On the morning of February 3rd, the last Plan Position Indicator at North Bay Approach went dark. Not with a spark or a slow fade — just a click, a hum from the backup bus, and then nothing. The screen held its green afterglow for almost four seconds.
I spent two weeks inside the facility documenting the replacement of every CRT radar display with flat-panel workstations running Vector terminal automation. The new screens are brighter, sharper, and more reliable. They are also, in a way no specification can capture, not the same.
The Geometry of Trust
The circular scope mirrors the rotating beam itself. Aircraft appear as bright blips on a dark field, described by range and bearing from the center. Controllers learned the display by pattern, instinct, and accumulated hours.
“You didn’t read the scope. You felt the traffic picture before the callsigns arrived.”