Radar problems continue in Palm Springs- 2 planes collide over airport

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Palm Springs International Airport One crashes, one lands, no fatalities

This is an ongoing story about radar at Palm Springs airport that goes back to December 1999. Probably more in the archives someplace. Staff reports The Desert Sun February 15th, 2000

PALM SPRINGS -- Two small private airplanes collided in mid-air near Palm Springs International Airport Tuesday evening, sending one spiraling into a river wash in a controlled crash while the other landed safely at the airport.

The occupants of both planes were taken to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs for treatment of various injuries.

No official comment was immediately available from officials at the airport, which has been relying on a temporary military radar system for air traffic control since Jan. 21. The airport's radar system was shut down Dec. 19 after planes vanished from the controller's screens, and other malfunctions.

Pilot William Wright told The Desert Sun he was flying his four-passenger Cessna 182 in a square pattern northeast of the airport when it was clipped on the left wing by the second aircraft, tentatively identified as a Piper Cherokee, at 5:34 p.m.

Wright's plane then slipped left and began to spiral down toward the Whitewater River Wash. The plane landed upright, with moderate front-end damage, about three-fourths of a mile east of The Desert Sun offices on Gene Autry Trail and and one mile south of Vista Chino.

Wright and his two passengers were using a cellular telephone to call for help when a Desert Sun reporter and photographer arrived. Paramedics and other rescue personnel based at the airport soon followed.

The second plane landed safely at Palm Springs International Airport. Officials would not immediately allow reporters to talk to the pilot, but a news conference was scheduled later in the evening.

Wright, 28, of Morongo Valley, said he had taken off from Bermuda Dunes Airport in Bermuda Dunes earlier in the afternoon and had been practicing touch-and-go landings there before flying west to Palm Springs, where he intended to land.

Wright was accompanied by co-pilot Chad Sharp, 28, of Rancho Mirage and Ron Gilbert, 34, of Palm Desert.

http://www.desertsunonline.com/news/stories/breaking/950642016.shtml

More stories about Palm Springs Regional Airport

http://www.desertsunonline.com/news/stories/local/948511481.shtml

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 16, 2000

Answers

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------

Following mid-air collision in Palm Springs, Additional steps to be taken to advise pilots of no radar. February 18, 2000

PALM SPRINGS -- Pilots landing at Palm Springs International Airport will now get a second advisory that there is no radar service from the control tower.

Investigator Bill English of the National Transportation Safety Board recommended the move after examination of air traffic control procedures in wake of Tuesday's in-flight collision of two planes near the airport.

Three people aboard a Cessna were injured in the crash.

"We want them to be clear there is no radar service," English said.

Although the radar-plagued airport has been using a mobile military radar unit since Jan. 21, controllers do not receive data that allows them to tell incoming and departing aircraft the locations of other planes.

NTSB investigators are trying to determine why a Piper Cherokee preparing to land and a Cessna that had just taken off collided in the air 50 feet south of Vista Chino east of Gene Autry Trail.

The student pilots of both aircraft, flying with instructors, made contact with air traffic controllers and both showed up on radar prior to the crash, investigators said.

NTSB investigators reviewed air traffic control procedures, including tape recordings and radar data and interviewed three air traffic controllers on duty at the time of the crash. Controllers had told each pilot about two other small aircraft in the vicinity before the crash occurred.

"Both of those aircraft were advised of the presence of each other, although it wasnt as specific as it could have been," NTSB investigator Robert Crispin said. "We heard both pilots acknowledge those calls."

The airports radar, which had been experiencing problems, including having aircraft disappearing from the screen, was taken out of service as of Dec. 19.

Link

http://www.uniontrib.com/news/state/20000218-732-socalbriefs.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 18, 2000.


According to this article, the radar problems causing so many close calls at Palm Springs Airport for the last 2 1/2 years are due in part to faulty computer software.

Italics are mine.....

Paris, Friday, February 25, 2000

Safer Radar at Palm Springs

International Traveler / Update

Los Angeles Times Service

PALM SPRINGS, California - The Federal Aviation Administration says the beleaguered radar system at Palm Springs International Airport, which was blamed for multiple ''close calls,'' has been repaired, although a representative of air-traffic controllers at the airport says the fixes are not adequate.

A stronger radar beacon has been installed and since its activation Sunday, there have been no problems tracking commercial aircraft, said a spokesman for the aviation administration.

But Curtis Warren, the union president for Palm Springs' air traffic controllers, said the system was still inadequate and in need of replacement to avoid a midair catastrophe. The aviation administration ''has put a dress on a pig,'' Mr. Warren said. ''However, it's still a pig.''

At issue is a radar system that, in its two and a half years, was beset by so many internal glitches that radar blips hopscotched across or disappeared from the screen and altitude data were sometimes inaccurate. The problem was attributed in part to computer software failing to accurately relay raw information to radar screens in the traffic-control tower.

Last week, two small private planes tapped wings midair, but both landed safely. The cause remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Source: The International Herald Tribune

http://www.iht.com/s97.vts?action=View&VdkVgwKey=%2Fhome%2Fweb% 2Fhtdocs%2FIHT%2FTODAY%2FFRI%2FUP%2Fradar%2E2% 2Ehtml&DocOffset=4&DocsFound=4&QueryZip=glitch&Collection=today&ViewTe mplate=view%2Ehts&SearchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eiht%2Ecom%2Fs97%2Evts% 3Faction%3Dsearch%26QueryZip%3Dglitch%26ResultTemplate%3Ddefault% 252Ehts%26QueryText%3Dglitch%26Collection%3Dtoday%26ViewTemplate% 3Dview%252Ehts%26ResultStart%3D1%26ResultCount%3D10&

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), March 17, 2000.


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