Cuts stall Honolulu
air traffic radar

Plans for a system to track
aircraft on runways will be
pushed back to 2008 at the earliest

Because of budget cuts, federal officials have delayed a new system at Honolulu Airport that allows air traffic controllers to track aircraft on the runways by radar rather than by sight.

Honolulu Airport is one of 19 sites affected -- upsetting local and national officials with the air traffic controllers' union, who say the new equipment provides a backup for controllers who rely on sight and memory. "If our eyesight fails or if our memory fails there's nothing to back us up," said Scott Sorenson, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association's Honolulu branch. "There are certain areas where you don't have clear visibility if it's a small aircraft. ... This would actually give you an accurate picture. It would be just like a radar."

The equipment, called Airport Surface Detection Equipment-Model X, was supposed to go into 34 mid- to large-sized airports by 2007, officials said. But only 15 of the scheduled sites will have gotten the new system by then, and funding for the remaining airports has not yet been allocated.

The budget cuts have meant the equipment's installation for Honolulu Airport, originally set for 2006, has been postponed, FAA spokesman Donn Walker said.

Union officials say Honolulu's control tower will likely have to wait until 2008 or later for the equipment, but Walker could not say when the airport would get ASDE-X.

Sorenson said many union officials are worried that the FAA will continue to push back the program or cut funding altogether.

The FAA cut their spending for the equipment in fiscal year 2004 to $103.9 million from the $115.2 million originally planned, according to the union. In fiscal 2005, they plan to spend $50.8 million, down from plans for $59.7 million.

"We can only spend as much money as Congress gives us," Walker said, "and we didn't have the money to do all the ones we wanted to do this year."

He added that the "ASDE-X system is a technology that will enhance our efforts to improve runway safety at the nation's largest airports. ... It is not, however, critical to the safe operation of any airport."

Union officials disagree, and say the equipment would take stress off controllers and could mean fewer runway accidents.

"For controllers, it means not having to only trust your eyes, when there could be obstructions in your view," said Doug Fralick, NATCA's director of safety and technology.

"Sometimes it's difficult to see the aircraft on the field or whether an aircraft has exited the runway, for example. ... This equipment gives controllers a picture of the airport on the display and you can see where the aircraft are on the display."

Sorenson said there have been no notable runway accidents at Honolulu Airport, but "you can never be too safe."