"FIDS: Public is often compelled to wing it"

Saturday, June 12, 2004

Public is often compelled to wing it
Colonie -- Accuracy of flight arrival times is uneven as airport officials
seek new system 
By CATHY WOODRUFF
The Albany (NY) Times-Union


If you're waiting to greet folks arriving on a flight at Albany
International Airport, you could kill some time with a good suspense novel.
Or, you might want to peruse the flight information screens that post
expected arrival times and delays.

There's sometimes a little mystery there, too.
 
"It says 'In Range,' " Darrel Burbank reported as he watched the video
display in an effort to learn when a flight carrying his son-in-law from
Baltimore would arrive. The plane was already about 10 minutes past its
scheduled arrival time.

"It's been 'in range' for, maybe, 20 minutes now," he mused. "What does that
mean?"

Burbank, who lives in Idaho and was planning to drive his son-in-law to
Bennington for his daughter's college graduation, wasn't particularly
perturbed by the monitor's less-than-precise performance. He figured the
Southwest Airlines flight would arrive relatively soon.

Erica Mortensen and her grandmother, Jaci Mortensen of Van Hornesville,
Herkimer County, weren't losing their cool, either -- though they were a bit
confused when the listing for the flight they were expecting disappeared
entirely from the screen.

"It is pretty much accurate, give or take 10 minutes," Jaci Mortensen said
of her usual experience.

However, there are times when the information on the monitors is wildly
inaccurate and annoyingly out-of-date, airport officials acknowledge.

David Langdon, vice chairman of the airport authority board, said the
information on the flight information display screens was as much as three
hours old as he waited to meet a flight on Memorial Day.

"This was pretty extreme," he said at a recent meeting of the board. "It's
incredibly frustrating."

Airport Chief Executive Officer John O'Donnell said the airport's flight
information display system, or "FIDS," is growing obsolete. Once the
standard at all airports, the system is programmed to show scheduled arrival
and departure times, with updates and delay notifications added by airline
employees at the airport.

Most of the time, that system is sufficient, O'Donnell said. But it can
break down during times of light staffing, such as nights and holidays, or
widespread air traffic disruption due to stormy weather.

"This falls to the bottom of the list," as workers hustle to tend to
boarding passengers, baggage and other matters, O'Donnell said.

As a result, the airport is starting to shop around for a new flight
information system for the terminal. New state-of-the-art systems tie
directly into airline and Federal Aviation Administration computer
information systems, providing "real time" information, said J. Dwight
Hadley, the airport's chief financial officer.

With such systems, greeters awaiting at the airport can obtain accurate,
up-to-the-minute info on a flight's location, speed and time until landing,
Hadley said. The data automatically are updated, meaning there's no need to
wait for busy airline staffers to find a free moment.

Burbank, the Idaho man waiting to meet his son-in-law on Friday, noted that
the Boise airport's display even includes radar-like images that show the
figure of a plane approaching the airport, along with estimated minutes
away.

Hadley said it's unclear exactly what a new system will cost. While most
airports still have systems similar to Albany's, a number have switched to
the expensive newer technology in the last two years.

"It's in the tens of thousands of dollars, and that, you look at closely,"
he said. 

Attached Photo:

Awaiting a friend, a visitor scans the arrivals monitor of the flight
information screens on Friday, June 11, at Albany International Airport.

040612airport.jpg