ARTS IIIE equipment recycled (scattered) six times which resulted in loss of data base.

Attributes
ACN	158316
Time
Date	199009
Day	Sat
Local Time Of Day	1201 To 1800
Place
Locale Reference	atc facility : n90
State Reference	NY
Person 1
Affiliation	government : faa
Function	controller : approach
Qualification	controller : radar
Experience	controller non radar : 5 controller radar : 4
ASRS Report	158316
Events
Anomaly	other anomaly other
Independent Detector	other controllera
Resolutory Action	none taken : anomaly accepted
Consequence	faa : investigated
Supplementary
Primary Problem	ATC Human Performance
Air Traffic Incident	other
Situations
ATC Facility	other physical facility

Narrative:

There were no aircraft involved in this case. This occurred at the ny TRACON (N90). We have ARTS III east radar. When installed we were told that 'scatters' were a thing of the past. On this occurrence we had 6 consecutive scatters followed by a loss of the data base for about 5 mins resulting in unsafe conditions.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ARTS IIIE EQUIPMENT RECYCLED (SCATTERED) SIX TIMES WHICH RESULTED IN LOSS OF DATA BASE.

Narrative: THERE WERE NO ACFT INVOLVED IN THIS CASE. THIS OCCURRED AT THE NY TRACON (N90). WE HAVE ARTS III E RADAR. WHEN INSTALLED WE WERE TOLD THAT 'SCATTERS' WERE A THING OF THE PAST. ON THIS OCCURRENCE WE HAD 6 CONSECUTIVE SCATTERS FOLLOWED BY A LOSS OF THE DATA BASE FOR ABOUT 5 MINS RESULTING IN UNSAFE CONDITIONS.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.