Sea-Tac Airport is racing to tighten how every truck, van and fire rig shows up on controllers’ screens, a direct response to the March runway collision at New York’s LaGuardia Airport that killed two pilots and injured dozens. Port of Seattle officials say they are looking at adding transponders to more vehicles and installing new antennas in the ramp tower so that data flows into Federal Aviation Administration surface-tracking systems. Airport managers describe the effort as a procurement and funding push meant to reinforce the layers of protection controllers count on while federal investigators sort out what went wrong back east.
Port plans to tighten vehicle tracking
The Port of Seattle has told staff it is applying for FAA funding to pay for additional vehicle transponders and tower antennas that would sync Sea-Tac’s ramp displays with federal surface-tracking systems. The work is in the procurement phase, and no contractor has been selected, according to The Seattle Times. The Sea-Tac ramp tower, which opened in 2006…..