Radar Vectoring Areas 3

10.10.2005

Submission:

PANS OPS quite clearly define Obstacle clearance. That is undoubtedly clear. What I would like to know is Radar Coverage itself. Is there any standard set, related directly to Radar coverage? If Minimum Radar Vectoring Area is defined for instance at 3500FT, and obstacle clearance is adopted according to PNAS OPS criteria (Obstacle clearance of 1000 ft or 2000 ft mauntainous terrain within 3 or 5NM), should Radar cover exactly 3500 FT, or is there some kind of buffer needed. Should Radar cover an area at 3400 FT? This question rises when Radar Coverage analysis is performed and this, especially in mountainous areas, becomes a problem. Radar Coverage analysis is usually performed with a software tool which take into account Radar position with its elevation, digital relief model, curvature of the earth and additional calculations related to nature phenomena of declination of radar Radar beam. That all makes calculation of a Radar coverage an approximation to a certain degree. I wonder if that problem is somewhere identified and some criteria set. It may also happen, that this problem is a marginal one.

Iztok Kogoj - Procedure specialist, Sloveniacontrol

Answer or Commentary:

(I.W
Possibly one could say that the 1000 ft MOC includes the radar buffer. Also the radar controller should be automatically notified when an aircraft breaks the minimum radar vectoring altitude for a sector.

If in practice, after the sectors are determined and radar identification of aircraft is lost the sectors will be quickly changed. Radar controllers hate losing radar contact.

Anybody else have any thoughts?)