Mli controller voiced concern regarding a recent maintenance re-boot during normal working hours all...

Narrative:

Today maintenance wanted to do a re-boot of the ARTS system. A CRJ2 departed mli for dtw; was climbing out of 5;000 MSL when he was shipped to ZAU; and then maintenance re-booted the ARTS. But before we got the ARTS back; ZAU called to notify us that the CRJ2 had a TCAS RA and had to descend to miss a VFR cessna squawking 1200 and not talking to anyone. The only reason we know it was a cessna was because the CRJ2 pilot saw it when he just missed it. We were very lucky again! For years I have been complaining about maintenance taking equipment that we are using for safety; maintenance will take it out of service for maintenance. When it should be taking out of service at night when the tower is closed. But the maintenance manager refuses to have safety as priority #1; instead saving money is his first priority; and saving lives is his last priority. Once again I strongly recommend doing as much maintenance and service as possible on the equipment at night time when the tower is closed; and the equipment is not being used; and safety is not compromised.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MLI Controller voiced concern regarding a recent maintenance re-boot during normal working hours alleging these types of maintenance activities should be performed during Tower closure hours.

Narrative: Today Maintenance wanted to do a re-boot of the ARTS system. A CRJ2 departed MLI for DTW; was climbing out of 5;000 MSL when he was shipped to ZAU; and then maintenance re-booted the ARTS. But before we got the ARTS back; ZAU called to notify us that the CRJ2 had a TCAS RA and had to descend to miss a VFR Cessna squawking 1200 and not talking to anyone. The only reason we know it was a Cessna was because the CRJ2 pilot saw it when he just missed it. We were very lucky again! For years I have been complaining about maintenance taking equipment that we are using for SAFETY; Maintenance will take it out of service for maintenance. When it should be taking out of service at night when the tower is closed. But the Maintenance Manager refuses to have SAFETY as priority #1; instead saving money is his first priority; and saving lives is his last priority. Once again I strongly recommend doing as much maintenance and service as possible on the equipment at night time when the tower is closed; and the equipment is not being used; and safety is not compromised.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1019424
Time
Date	201206
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	MLI.Airport
State Reference	IL
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Airborne Conflict

Mli controller voiced concern regarding a recent maintenance re-boot during normal working hours alleging these types of maintenance activities should be performed during tower closure hours.