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Factual Information 87 Aircraft Accident Report

1.16 Tests and Research

1.16.1 Radar Data Information

The Safety Board reviewed radar data obtained from the FAA (long-range and
airport surveillance radar [ASR]), military, and private sites for evidence of a missile or a
midair collision. Additionally, the Board used radar information, where possible, to locate
and track pieces of the airplane as they fell to the water, to help define the path of the
airplane wreckage. The Board used long-range radar data recorded at FAA radar sites at
Trevose, Pennsylvania; Riverhead, New York; and North Truro, Massachusetts. The
long-range radar systems at each of these sites are capable of recording data within about a
200-nm radius of the site and completing a 360° sweep about every 12 seconds.173 In
addition, the Board used ASR data from five FAA radar sites, which are located at the
following airports: JFK; Newark International Airport, Newark, New Jersey; Long Island
MacArthur Airport, Islip, New York; Westchester County Airport, White Plains, New
York; and Stewart International Airport, Newburgh, New York. Each ASR site is capable
of recording data within about 60-nm radius of the site and completing a 360° sweep about
every 4.7 seconds. The Board also reviewed radar data recorded at the Sikorsky Aircraft
plant in Stratford, Connecticut. These radar data were fed into the Sikorsky plant from the
FAA's Riverhead, New York, radar site and from Sikorsky's own radar site in Shelton,
Connecticut. The Sikorsky radar site is capable of recording data within about a 60-nm
radius of the site and completing a 360° sweep about every 4 seconds.

At the Safety Board's request, recorded radar data were also obtained from the
sites of the USAF's 84th Radar Evaluation Squadron (84 RADES). The 84 RADES uses
the same long-range antennas as the FAA (at Trcvosc, Riverhead, and North Truro) to
gather the raw radar returns. However, the USAF had modified the radar system at North
Truro and used its own processing software, which allowed the 84 RADES to estimate the
altitude of primary targets.174 The North Truro radar system recorded a primary target at a
location that was consistent with the trajectory of the accident airplane just after the last
transponder return from the accident airplane was recorded; this target had an estimated
altitude of 14,400 feet. Because of accuracy limitations,175 this radar data could not be
used to determine whether the accident airplane climbed after the nose separated. (Many
of the subsequent primary returns recorded a value of 102,000 feet, which, according to
the 84 RADES, is a flag denoting that the radar was unable to estimate the height of the
target even though a position was determined.)

173 The data recorded at these three radar sites were fed to Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C.,
ARTCCs; to U.S. Navy sites; and to a private site operated by Sikorsky Aircraft.
174 At the time of the TWA flight 800 accident, only the North Truro radar system had been modified to
record altitude data for primary returns.
' 7 < T h c published accuracy for the recorded altitude values is +/- 3.000 feet; however, the error can
increase significantly when the range of the radar target increases beyond 100 nm, as was the case with the
accident airplane. According to the 84 RADES, the height estimations of higher targets (that is, 20,000 feet
nisi and above) were more accurate than the recorded height estimations of targets near the accident
airplane's altitude.