Controller Involvement Ensures Successful Introduction of Airport Ground Movement Alerting System in Houston

Controller Involvement Ensures Successful Introduction
of Airport Ground Movement Alerting System in Houston

2/24/04 11:58:00 AM 


To: City and State desks, Transportation Reporter 

Contact: Jerry McDaniel, 816-679-7637, Luke Ball,
(NATCA Houston), 832-594-0738, or Doug Church,
202-220-9802, Dchurch@xxxxxxxxxxx all for National Air
Traffic Controllers Association

HOUSTON, Feb. 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- As a result of
tireless efforts by local officials of The National
Air Traffic Controllers Association to ensure safety
and success, George Bush Intercontinental Airport
received a special gift recently when it became the
34th and final airport to commission the Airport
Movement Area Safety System (AMASS), which provides
air traffic controllers with visual and audible alerts
to assist in preventing runway collisions.

"This is a great thing for the aviation industry and
the flying public," said Jerry McDaniel, the AMASS
technical representative for the National Air Traffic
Controllers Association. "When people ask what is in
Store for aviation in the next 100 years, they seldom
mention safety. But that is where NATCA comes in. It's
our job to make the safest skies in The world just a
bit safer."

Commissioning of AMASS involves installation, a
testing phase of At least 30 days and, finally,
controller utilization for at least 30 days to ensure
a complete evaluation. NATCA officials devoted
thousands of hours to ensuring the system was safe and
fully operational. After the system encountered many
problems in the early development stage, NATCA got
involved, identified hazards and then worked to
eliminate bugs such as false alerts.

"From the beginning, we knew this airport was going to
be a unique challenge for deploying AMASS," said Dave
Strang, the AMASS representative for NATCA at the
Houston Intercontinental control tower. "The team here
all pulled together to develop a unique AMASS system
for the airport and we commissioned it quickly. This
was a remarkable achievement."

AMASS has been credited with helping to prevent
possible collisions at several airports over the past
couple of years. Last summer, at Hartsfield-Jackson
Atlanta International Airport, an airport Vehicle
mistakenly crossed a runway in front of a landing jet.
But the AMASS system alerted the controller, who then
immediately took action to avoid an incident.

"This equipment couldn't have come at a better time
for this airport," remarked Luke Ball, NATCA local
chapter president for the Houston Intercontinental
Tower. "In the last few years, we have extended One
runway and added another. This extra runway capacity
expands the Area our controllers have to watch. The
improved display and Additional information provided
by AMASS allows us to maintain the level of Safety
that has always been one of the highest in the
country. Also, the monitoring capability of AMASS
provides a 'second set of eyes' to ensure that any
mistake made is caught in time." 

In addition to Houston and Atlanta, AMASS is also in
use at Chicago O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Los
Angeles, Newark, New York-John F. Kennedy, New
York-LaGuardia and San Francisco.

Concluded McDaniel: "Maximizing safety without
affecting the growth of 21st century air travel is a
very complicated process. This system does just that."




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