New air traffic control system up and running over Philadelphia PHILADELPHIA (AP) =97 The new generation of air traffic control technology= =20 was fully deployed Monday at Philadelphia International Airport, the first= =20 to rely solely on the new system. STARS, for Standard Terminal Automation=20 Replacement System, allows more planes to fly safely in increasingly=20 crowded air space and reduces the workload for controllers. "It's like=20 comparing an eight-track tape player to a CD player," said Tom Bayalis, an= =20 air traffic controller, as he showed off the crisp, multicolored computer=20 displays in the new Philadelphia terminal radar control center built to=20 house the new system. Bayalis said Philadelphia's new center is a less stressful place to work=20 than the now-abandoned 31-year-old center, which featured light green=20 displays that were so hard to read the controllers had to work in=20 near-darkness. Controllers say STARS, with drop-down menus and monitors=20 that present detailed, synchronized information, is easier to use than the= =20 old system, a jumble of knobs, monitors and displays on scratched steel=20 modules. STARS is estimated to cost $1.69 billion and will be deployed in=20 167 airports over the next eight years =97 sooner, if Congress increases=20 funding for it. The complete system is being tested and upgraded in El=20 Paso, Texas, Syracuse, N.Y., and Portland, Ore. About a dozen other=20 airports are using limited STARS systems, and Miami International Airport=20 and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport are scheduled to get them soon.= =20 "What you see in Philadelphia is the future of the national aviation=20 system," said Federal Aviation Administration administrator Marion Blakey. There have been problems. STARS is late, over budget and has its share of=20 bugs. Professional Airways Systems Specialists, the union that represents=20 the workers who maintain the system, said STARS couldn't always distinguish= =20 between a truck on the interstate and a plane on the runway. The FAA has=20 been working with air traffic controllers and Raytheon Co., which built the= =20 system, to test and upgrade STARS since it was installed in Philadelphia in= =20 November. Jill White, PASS representative in Philadelphia, said STARS has improved=20 since then. Still, she said, "I'm looking to see a better product."=20 Philadelphia was chosen as the first major airport to get STARS because its= =20 system was among the oldest in the country. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., on=20 hand for Monday's ceremony to commission STARS, had prodded the FAA to=20 install the system in Philadelphia after a series of problems in 1999 and= 2000. The airport's automatic radar system failed four times in a year, when a=20 surge in air traffic nationwide caused widespread delays. Philadelphia, the= =20 busiest air space in the Northeast, almost had to restrict flight=20 operations because of limits on its 1970s-era computer system, said Bill=20 Voss, director of the FAA's terminal business services. The old system=20 could manage 300 flights at a time, Voss said. STARS can manage thousands.= =20 STARS' open architecture allows it to be upgraded incrementally, and=20 less-expensive versions can be developed for smaller airports, he said.=20 Previous systems had to be replaced on a large scale and all were the same= =20 size. "Here's the big payday with STARS," Voss said. "When the world=20 changes, we can change with it." The FAA on Monday also showcased other new technologies aboard its Boeing=20 727, which it calls a "flying laboratory:" _ The wide area augmentation system, or WAAS, which corrects the=20 measurements of the satellite-based global positioning system, allowing=20 faster descents so more planes can land per hour. _ NEXCOMM, the next generation of radio communications, which uses digital= =20 technology instead of analog to allow more people to use the airwaves. _ Electronic flight bag, a computer that displays the aircraft's position=20 over surface and airborne maps, as well as weather data and traffic=20 information. Other airports implementing STARS are: Memphis, Tenn.; Hartford, Conn.;=20 Birmingham, Ala.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Detroit; Omaha, Neb.; Albany, N.Y.;=20 and Providence, R.I. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.natalielaughlin.com/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************