2005-03-16 - Rota (??) (Spain) - Unknown

Ok first im an air traffic controller we have a radar system we use here called a PAR or precision approach radar. its a steady beam analog radar system aka what you see is what you get..

we were sitting in radar doin some equip checks ona bright sunny day when i see a target on the radar ..

Now the par has two parts the screen the elevation which is depicted by a 10 degree line running across the top half of the screen ( you use this to tell the pilot how high or low he is in relation to the angle of attack for the approach to the runway) and another line (straight) depecting the center of the runway you use this to tell him if he is left or right of centerline..

so basically two targets for each plane one from each "beam" of radar..

Well lo and behold if the par is not painting one helluva a target ( the target size depends on how much return it is recieving) about the same id say as a c-5 galaxy.. as the radar supervisor im like wtf? i call the tower the target is at 5 miles and im like do you guys have someone shooting a ILS ( we have Instrument landing system aka big microwave sytem that lets the pilot fly his own precision approach) to the same runway and the angle of attack is similar .. Tower response we have nothing and see nothing...

I check our search radar ASR-11 aka the REAL big radar you see in movies like pushing tin etc basically anything bigger than a moped and above 100ft msl it picks up... NADDA no target no iff (identify friend or foe or squak im notgoing into detail but those who know will go ok no secondary) now this same par we have is able to pick up some other "Stealth" a/c ive seen it first hand so im freaked out as the "target" got to the approach end of the runway stopped and shot up!!!!! The reason this is crazy is again the par is anolog... no digital target anomlies are gonna happen it painted something big and umm sorry birds dont stay on course and glidepath for 10 miles!!!! not done yet .... so all 4 people in radar who see this are like wtf .. 15 minutes later call form the tower.. a EF2000 is inbound ??? huh we never get those.. and he wants to shoot a PAR to the same runway? WHA? we have a 10,000 ft ceiling and no vis problems? and its 1 in the afternoon... so the ef checks in we vecotr him for the approach prior to turning him to final the pilot says thanks for the approach i quip well at least you asked! :).. no reply lol well we tracked mr ef2k he did his approach climed to 10k and took off at 340knts for the atlantic went there nice and leve 10k over the atlantic then all of a sudden turned north and shot off at well lets just say not legal speeds towards sevillia to the north just west of there he starts climbing and decending at a rate that made me quesy ( i dont envy the approach controller tryin to keep traffic out of his way...

here is the flipside out over the ocean we have warning areas setup for the military guys to go play around why the feck would he fly level at 10k over WATER and then go all roller coaster tycoon over residential areas and in between commercial traffic? trust me as an air traffic controller that was the strangest thing ive ever seen...