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

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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

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 18, 2000

Answers

FAA just announced it plans to scale back operations at 84 small to mid-size airports cross-country, such as Troutdale and Salem, here in Oregon: plan is to eliminate ATC entirely, and allow simple visual flight, and thereby same some $30M annually. Private pilots are dumbfounded at being abandoned .....

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), February 18, 2000.

A lot of these smaller airports didn't have enough money to make their systems compliant. I wonder how many other near-collisions there have been because the controllers in the tower were trying to guide the planes in using a pair of binoculars.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), February 18, 2000.

S.H., very interesting news. Where did you see this. A link anywhere?

-- canthappen (n@ysayer.com), February 19, 2000.

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