ATC equipment problem icss position failures caused loss of communication.

Attributes
ACN	274610
Time
Date	199406
Day	Mon
Place
Locale Reference	atc facility : pae
State Reference	WA
Environment
Light	Daylight
Person 1
Affiliation	government : faa
Function	other personnel other
Qualification	controller : radar
Experience	controller military : 12 controller radar : 14
ASRS Report	274610
Person 2
Affiliation	government : faa
Function	other personnel other
Qualification	other other : other
Events
Anomaly	other anomaly other
Independent Detector	other controllera
Resolutory Action	none taken : unable
Consequence	faa : investigated
Supplementary
Primary Problem	Navigational Facility
Air Traffic Incident	other
Situations
Navigational Aid	Unspecified

Narrative:

The icss communications system at pae ATCT has failed at least 6 times in the last 8 weeks. I do not have the exact dates and times of previous failures, but today there was a failure of 2 position at about the same time. This was an extremely unsafe situation as there were numerous aircraft under the control of these 2 position. Callback conversation with reporter revealed the following information: reporter stated static electricity was causing the computer cards in the icss to fail causing loss of position. The maintenance technician looked into the problem and found it was a grounding problem. A ground system had not been installed correctly. This has been corrected. The carpet is now being sprayed with an anti-static material. Reporter stated the position failures seem to have been corrected.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ATC EQUIP PROB ICSS POS FAILURES CAUSED LOSS OF COM.

Narrative: THE ICSS COMS SYS AT PAE ATCT HAS FAILED AT LEAST 6 TIMES IN THE LAST 8 WKS. I DO NOT HAVE THE EXACT DATES AND TIMES OF PREVIOUS FAILURES, BUT TODAY THERE WAS A FAILURE OF 2 POS AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME. THIS WAS AN EXTREMELY UNSAFE SIT AS THERE WERE NUMEROUS ACFT UNDER THE CTL OF THESE 2 POS. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATED STATIC ELECTRICITY WAS CAUSING THE COMPUTER CARDS IN THE ICSS TO FAIL CAUSING LOSS OF POS. THE MAINT TECHNICIAN LOOKED INTO THE PROB AND FOUND IT WAS A GNDING PROB. A GND SYS HAD NOT BEEN INSTALLED CORRECTLY. THIS HAS BEEN CORRECTED. THE CARPET IS NOW BEING SPRAYED WITH AN ANTI-STATIC MATERIAL. RPTR STATED THE POS FAILURES SEEM TO HAVE BEEN CORRECTED.

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.