Faulty radar serving Logan leaves thousands stranded [View All]

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Monitors show objects that don't exist; solution uncertain
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | October 11, 2005

A malfunctioning radar system serving Logan International Airport caused flight cancellations and delays of several hours yesterday, stranding thousands of passengers on a holiday weekend and adding to the woes of an airport that has logged several runway incidents in the past few months.

The Federal Aviation Administration said last evening that the radar could be fixed within hours or it could take several days, which could mean even bigger headaches for travelers and their airlines.

Radar screens at a regional aviation center in Merrimack, N.H., were showing controllers ''false targets," or objects that didn't exist, setting off the system's ''conflict alert" feature warning of potential collisions, FAA spokeswoman Arlene Murray said. The false readings began at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday, stopped after a while, and then resumed at 7:30 a.m. yesterday.

Murray emphasized that safety had not been compromised and said air traffic controllers had switched to a backup FAA radar system in Nashua, N.H. The system is slower than the one at Logan, though, and so it prompted controllers to increase the space between planes going in and out of Logan from 3 miles to 5.

''The air traffic operation continues to run smoothly, even though we are experiencing delays in the system," Murray said.


http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/10/11/faulty_radar_serving_logan_leaves_thousands_stranded/