Safety Recommendation
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau recommends that
Airservices Australia expedite the development of an integrated
weather radar/air traffic control radar video display system
capable of providing multiple weather echo intensity discrimination
without degradation of air traffic control radar information.
The following response dated 29 January 2003 was received from
Airservices Australia:
Recent trials of integrated weather radar/air traffic control radar
video in TAAATS have revealed limitations in present equipment
capabilities and raised significant HMI issues.
At this point, given the current weather display facilities
available to ATC, any advantage to the aviation industry is
outweighed by the HMI concerns, the technical difficulties and the
estimated high cost of implementation. Unless it can be clearly
demonstrated that such a facility would produce tangible benefits
to the industry it is not intended to pursue the matter in the
short to medium term.
A further response dated 7 August 2003 was received from
Airservices Australia:
In relation to recommendation R20020169, recent trials of
integrated weather radar/air traffic control radar video in the
TAAATS have revealed limitations in equipment capabilities and
raised significant HMI issues. Given the weather displays
facilities already available to ATC, any advantage in introducing
integrated displays is far outweighed by the HMI concerns, the
technical difficulties and the high cost of implementation. Unless
it can be demonstrated that the facility would clearly benefit the
industry it is not intended to pursue the matter in the medium
term. Further action cannot be justified at this time.
