RADAR BREAKDOWN RAISES FINANCIAL AND SAFETY

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 001850

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR, DEPT FOR FAA WASHDC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAIR FAA PREL DR
SUBJECT: RADAR BREAKDOWN RAISES FINANCIAL AND SAFETY
CONCERNS


1. (SBU) Summary: The Dominican Republic is currently
operating without radar redundancy for tracking inbound and
outbound flights into Dominican airspace. The radar has been
out of service for roughly six months and has suffered
repeated breakdowns over the course of the past four years.
The radar's failure is causing a financial burden to U.S. air
carriers by extending flight times and has raised air safety
concerns due to the air traffic controllers' use of a back-up
manual radio relay system. On August 7, Post sent a letter
to the Dominican Civil Aviation Institute (IDAC) expressing
its concern and requesting a status report on IDAC's efforts
to repair or replace the radar. End Summary.

2. (SBU) Andrew O'Brian, the operations manager for the
private airport management company (Aerodom) for Santo
Domingo's Las Americas Airport, recently complained to
EconOff that the country's sole radar system is out of
service. The Director of Air Navigation Services for IDAC,
Santiago Rosa, told EconOff that IDAC is aware of the problem
and working to fix the system. However, O'Brian stated that
his company's efforts to get IDAC to repair or replace the
radar system have been consistently unsuccessful and that
IDAC has been very slow to respond to the problem. The radar
design in question, which was manufactured by a French
company, is reportedly no longer in production, thus making
repairs particularly difficult to procure. At the moment the
radar has been out of operation for approximately six months,
but it has suffered repeated outages over the past four
years.

Financial and Safety Impacts of Radar Inoperability
-------------- --------------


3. (SBU) According to the Country Director for American
Airlines in the Dominican Republic, Rafael Sanchez, the lack
of radar redundancy means that all American Airlines flights
are being re-routed to one of their contingency routes in
order to bring them into the country through the eastern part
of the island. The eastern Punta Cana Airport, which is
privately owned, purchased its own radar following continued
problems with the country's sole radar at Las Americas
Airport. The Dominican civil aviation authorities are
therefore relying on this airport's private radar while it
resolves its radar system problem. The consequence of this
re-routing, however, is that all flights are taking
approximately 13 to 15 minutes longer than necessary in the
air. In addition to the inconvenience this causes to
passengers, it is a growing financial burden for the
airlines, according to Sanchez.


4. (SBU) Although there have not yet been any pilot safety
reports filed indicating that the back-up manual radio relay
system has presented a safety hazard, at least according to
Continental and American Airlines Dominican representatives,
O'Brian warned that a similar manual relay system has been a
contributing factor in previous airline safety incidents.
O'Brian pointed to the potential for human error in having
pilots report their positions via radio instead of relying on
redundant radar systems to confirm locations, and noted that
the spacing between aircraft has been expanded from 10 miles
to 25 miles as a precaution.

Impact on Dominican Republic's Counternarcotics Efforts
-------------- --------------


5. (SBU) The radar system the Dominican Republic has
currently serves both the civilian air traffic controllers
and the military, although the information sharing
arrangement between the two is unclear. As such, the radar's
failure presents problems for the Dominican government's
counternarcotics efforts and military operations. As
reported in a story on the CNN website on July 11, the
radar's inoperability is threatening the Dominican
government's ability to track drug trafficking flights.
Despite the announcement of the purchase of 8 SuperTucano
turboprop interdiction aircraft from Brazil last month there
seems to be very little urgency being placed on repairing or
replacing the radar, which would allow the Dominican Republic
to track these illicit flights and enable the new
SuperTucanos to operate effectively and safely. However, even
if the radar is restored to its full operability its outdated
technology will still inhibit fully effective tracking of
these illicit flights.


6. (SBU) Post expressed its concerns to IDAC in a letter
dated August 7 from the Charge d'Affaires to the Director of
IDAC, Dr. Norje Botello. Any substantive response will be
reported septel.
BULLEN