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March 25, 1968 Aviation DAILY Page 117

ATA REPORT HITS POOR EQUIPMENT, LACK OF PLANNING IN NEW YORK ATC SYSTEM

The New York air traffic control system is "amazingly cumbersome" and hampered by unreliable equipment and lack of overall planning, a study by the Air Transport Assn. of air traffic delays in New York says. The ATA report recommends a number of changes in equipment and procedures and says that " with proper direction and management, the present system capacity can be improved somewhat during the interim period."
The enroute system, according to the report,  "should be able to handle double the number of movements as it does today without delay" with better management, more reliable radar and radio and changes in airway and sector patterns.
An FAA spokesman said Friday the report had just been received and the agency could not comment on it until it had been studied.
"There appears to be a lack of planning on a system basis," ATA said. "Rather, air traffic control planning and procedures seems to be determined at the facility level... Conceptually, the ATC system approach has not changed since its inception...Basically the system as it exists and as it is proposed is amazingly cumbersome and becomes less and less efficient with increased demand."
A chief cause of delay is failure or malfunction of equipment, primarily radar, ATA said, and cited the joint-use military radar systems at Palerm, N.J., and Benton, Pa., as the worst elements of the system. The long-range civil radar unit at Atlantic City should be used to replace the Palermo radar, the report recommends, and FAA should start an immediate program to acquire a site and equipment to replace the Benton installation.
Changes Urged at New York Airports
The rout structure for the three major New York airports should be redesigned to served jet traffic, ATA said. Needs include more east/west routes, additional primary egress and ingress routes for each airport, more offshore airspace, automated altitude information and/or climb and decent corridors, fewer holding patterns and a new holding pattern over or near John F. Kennedy Airport at 24,000 ft. and above.
Delays at JFK vary from "little" to "extensive," ATA said, and added that, unless "disruptive elements affecting capacity" are corrected, "the advantages to be gained in further expansion of this airport would be neutralised, if not negated." The preferential runway system and noise abatement procedures, named by ATA as the principal cause of Kennedy delays, should be "re-examined" in an effort to "provide a more equitable balance between air traffic flow and noise abatement," the report said.
Other recommended improvements at JFK include installation of the long-planned instrument landing system on Runway 13L, additional ILSes, use of Runways 13 and 31 as parallel, revised departure and arrival procedures, elimination of operations at Floyd Bennett Naval Air Station, timing taxiway construction to permit maximum traffic flow, and discontinuing non-emergency aircraft towing between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m.
Problems of general aviation traffic in busy areas like New York could be lessened by eliminating special VFR in such terminal areas, establishing positive control for all traffic entering the areas, providing additional facilities for general aviation traffic and setting higher standards for pilot proficiency, ATA said.

DOMESTIC RPM'S TO INCREASE BY 15 PERCENT IN 1968, CAB STAFF STUDY FORECASTS
Rvenue passenger-miles (RPMs) for the domestic operations of the 11 major trunk carries should increase by 15 percent over the 71 billion RPM's flown in 1967, according to a CAB staff forecast. The unofficial study, entitled "Forecast for 1968 of Scheduled Domestic Passenger Traffic for the Trunk Airline Carriers," assumes that current rates of economic growth will continue throughout the year. The study also projects a one percent decrease in yield for 1968 which reflects "the likely impact of expanding use of promotional fares, etc.," the report said.