ONTARIO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT INTRODUCES ADVANCED COMMUNITY AIRSPACE EDUCATION AND INFORMATION ON THE WEB, WITH PASSUR AIRPORTMONITOR

04/01/2004 12:00 AM

ONTARIO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT INTRODUCES ADVANCED COMMUNITY AIRSPACE EDUCATION AND INFORMATION ON THE WEB, WITH PASSUR AIRPORTMONITOR

 

(Ontario, California – April 1, 2004) Ontario International Airport (ONT) today announced the launch of the popular internet flight-tracking system for airport websites, PASSUR™ AirportMonitor™, providing residents of neighboring communities concerned about aircraft noise with information on planes landing and taking off at ONT.

The AirportMonitor program, originally designed for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) by Greenwich, Connecticut-based Megadata Corporation, was launched on the airport's website at www.lawa.org (click on Noise Management on the ONT page) on March 22nd. Users can view air traffic and flight information in near-live and replay modes -- from close to the runways all the way out to 80 miles -- from a home internet connection. The new version, AirportMonitor 2.0 Gold, adds features such as enhanced map zoom and pan detail, pause and resume, fast forward, and color coding for flights to and from multiple nearby airports. ONT is the second airport in the United States to implement the AirportMonitor 2.0 Gold version, with LAX being the first.

The program has proven to be very popular, with a record 157,000 single user sessions last month at all the AirportMonitor sites nationwide, including ONT. (Note: A single user session registers only the first time a person logs in for the day from one computer, while actual logins and "hits" range from 10 to 100 times higher.) ONT is the 18th airport using the system.

Jens Rivera, Ontario Airport Manager, said, "AirportMonitor addresses a key challenge for us: differentiating for our communities which traffic belongs to which airport, and to show and discuss traffic in and out of the terminal area with detail and precision. In a populous area like ours, with multiple nearby airports, AirportMonitor becomes a critical tool for clarification and communication. If the experience at LAX is a guide, we will see a more educated, informed community - and an airport staff that can look into and communicate about events much more quickly and effectively."

"Ontario joining the AirportMonitor family makes so much sense, given the experience at LAX," said Jim Barry, Megadata President and CEO. "We want to welcome the people served by ONT to the AirportMonitor network, which is a nationwide family of communities connected to the unique PASSUR flight information database and one with a close-knit set of interests and expectations. The family was started by LAX, which was the first airport to launch AirportMonitor."

The new version of AirportMonitor was created in close consultation with the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Noise Management Division to address the needs of the airport's neighboring communities, while keeping the program easy to use from a home internet connection. Enhancements and customized features of the premium version to which ONT subscribes include:

  • Close-in views of their residential area, for people living up to 20 miles radius from ONT
  • The ability to pause all the activity onscreen for easy lookup of information - then to instantly resume from where they left off
  • The option to replay at various speeds and to quickly advance to the point of interest
  • Distinctive color coding for flights to and from nearby airports in order to better identify and segment traffic
  • New onscreen HELP menu

AirportMonitor is based on Megadata's web-based PASSUR (passive surveillance) tracking and flight information system, which is used by more than 40 airports, including LAX, ONT and VNY, and many major airlines in the United States. The PASSUR system provides an independent source of live and historical flight graphics and data. The program allows users to:

  • See detailed traffic patterns and flight paths (flight tracks are delayed approximately 10 minutes for security)
  • Learn about the way aircraft typically flow around Southern California
  • Identify specific flights of interest
  • View all ONT arrivals and departures, and most in-transit traffic in the region including general aviation (private and charter) traffic (military flights are filtered for reasons of security)
  • Replay flight events immediately, as well as review up to three months of past flight activity
  • Identify airline and flight number, altitude, aircraft type, and airport of origin and destination (some information is available in replay only, after a one-hour delay for security purposes)
  • View aircraft activity at five, 10, 20, 40 and 80 miles around ONT.

Community residents can use flight-tracking information from the AirportMonitor system in conjunction with ONT's online Noise Complaint Form also found in the "Noise Management" page of the airport's website. Or residents can call the long-established ONT Noise Comment Line at (909) 937-2719.

LAWA is a City of Los Angeles department that owns and operates ONT and three other Southern California Airports - Los Angeles International, Van Nuys and Palmdale Regional. LAWA expects to launch the AirportMonitor system covering flight activity at Van Nuys Airport in the future for use by residents of that community.

 

 

 

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