Air Traffic Problems at Philadelphia Intl.

By KYW's Kim Glovas

A one-half hour glitch in the Philadelphia International Airport air traffic control system made for some unfriendly skies over the city Friday night. This is a recurring problem at the airport. Local lawmakers including US Senator Arlen Specter, have been lobbying for an immediate remedy since last summer:

The computerized air traffic control system rebooted itself around 7:45pm Friday, effectively eliminating the identification of all planes within Philadelphia's airspace. Dan Mullen, president of the National Air Traffic Controller's Association, says the outdated system, plus no back up, made this a potentially dangerous situation:

"Every major airport has a backup radar system. Currently, Philadelphia uses the Willow Grove radar system. But the Willow Grove system has been shut down for approximately two years with us, because it was reporting erroneous altitudes."

Mullen says radar technicians at the airport are still diagnosing the problem. He says the airport has been promised a new radio room, but it's still in the bidding stage, and won't be fully functionally for another 3-years.
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-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), March 13, 2000