Narrative:

ZMP has been involved with testing eram on the mid shifts. To do this; we have to go darc. On this night; we had several areas of weather impacting the sector at the time we went to darc. The result was that all aircraft were funneled into our airspace. At the time of transition to darc; the host was supposed to flush out all the flight strips in the system; it did not. While it did flush many strips; it did not flush the ones that would be needed most immediately. Sometimes; the host will be set so that it will print out flight strips ahead of time. This was not done. As soon as we went darc; ZDV called asking if we had flight plan information on an aircraft. We did not. The aircraft was approximately five miles from our boundary. I was not able to take the flight plan information. When I was able to; I was told to ask the eram specialist for it. They were busy setting up for their testing. The ZDV controller got irate with me. Over the past several years; when working darc; we have had to deal with ZDV and ZLC not passing flight plan information in a timely fashion. It is required to be passed fifteen minutes ahead of time; allowing us to write the information and get it into the darc system so when they call to make the hand off we are ready. Most of the time; they will call with the flight plan and the hand off at the same time. If we do not have the flight plan; we end up having an aircraft enter our airspace before we have all of the flight plan information. This happened repeatedly that night. This went on for the next three hours. My d-side was continuously on the line with ZDV; ZLC; or ywg. Aircraft were handed off three and four at a time. The volume of traffic would have made it difficult even if we were not darc. The weather made it complex. Being in darc made it unsafe. The relentless pursuit to test and use eram is going to get somebody killed. The volume of traffic; compounded by the weather should have been enough to keep us from going darc. Still it was decided that 'we can handle it'. Those who are making these decisions; are not the ones who have to work it; they are the ones standing back watching it happen; and then patting themselves on the back for how good things went. They are not the ones having to scramble for hours on end to keep planes separated. They are not the ones that will be held accountable when there is an operational error or deviation; or god forbid; something worse. The operational people should have the say so to delay; postpone or cancel darc for eram testing purposes. The drive to install and use a flawed system; just to prove that we can do it; is not consistent with the FAA's stated goals for safety; the safety of the flying public should come first and foremost. The entire eram program needs to be stopped; and evaluated from the beginning.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A ZMP Controller voiced concern regarding the testing of ERAM equipment; the requirement to operate in DARC for the testing and the absence of flight plan information that frequently accompanies this testing process. He also added a concern for overall safety during the testing periods.

Narrative: ZMP has been involved with testing ERAM on the mid shifts. To do this; we have to go DARC. On this night; we had several areas of weather impacting the sector at the time we went to DARC. The result was that all aircraft were funneled into our airspace. At the time of transition to DARC; the HOST was supposed to flush out all the Flight Strips in the system; it did not. While it did flush many strips; it did not flush the ones that would be needed most immediately. Sometimes; the HOST will be set so that it will print out Flight Strips ahead of time. This was not done. As soon as we went DARC; ZDV called asking if we had flight plan information on an aircraft. We did not. The aircraft was approximately five miles from our boundary. I was not able to take the flight plan information. When I was able to; I was told to ask the ERAM specialist for it. They were busy setting up for their testing. The ZDV Controller got irate with me. Over the past several years; when working DARC; we have had to deal with ZDV and ZLC not passing flight plan information in a timely fashion. It is required to be passed fifteen minutes ahead of time; allowing us to write the information and get it into the DARC system so when they call to make the hand off we are ready. Most of the time; they will call with the flight plan and the hand off at the same time. If we do not have the flight plan; we end up having an aircraft enter our airspace before we have all of the flight plan information. This happened repeatedly that night. This went on for the next three hours. My D-Side was continuously on the line with ZDV; ZLC; or YWG. Aircraft were handed off three and four at a time. The volume of traffic would have made it difficult even if we were not DARC. The weather made it complex. Being in DARC made it unsafe. The relentless pursuit to test and use ERAM is going to get somebody killed. The volume of traffic; compounded by the weather should have been enough to keep us from going DARC. Still it was decided that 'we can handle it'. Those who are making these decisions; are not the ones who have to work it; they are the ones standing back watching it happen; and then patting themselves on the back for how good things went. They are not the ones having to scramble for hours on end to keep planes separated. They are not the ones that will be held accountable when there is an operational error or deviation; or God forbid; something worse. The operational people should have the say so to delay; postpone or cancel DARC for ERAM testing purposes. The drive to install and use a flawed system; just to prove that we can do it; is not consistent with the FAA's stated goals for safety; the safety of the flying public should come first and foremost. The entire ERAM program needs to be stopped; and evaluated from the beginning.

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.