the complexity of the situation.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: LGB Controller described power outage event that rendered the tower out of service; alleging the FAA needs to improve all ATC back-up equipment; allow cell phones in the cab for emergency use and develop contingency plans that provide specific steps to complete for future same type events.

Narrative: There was a major power outage at the LBG Tower facility. The source of the power outage is yet unknown; but may have occurred as part of a city grid. The generator back up did not power up any equipment in the Tower; forcing LGB Tower to declare ATC Alert. Air Traffic Services were thus curtailed as well as all that was available in the Tower were FAA landlines with SOCAL TRACON (SCT) and back up hand held radios. Phone lines were also out and we were forced to use cellular telephones in the Tower to coordinate with SCT. Runway lights were no longer under our control as the panel requires electricity; prompting a threat to shut down LGB airport at sunset. After almost two hours after the incident occurred; Long Beach Airport Operations was able to turn the runway lights on. The cab was getting uncomfortably hot because the air conditioning unit wasn't working properly. This affected all controllers' ability to perform at their best. I addition; The FAA technical operations were able to restore power by linking the generator to the equipment. It was then decided by the technical operations to keep the facility running on the backup generator until the required switch was fixed. The technical operations also installed a back-up power unit for the FDIO printer. Remedy: The FAA must fix the switch to link down commercial services with the required generator back up. The FAA must fix the stairwell lighting in case of a power outage. The FAA should have a back up to failed airport lighting. The FAA needs to fix the RACD so that it resets to ARTS mode and not RGW mode. The FAA must allow cell phones in the tower in case of phone line outages; so that required personnel do not have leave the operation. A checklist and required phone numbers to call for a power outage needs to be readily accessible to expedite a power outage contingency plan. Get proper staffing due to the complexity of the situation.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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	841356
Time
Date	200906
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	LGB.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	No Aircraft
Person 1
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Military 5 Air Traffic Control Supervisory 3 Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (mon) 4 Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 5
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types

Lgb controller described power outage event that rendered the tower out of service; alleging the FAA needs to improve all ATC back-up equipment; allow cell phones in the cab for emergency use and develop contingency plans that provide specific steps to complete for future same type events.