The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net AN "ERRATIC" radar system at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) is another ingredient for "possible disaster" in the aviation industry, the head of a Bahamian-owned airline said yesterday, after air traffic controllers said they expected it to fail "very soon". Captain Randy Butler, president and chief executive of Sky Bahamas, said the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had "identified" problems with LPIA's radar "for a while now", as the Government said financing to purchase a new system was contained in the $50 million loan signed with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to reform the Bahamian aviation industry. They were responding after the Bahamas Air Traffic Controllers Union (BATCU) president. Roscoe Perpall, said his members have been placed under additional strain due to what he described as an "erratic" radar system at LPIA, stating that it was expected to fail "very soon". Mr Perpall said the Government needed to move quickly to install a new radar system, which has been a long-standing issue at the airport. If it fails, as he suggests, there could be dire consequences for the Bahamas' aviation and tourism industries. In response, Minister of Tourism and Aviation, Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, told Tribune Business that the $50 million Air Transport Programme loan will be used to purchase a new radar system. "That's all a part of the $50 million loan from the IDB. It's already been included in that," Mr Vanderpool-Wallace told Tribune Business. He said the radar system was a concern for the Government, but could not give a timeline on when the new system would be installed, noting that air traffic controllers would need to be trained in the operation of the new system. Reacting to Mr Perpall's comments, Captain Butler, who is also the DNA's candidate for North Andros, said: "There's still a lack of regulation and oversight of the air traffic control area. They do not have guidelines, monitoring in place, and now they're having equipment problems. "When you have a lack of oversight, a lack of proper, adequate regulations and laws governing air traffic control, and now you're having equipment malfunctions, that's a possible factor for disaster. It's a safety issue." Captain Butler added: "It goes back to the lack of strategic planning and political will to fix this industry. It's sad we're continuing to have these things with the aviation sector, and are not getting an adequate response from the Minister and his team at Civil Aviation." Unless there was a separation of powers, where the Government ceased to be both owner and operator, the Sky Bahamas chief said the problems would likely continue. Mr Perpall yesterday said that in recent weeks radar returns have become more erratic. "This matter has been raised over the years," he acknowledged. "In recent weeks the radar returns have become erratic. We are normally required to provide separation, generally a three-mile separation, between aircraft. That is represented on our radar display by a distance of about 1cm or thereabout. "The targets that are supposed to be separated by 1cm thereabouts - which represents three nautical miles - are jumping. Sometimes a target might be somewhere near 10 to 15cm disappearing, and all the rest. Meanwhile, the air traffic controllers have to maintain a mental picture of where the target was last, and hoping that the information upon refresh would be somewhere in the vicinity of where it ought to be. "Although there are safety mechanism within the job to take care of some of those things, the air traffic controller is put under additional strain to continue to provide separation." Mr Perpall added: "The Government has three persons - three contractors - that are looking at replacing the radar. That is not something we expect to be done within the next year or so. We are in trouble; we do not know when the radar will fail totally, but we anticipate it will be soon. We look at the attention that is paid to other areas, and we look at this plight with the air traffic control and its failing radar, which was an issue for more than 10 years now." Mr Perpall said that several years ago the Government spent around $10 million to purchase a new radar, which was installed but never worked. "They had attempted at one instance to purchase a new radar, and maybe spent somewhere in the vicinity of $10 million," the BATCU president said. "It was a used radar, and it was installed at the Nassau international airport. It never worked; we have no use for it. I believe now it will be probably scrapped." The Government was forced to abandon the ASR-9 radar, which was purchased at a cost of $8 million several years ago, and upgrade the existing ASR-8 radar. The refurbished ASR-9 radar, which was purchased under the first Free National Movement administration, was intended to replace the aging ASR-8 radar as an air traffic management system. However, because the software component of the ASR-9 radar is not considered to be "user-friendly", aviation officials are using the old system, which failed in December 2005, causing chaos during a peak travelling period.