{"id":3563,"date":"2010-04-14T16:54:58","date_gmt":"2010-04-14T22:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/atcfreqs.com\/wpblog\/?p=3563"},"modified":"2010-04-14T16:54:58","modified_gmt":"2010-04-14T22:54:58","slug":"we-apologize-for-the-delay-in-eram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atcfreqs.com\/wp\/2010\/04\/14\/we-apologize-for-the-delay-in-eram\/","title":{"rendered":"We Apologize for the Delay (in ERAM)…"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the time being, the FAA’s En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) usage on live traffic is on hold pending what the FAA is calling a “review” of the program.<\/p>\n

Early in the week of March 22, the FAA finally gave in to pressure to stop running the faulty versions of the ERAM software on live air traffic.<\/p>\n

We were also being told that allegedly they were going to take the time to allow the program contractor (Lockheed Martin) to make software changes that would fix all the major ERAM bugs before running it again on live air traffic.<\/p>\n

But early in April, it appeared that the FAA was considering having Salt Lake Center (ZLC) run the latest ERAM software version (U4), even though they knew<\/em> it didn’t have all the necessary corrections to run reliably 24\/7.<\/p>\n

And at the same time Minneapolis Center (ZMP) had scheduled more ERAM live runs in mid April.\u00a0 Eventually those tests were canceled, but it shows there are plenty of people in the FAA ERAM program that still don’t have any problem getting right back to their practice of running versions of ERAM software they know have major bugs.<\/p>\n

Both indicate that the attitude for many within the FAA toward testing ERAM with known bugs on live traffic hasn’t changed at all, in spite of appearances that the program was going to proceed differently from this point out.\u00a0 (Maybe those individuals just didn’t “get the memo”…)<\/p>\n

Knowing the FAA I have to wonder if this delay\/”review” is really just intended to placate those who were objecting to the way the ERAM program was progressing; not a genuine inclination to change the course of ERAM deployment.<\/p>\n

Time will tell if the FAA gets right back to testing ERAM software versions they know have bugs.\u00a0 But for the time being, they appear to be taking the time to do what they should have been doing all along, which is fixing the major known bugs before trying more tests on live traffic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, facilities continue to test ERAM in the background, forcing controllers to run live traffic on their inferior backup computer system (DARC\/EDARC\/EBUS).<\/p>\n

Here’s a recap of notable ERAM Runs\/Tests at the two ERAM keysites (note that after each of the failed tests, there were software updates made):<\/p>\n