Radar Analysis Program (RAP)
An Interactive Computer Program for Radar Based Flight Path Reconstruction and Analysis
Air Traffic Control Radar Data has been recognized, for many years, as an important tool in aircraft accident investigation. Whereas Flight Data Recorder data requires specialized skills in data transcription and conversion on the part of the investigator/analyst, by comparison radar data is generally available in readily digestible formats, typically either in Range/Azimuth, X/Y or Latitude/Longitude coordinates along with the Altitude and appropriate time base. Seemingly simple coordinate conversion and direct plotting will therefore yield a series of data points which, when connected together, produce a "flight track and profile" of the aircraft's flight. By adding the time base, the "location" of the aircraft as a function of time is the end result, and "ground speeds" are apparently relatively easily calculated.
It is the seeming ease in which radar data can be acquired, plotted and referenced which is in many ways its greatest strength, but unfortunately in some instances is also its greatest shortcoming.
The most important step in a scientific or engineering analysis is that of data interpretation and understanding. Once an investigator is familiar with the measurement and computational processes that the original radar returns have been subjected to on their way to becoming the radar data listings made available by the Air Traffic Control (ATC) authorities, the investigator is better prepared to draw knowledgeable and well-founded conclusions as to what the aircraft probably experienced. Download Paper