Review of Communication Links at National Airport Is Launched
Technicians began a review of radar communication links at National Airport, following a series of malfunctions.
At the same time, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a contractor on Friday to install a direct link between the airport tower at National and a backup radar system at nearby Andrews Air Force Base.
The move followed an incident Thursday afternoon when flight information from the National Airport radar became unavailable and controllers were unable to immediately switch to the backup system at Andrews.
When the malfunction occurred, controllers had radar screens that still showed the positions of the airplanes, but did not include such data as the identity, altitude and speed of each plane.
Until they were able to get connected to the backup radar, controllers directed planes to stay at least 20 miles apart, rather than the usual 3-mile interval.
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