Word: radars
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...exactly what he was supposed to do," said Tom Doyle, an assistant air-traffic manager at the main airport. As for the Mooney, Doyle said, "I don't know where that aircraft was." Investigators said the Mooney may have been "squawking" with a transponder -- a device that amplifies its radar reflection -- since printouts indicate its blip may have appeared on one radar screen. If so, why had the controller not warned the commuter pilot? A possible explanation: the Mooney was not transmitting information on its altitude, and thus the danger was not apparent...
...Mooney pilot, moreover, had not checked in with controllers as required. "He busted the ARSA," said Don Moffit, a Salt Lake City tower manager, referring to the Airport Radar Service Area in which all planes must be directed by controllers...
Three days after the Libyan raid last week, French fighter-bombers struck the Libyan air base at Ouadi-Doum, knocking out an elaborate radar complex. The Libyans were caught by surprise because the French, flying almost at dune level, had escaped radar detection. The following day Libya responded with an aerial attack on the small town of Kouba Olanga, just south of the 16th parallel...
There are other problems. Pilots bringing the B-1B to treetop level found that the ground-tracking radar, designed to keep the plane from slamming into hills, was inadequate. The system jerked the B-1B up and down, causing considerable internal stress. Fuel consumption turned out to be enormous, particularly when the pilot kicked in the afterburner to accelerate through enemy defenses, raising doubts whether the plane can even reach its targets. So many difficulties emerged in flying the aircraft that some 40% of the training missions have had to be scrubbed...
...most critical deficiency is the failure of the sophisticated electronic countermeasure devices -- the "black boxes" designed to jam antiaircraft radar and missiles. So dissatisfied is the Pentagon with the equipment that it is withholding payments to the manufacturer, Eaton Corp. Shortcomings in the jamming hardware, for example, have triggered difficulties with other elements of the aircraft's computer "brain," with unforeseeable consequences. Some $104 million of the money requested for repairing the B-1B is earmarked for this software system. Last week Eaton tacitly confirmed its problems with the black box by ousting the manager of the B-1B electronics...