Bradley Radar Unit Essential to Installation of ASDE-X Antenna
- Details
- Published: April 09, 2015
By Janine Murphy, PASS Region I PR Committee Member
Friday the 13th in March of 2015 turned out to be a good day for the Bradley Radar unit and PASS Chapter NG3!
Bradley Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., has an ASDE-X ground radar that has become a necessary tool for the air traffic controllers who rely on it to see airport movement, especially in the unpredictable weather of New England. Unfortunately for the facility, the heating elements inside the antenna began to fail midwinter and replacing them individually was not an option due to the fact that the antenna had been sealed so thoroughly that damage would most likely occur when trying to cut open the panels. Without the heaters, the antenna builds up ice on the ends, becomes unbalanced and a failsafe built into the system kicks in and shuts it down, rendering it useless for air traffic. A further design flaw showed that some of the cables had not been secured properly in the first place, causing the wires to chafe and short out a couple of the heater banks. With multiple problems mounting on the system, the decision was made to replace the original antenna with a newly modified one, complete with better seals.
The actual antenna lift was originally scheduled for April 2015, where the FAA logistics center authorized a team of people to come to Bradley to perform the mounting and installation of the SMRi antenna and gear box. However, inclement weather and repeated heavy snow and ice storms required the replacement to occur as soon as possible, and the date was pushed up to early March. This meant that Oklahoma City could not provide a full crew to do this and was only able to send Mike Courtney of the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center AJW-178 (antenna group). So, the Bradley Radar Unit had to step up to the task. And I along with the rest of the team—Tom Couch, Malcolm Meyer, George Husted and Richard Dionne—were ready for the job!
Courtney assisted with the removal of the antenna but high winds, gusting at 40+ miles per hour prevented the crane operator from lifting the new antenna. With a prior commitment, Courtney had to leave before the lift of the new antenna commenced on the following day—Friday the 13th. But this did not deter the Bradley team, now consisting of the crane operator, his spotter and members of the Radar unit. Despite subfreezing temperatures, the new antenna and gear box were mounted, rewired, aligned, fired up and certified thanks to the technicians on the ground. Not once did anyone think about the superstitions surrounding that particular Friday!
“I’m glad it went like clockwork; we all had stuff to do to get it done and we did it and air traffic is happy again. Maybe 13 is our lucky number,” said Couch. For the Bradley Radar team, it truly was!