Page:KAL801Finalreport.pdf/41

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Factual Information
27
Aircraft Accident Report

D-3 position from midnight to 0110, at which time he went on a break. The controller then resumed the duties of the D-3 position. (His coworker was not in the control room at the time of the accident.)

The CERAP controller stated that he was monitoring the EARTS (en route) radar display, which was set to 265 nm (but normally covers 250 nm). The controller also said that the en route radar display (which was located directly in front of him) was set to show the MSAW area in the lower right corner. (Controllers are able to set radar information to any position on the radar screen.) According to the controller, the en route radar system was displaying only secondary radar (beacon) target information[1] throughout his shift. (The system was set up that way when he relieved the previous controller on duty.) He said the en route radar system was not able to display weather information because the part of the system that would normally display such information was out of service.

Further, the CERAP controller told investigators that the TRACON radar display (which was located to his immediate right) was set to a 60-nm range. The controller also stated that the approach control radar was set to display the MSAW area in the lower center of the screen. In addition, the controller said that the approach control radar was displaying primary and secondary radar return targets[2] and areas of weather that were moving through the Guam area throughout his shift.

The CERAP controller also told investigators that the traffic complexity and density, that is, the number of aircraft under his control, from the time of initial radio contact with flight 801 (about 0103:18) to the time he advised the flight crew to contact the Agana tower (about 0140:42) was "light to moderate traffic and routine complexity." The controller estimated that he was handling 10 to 15 aircraft during that time, including flight 801. After the CERAP controller initiated the communications change (instructing flight 801 to contact the Agana tower controller), he was still responsible for radar monitoring of the flight because the Agana tower was a VFR facility and none of the criteria for automatic termination of radar service, as stated in FAA Order 7110.65, "Air Traffic Control," paragraph 5-1-13, had been met. However, the CERAP controller was no longer able to directly contact the airplane after it had switched to the Agana tower frequency. During a postaccident interview, the controller stated that he did not monitor the progress of flight 801 after the communications changeover because he was performing other duties that might have precluded further monitoring. According to the transcript from the recorded voice communications of radio and interphone lines during the period that flight 801 was in communication with the Agana tower, the CERAP controller made a radio transmission to another aircraft about 0140:54. From about 0141:14 to 0141:30, he was on the interphone with a controller at the Oakland Center. About 0142:05, the CERAP

  1. Secondary radars transmit interrogation pulses to a receiver aboard an aircraft. The radars display altitude and identity information sent from the aircraft in response.
  2. Primary radar targets only detect radar energy reflected from the structure of the aircraft itself.