Just getting warmed up.

Life can sure be as unpredictable as the weather.

I had a last minute trip to Denver last week. It was mostly unplanned, but went well. There were two of us flying out there, and only myself on the return red-eye back to Boston, to the betterment of all involved. I'll let you figure that one out.

The week since has been quite the learning experience. I'd like to say its been typical summer weather, except for the "worst night ever" part. Wednesday and Thursday night were long and hard with lots of weather and holding. Aircraft remained ground stopped till TMU went home around 11:30 on both nights. I stayed till 2am the first night, watching BDL and EWR arrivals spin around in circles, in bumpy IMC, I might add. I was just glad I was getting paid overtime to sit at Albany sector, instead in one of those planes. A few of them eventually got in, but most of them ran low on fuel and diverted.

At one point, we were holding 7 HPNs over ART since the stack at RKA was full of them already. JFK's didn't fare much better, and EWR was still holding when I left. For the first time this year, the line of storms hardly had any holes, and with the storms sitting right on top of the NY Metro, airports were down for the count most of the night. My buddy Sam had a 5pm flight out of JFK, and when he called me on my last break around 11pm, he was still on the plane, on the ground at JFK. I guess the left seat on that 8pm flight out of MSP had to find another captain.

Thursday went a little better, since the storms moved off the coast of Maine a little after dinner. I was able to escape without overtime the rest of the week, which was good, since I've been under the weather since I've been back from my trip. By Friday, I was scraping by without my A-game.

I'll be busy the next week or two moving across town, but I try to find a few minutes to keep ya'll updated.

DM

Installment Number 1

These come from Capt. Chris while flying a King Air around central Texas on June 29th.





DM

Mammatus, and a free car wash.

I enjoyed my lone day off, and while it wasn't nearly as long of a day as I'd hoped for, it was decent enough.

I headed down to Boston, got some lunch, watched some planes at Logan, and then got some good views of some thunderstorms as they headed southeast out to sea. The strong sea breeze blew in the ocean air, and it was very relaxing from atop the central parking garage. The drive home offered some quiet time in traffic as a storm passed over, offering the free car wash.

I have done some storm chasing back when I lived in Denver, and even though there isn't much to chase around here in the northeast, I still get to soak up some towering cumulus clouds now and again. And this got me thinkin':

I don't really know who my readership is for certain, though a few comments here and there are cluing me in (thanks for them all). I hope there are a bunch of pilots out there who read occasionally, and I invite them to read this post and consider this blogger's request for more cumulonimbus satisfaction.

Note above that I said I storm chased, as opposed to tornado chased. I've seen a tornado or two, but semantics aside, huge thunderstorms are amongst the most awe-inspiring events nature can conjure up. The only thing that beats a thunderstorm from the ground is a thunderstorm from a safe distance when airborne. This is where you, the pilot, comes in. I often read a blog called FL390. The posts often include a picture or two from the flight deck looking out at something interesting (often times, weather related), and the blog reflects upon the moment and how it was handled from a flight crew perspective. I really can't get enough of the thunderstorm pics.

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I invite all pilots out there, when possible (I certainly don't expect safety to be compromised!), to snap a shot or two of thunderstorms next time you're deviating around one, and then send them in to Nas-Confusion. If I can get a bunch of good ones, I'll post them periodically here, and add some color and light to this dim blog. Pics can be submitted in .gif, .jpeg, or .png form, zipped preferably, and emailed to deltamike172@Hotmail.com. Hopefully we can spread the beauty of mother nature at her finest this summer. I look forward to any and all you can find.

P.S. This invitation is open to passengers as well! Please include location, date, time, and any other info about the flight you want (Airline, Aircraft, route of flight, etc).

P.P.S The subject line of the email should be "Blog Thunderstorm Pics". Thanks!
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DM

Going to nEWRk?

I get into work today at 7am sharp. At 7:05am, I'm sitting at DNY sector with one airplane. And it's trying to get to Newark. Area E has already been shut off by New York Approach, and they have 10 of them spinning. So I take mine and assign holding as well. Fantastic.

Later in the day, at Albany (ALB) sector, I'm working the standard international arrival rush to Newark around 11am. This time, they're running smoothly, for the most part. Cumulus clouds are starting to build, but no one is deviating yet, and there are lots of VFR planes cruising around. We spot one of them northwest of Albany at 16500 feet acting like a decent twin prop plane. Its flying south right along V213 (the arrival route that we deliver the Newarks to Area E at 16000 feet). Meanwhile, I'm getting pretty busy with BDL departures crossing Manchester arrivals, mixed in with a prop or two and a Quonset, RI arrival.

The Newarks start coming in droves, each one higher and faster than the one before. My D-side-in-training calls the high sector to get control to slow them down, since the downstream sector just called and wants 250 knots on all the Newarks. There is a TEB and HPN arrival in the mix converging with the Newarks from the east, and they must get down below everyone else. The VFR traffic is 10 miles south of ALB, still at 16500, and I have to get these two biz-jets down to 14000 quickly so I can get the Newark jets down below the VFR. The last thing I want to do is have to go over the top of a VFR prop with a B767. This is where the link to the definition of wake turbulence would go.

The first two get down no problem, keeping their speed up until they level at 16000, then I assign 250 knots. The high sector has assigned the oncoming string 310 knots, and now the compression is really getting tight. I need to slow them to 250 knots first, and then have them descend, but they can't stay high for too long, or they'll nail the VFR guy along the airway. I am talking constantly, stepping all the traffic down on top of other traffic, and calling traffic advisories to the Newarks as they narrowly descend under the VFR. I wonder if that pilot every saw the B767s fly 500 feet below at less than a mile laterally. I hope he got a good show.

Another day shift in the books. Two more to go this week.

DM

Missing out on all the fun.

I had two days off this last week (first since January, so it feels weird) and flew to Nashville to meet up with my parents who are on a typical summer road trip. Denver-Laredo, TX-Nashville-Atlanta-Denver. We ate some good food, listened to some "good" country music (it actually was pretty decent), and enjoyed sweltering in the heat. I flew out there Saturday morning. The reroute around storms in the DC9 was entertaining, and then we narrowly survived a line of thunderstorms descending back into Manchester on Tuesday night. No more summer flying for a while, I promised myself. Pilots are crazy.

Since then, my new schedule has avoided most of the weather coming through the area. Not ALL of it, mind you, but definitely the worst of it. With summer travel season upon us, even the airline cutbacks has been hard to notice. And with more controllers taking vacation or retiring, the supervisors are forced to let me work more traffic either one-holed or without a tracker than they have in the past.

All the storms tend to build around the NY/PA border on the southern edge or our airspace, so aircraft often get rerouted up over Canada and Lake Ontario. This adds a plethora of descending eastbound traffic that have Miles-in-Trail requirements to the NY Metro to cross the SYR area in the sector that works all the westbound climbing departures. That sector can work a lot of airplanes, but when these "Can(ada) East" reroutes are in affect, the frequency often overflows with aircraft checking in on two different frequencies. Toronto Centre only puts aircraft on 135.25 and all the westbound traffic gets 123.87. Sometimes you just wish everyone would shut up, and if the rides are bad, I'll gladly take the D-side.

The weather has consistently been the worst on Saturday night. This night is generally the slowest, traffic wise, although, when a huge line of storms go over every major Northeast airport at the same time, the planes stack up in a hurry. On my old schedule that I had during training, I would have worked every one of these crazy Saturday nights. This year, I'm going home at 2:30pm, leaving the scramble to my old crew mates. I return Sunday morning to hear fun stories about refusing handoffs from Canada, and how there were 7, no, make it 9 planes holding over ART (and by the afternoon, they had been holding 12!) and the narrowly avoided mid-airs. I can't help but appreciate my new schedule a little more each day.

The only other weather I worked was as a D-side at Albany. It was steady traffic, but the constant flow was almost enjoyable, as my R-side and I work well together. The BDL arrivals were few and far between, as they were quickly cut off by a blob of storms 20 northwest of the field. This weather also got in the way of the few PVD arrivals we had, but a point out to Kingston sector solved that deviation. BDL departures occasionally would depart with hope of finding a hole, and would often enter our airspace about 30 miles west of normal, and we'd cut them direct SYR since they were head on with EWR arrivals. EWRs were deviating west of a storm over ALB, and the LGA and HPN arrivals would go east of it, affording us "Cumulonimbus separation." ALB departures were also few and far between, and the northeast bound headings were weird, as they normally fly a northwest heading initially. The situation was never out of control, and planes were clearly flying between the precipitation depicted on our scope, so we were able to keep a good plan the whole time. I left to go home soon after, leaving behind a chaotic energy of controllers, airplanes, and uncertain deviations and reroutes...

DM

Failed and Forgotten

Another busy week has passed. Albany claimed our area's first operational error in the last 290 days. We had the longest running streak in the center. Now to begin another one, though they seem to happen in bunches.

The only other hubbub of note involves a little airport in upstate NY. The story begins when someone realized that Massena (MSS) VOR was unreliable at low altitude. Approaches to MSS, Malone (MAL, the airport in question) and Cornwall in Canada were immediately deemed unsafe and made unavailable. The FAA sent in flight check aircraft to survey the scope of the limited use of MSS VOR. Flight check concluded that MSS was unusable below 10000 feet (we only own 6000 and below) and they shut it down to supposedly fix it. Then they sent us a notice that SOME of the airways around MSS would have a minimum en route altitude of 10000 when MSS came back on the air, an increase of 5000 feet in some places. Meanwhile, MSS is still broke and shut down.

There is a little used rule in the 7110.65 that is outdated and needs revising. In a nutshell, it states that any aircraft that is non-radar (in this case, below radar coverage) and/or does not have a GPS/FMS to navigate by cannot be cleared anywhere it can not receive a ground based radio aid signal. The rule is complicated, and very inconvenient. Someone upstairs in Saftey Assurance has started cracking down on this rule being used when we give clearances out of MSS, PTD, OGS, and MAL. Since MSS is dead "indefinitely", we are forced to clear ALL aircraft departing these airports to navaids that are within range of the airport when the aircraft enters controlled airspace (about 1200 feet about the ground, give or take). OGS has the OG radio beacon; PTD has an associated beacon as well. MSS has MISSE outer marker. All of these beacons are issued as clearance limits on departure, with no delay expected, and the radar controller must then clear the aircraft beyond the beacon once the aircraft is radar identified. This increases workload significantly.

MAL doesn't have a beacon. No other VOR or beacon is close enough to be used appropriately. Keep in mind, when these aircraft are forced to be cleared short to these beacons, they are mostly all equipped with GPS, and subsequently cleared to far off points via direct routing, as if to spite the very rule we're so concerned about breaking. The rule shouldn't apply to GPS equipped aircraft, but the rule hasn't been updated lately.

So, after considering all options, we decided that we were unable to issue an IFR clearance off MAL airport in any direction. Aircraft would be forced to depart VFR and then receive clearance once airborne. When the weather is marginal, this is widely considered much less safe than having an IFR clearance before taking the runway for departure. In addition, there are mountains to the east and south of MAL airport. The preferred procedure would be to clear aircraft direct MSS (northwest of the field) and then on course (away from the higher terrain). Keep in mind, an actual VOR signal is not required to navigate to a VOR with a GPS. All the fixes are stored in a GPS so that it can be overflown regardless of its operational status. This is allowed in radar coverage, but for some reason, flying direct to a broken VOR isn't allowed below radar coverage.

We haven't cleared an aircraft off MAL airport in months, so all of this was brushed off with a "don't worry, this won't ever be a factor anyway, no one flies out of MAL". Lo and behold, no less than an hour after this realization that we can't clear anyone out of MAL, an aircraft needs a clearance because the clouds are low enough that the pilot can fly VFR east over the mountains. "Unable" is the reply. So Safety Assurance scrambles for a solution. They decide that Plattsburgh (PLB, about 40 southeast of MAL) is usable for this departure procedure rule (officially known as Nav-aid use limitations). Montpelier sector is called to block for the departure, and they note that Burlington approach control owns about 15 miles east of MAL. Our sector doesn't have a line to ask them to block either, so we ask around and figure out a way to dial their number. They begrudgingly approved the block and we issue the clearance.

A few hours later, another aircraft requests IFR clearance from MAL to somewhere in Wisconsin. We get Montpelier and Burlington to block for the departure, and issue the clearance "cleared via revised routing, direct Plattsburgh, direct London (Ontario), then as filed, etc etc". The pilot of course is scratching is head why he has to fly eastbound towards mountains instead of flying westbound towards low terrain and his destination. Ultimately, it becomes more of a climbing right turn loop departure, as the jet is quickly radar identified and turned on course. While the rules are being followed, and the staff folks are happy upstairs, its hard to believe breaking the rules wouldn't make the world a safer place for the pilots departing westbound out of MAL.

The next day, Burlington refuses to block all the way to PLB, and we have to refuse IFR clearance again. I never found out what happened, as it was right before my time to go home. I'm sure he's safe, somewhere.

DM

Wednesday is the new Monday.

For me at least. Whether or not I like my new schedule, one thing is for certain: My first day at work is a lot busier now than on my old schedule (Saturday night). I can't ease into my Monday anymore. I gotta bring my A-game. This Wednesday was no exception.

There was lots of training going on (5 different positions) and I ended up rotating through all positions except Albany D. I never worked anywhere for more than a half hour because there was always training resuming or ending somewhere that forced me to switch around. This does make the night go pretty quick. I spent lots of time on position, but I was always changing things up, keeping things new and exciting.

A weak front passed through the area during the shift, so the rides where crappy everywhere, and it was pretty busy (not a good combo). Pilots keep complaining, and then all the traffic gets forced into using only a few available, relatively smooth, altitudes, which makes things very complicated. Speeds get assigned when normally a different altitude would allow normal speeds. The hardest part is all the questions and lack of answers, or lack of good answers, depending on the location. Its hard to get everyone to just be quiet. The turbulence has to go on the back-burner occasionally so we can separate the aircraft first, and then worry about the rides second. And then we have to teach all the newbies how to communicate in this crazy environment.

Soon they'll learn you gotta tell the pilot as much as possible when they check in, so they don't interrupt with questions later: "United 1234, Boston Center roger, expect light chop ahead most altitudes, and I'll have lower in 15 miles clear of traffic." "United 1234, Roger thanks sir."

This long speech is required for everyone as they check in, lest the conversation goes something like this: "United 1234 with you FL350" "United 1234 boston center roger" "How are the rides ahead at 350 and lower for United 1234?" "United 1234, they're a little better down lower" "Roger, United 1234, can we get lower then" "United 1234, expect lower in 15 miles" "united 1234 thanks." Do that times 20. Or loose your mind. Its up to you.

Other than the rides, the highlight of the shift came at Rockdale high sector, when an aircraft was westbound at FL400. There was converging traffic at FL400 coming from NY Center, so I took the aircraft down to FL390. There was a bunch of traffic eastbound at FL370. Another jet was climbing just north of them on a heading to miss everyone climbing to FL390. Just then, as Cleveland Center takes the hand off on the westbound at FL390, that aircraft advises that their primary autopilot has malfunctioned, and they are no longer allowed to use 1000 feet separation (Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum, or RVSM). While this doesn't pose a threat to my aircraft in MY sector, there is traffic at FL400 about 20 miles ahead (the reason I went to FL390 in the first place). This jet is now required to get out of RVSM airspace (FL290-FL400) as soon as possible and certainly can't get within 5 miles of the traffic only 1000 feet above at FL400. So I stop the eastbound climber at FL370, I turn the non-RVSM biz-jet hard right to the north, and coordinate with Cleveland, giving them control to descend this guy once he's clear of all the eastbound traffic he just gave me at FL370.

Its amazing how a simple problem can get tricky at just the right/worst time. I've been fully checked out now for 4 months, and I've seen 2 emergencies, 2 rapid decompression descents, a few medical issues, this RVSM issue, and one aircraft had a collapsed gear on the runway after I cleared him for approach. I'm starting to think I should call in sick more...

DM

bore-D

Its been a slow and rather boring week. I was scheduled (I use that term lightly, as my "schedule" changes weekly and often changes with little notice at the last minute) to help out in the simulators on Wednesday, running radar for two D-school students who are coming to the area to start training next week. I can't say I was impressed by their performance, but luckily we're not paying them anything to not do well. That last part was meant to be bitter and sarcastic at the same time, a new skill I'm learning....

Back on the floor Thursday night, I worked mostly as a D-side, since there is real radar training going on at two of the four open sectors most of the time. Traffic has been light due to the cloudy weather and thunderstorms in the Midwest. Once Memorial Day hits, I'll gladly take a D-side position, but until then, I'm just struggling to stay awake. There have been a few interesting moments watching the trainees attempt to separate airplanes, but nothing spectacular. The rides have been crummy lately, and the new radar controllers often have trouble keeping control of the frequency, with all the pilots constantly asking how the rides are. With that said, experienced radar controllers can have the same problem, but we don't get nearly as flustered for the most part.

I was able to off-load my Mid shift on another controller (at his request, so he can go to the Sox game on Sunday), and when all was said and done, I had three day shifts to end the week (ooooo...ahhhhh).

The highlight of my last few days was one of the few sessions I actually got to talk to airplanes. There wasn't all that much going on at DNY sector, but I did have to hold 3 LGA arrivals over RKA. Enjoy the results here, here and here.

DM

Willy Nilly

I don't use this term in real life, but it perfectly describes what was going on today.

I will admit, I was feeling a little weird today. My clearances weren't crisp and smooth as I'd hoped. I was a little mumbley, if that's a word. I had a lot of incorrect read backs on any frequency ending in 'two'. I don't know why. I even started slowing them down and making sure they were clear and concise. Nothing. No one was listening today.

To top it off, I had a few instances where a pilot would actually read the whole thing back correct...and then either forget to do it, or not do it at all, or do something completely different. I don't get it.

1 - "Cross one one zero miles west, a hundred and ten on this side of Gardner, at and maintain FL290." "Roger, cross one hundred ten on this side of Gardner at two nine oh." Whoo hooo, he got it. I hand the plane off to the next sector, and lo and behold, 110 miles west of GDM, they're still out of FL314. Not even close. Stuff like that really isn't my fault.

2 - Routed direct MaSSena, then the CYRIL8 arrival to Ottawa. "Due to military airspace, cleared to Ottawa via direct BUGSY (I spell it phonetically), direct MSS, rest of route unchanged" "Roger, cleared direct BUGSY, MSS rest unchanged" Excellent. He turns a little to the right as planned. Ten minutes later, he's paralleling his new on-course heading and not quite heading to BUGSY. "Verify direct to BUGSY at this time?" "Affirmative, Center". "Roger, contact Boston Center on 135.7". "Roger, good night". A few minutes later, that next sector calls me back asking why that pilot was flying direct Saranac Lake. "Uh, he confirmed twice he was direct BUGSY" "Rgr".

Thats all we need: A bunch of pilots just flying around Willy Nilly, doing what they please. Did someone say "Pilot deviation!?"

DM

Its beginnging to feel alot like the summertime-without the summer.

This past week was definitely the busiest of the year around here. For the first time in a long time, I had a tracker (3rd set of eyes, either does all the talking or does all the typing) on one session, and then became the tracker the next session. Its all very exhilarating for the most part. The atmosphere changes, the little side conversations end, and the tension gets a tad thicker. Everyone starts concentrating a little more.

This first busy session wasn't THAT bad, really. Utica was combined with Watertown sector, as normal. Each sector has its own frequency, so we continually listen to, and transmit on, both. This causes aircraft to talk over each other sometimes, but we learn to deal with it. Utica's main frequency site was down for maintenance so we were using the backup, which conveniently became unusable right as a bunch of westbound overflights started checking in. I couldn't hear anyone, so we got everyone on that frequency to switch to Watertown's, and then spread the word to all the surrounding sectors to use the one good frequency only. For whatever reason, all the IAD landers were coming over SYR, and I had 30 miles in trail. Nothing a few vectors wouldn't fix. I turned a few CLE arrivals for spacing as well, and then said goodbye to everyone. The third issue were the rides. No one liked FL320, 340 or 360. So, while I would have gotten all the IADs down to FL300, the DCA would have stayed at FL280, and everyone else would have just gone over the top, instead, everyone wanted FL280 and FL300. That obviously wouldn't work, and it was hard to tell where the IAD vectors would take them in relation to the westbound overflights, so a lot of guys just had to stay at FL240 and FL260, in the interest of air safety. The rides were smooth, so they didn't complain much.

The second part of our fun afternoon came at Delancy(DNY)/Hancock(HNK) sector combined up. The frequencies worked, so that was good. We needed them. I had never been the actual tracker before. I had always been there as the radar controller already and done all the talking, standing behind the tracker sitting at the keyboard. This time, I got to sit and type. This is fine by me, I can hold my own on the keyboard. I have heard other controllers recall that back when we used strips all the time, they knew when they couldn't take it anymore if they didn't have time to write on the strips as they talked. I have come to realize the new generation will find our limit when we can't type fast enough to keep up with our own words and thoughts. As the tracker, I quickly realized that it was MY job to take hand offs, something I hadn't really pondered before. I figured my radar controller would yell at me when they couldn't take it anymore. This presents a problem in relation to how we're trained to take hand offs. As a controller, anytime you take a hand off from another sector, we know what we have to do with that airplane. Then we have to figure out HOW we're going to accomplish it. Either: 1- we don't have to do anything. 2- it'll be no problem or 3- how on earth are we gonna make this happen. Should I just start talking hand offs with wild abandon!?

As I sat there, the three of us all collectively contemplated how ugly this could get. Delancy's issue is that all the planes have to descend at either other or parallel to each other, and we often require high rates of decent to make it all happen. Its very disconcerting when you have to start descending a plane from FL260 to FL220, but the plane that is going UNDER that plane is still out of FL330. But if you don't start the first one down now, they'll never get to FL190 once the second one is level at FL180.

So, the situation is this: Get the SWF lander down to 17000 now and then he can cross DNY at 11000 at his leisure. Then get the EWR lander down to FL180 but not before the AVP guy gets down to 16000, over the SWF lander. The HPN arrivals also need to step down over the EWR and AVP down to FL180. They all need to get under a PIT going against the flow west over HNK at FL260. Then the PHL needs to somehow cross them all on the way from FL260 to FL190. That's the MAIN issue, as we also have ALB arrivals not really getting in anyones way, and a LGA arrival that we'll just leave above the PHL. There are a few other props slowly moving at 15000 just to keep the scope adequately cluttered. The radar controller does a fine job, and 20 minutes later, I'm off to relieve the RKA radar controller. Its a nice little warm up to what promises to be a long summer of brutal traffic.

DM

Down In A Hole

Happiness is:

Sitting in the back corner of the area, one-holing Albany sector after all the Newark overseas arrivals are gone. The area is dim to begin with, but where ALB is situated back there seems to encourage the eyes to continue its scan elsewhere. Don't mind me, I'm just quietly letting the rest of my day finish off back here, alone.

Some would call me crazy, some would agree with me, and are willing to pass breaks to preserve solitude.

I THOUGHT I was all set. Saturday afternoon, steady traffic but nothing crazy. Nothing going on that makes the supervisor take notice enough to give me a D-side (one-holing means its slow enough to not require the second person, the Data-side controller, leaving the radar controller to handle the radios AND the flight data aspects of the sector). The Albany departures are climbing well above the BDL arrival flow, I give a BDL departure a shortcut to SYR to avoid the MHT arrival crossing eastbound, I turned a PVD arrival direct BDL to avoid the BDL departure, and a biz-jet heading to Teterboro is safely pushed under all of them. Life is good. But wait...

Here comes the supervisor, its "skill-check" time. Four pm, and there is the usual rush of east bounds coming into the Rockdale (RKA) sector. One of the night-shifters shows up to relieve me so I can move over to RKA to show I have "skills" with actual airplanes. That last scenario at ALB was all done and I had nothing but a blank scope to show for it. He happily sits down to a traffic-less sector. I plug in along side a supervisor, pen and paper waiting to fully document any and all discrepancies. I am a recent graduate of the training program, so expectations are high. While RKA is busier this time of day than ALB, it is much less complex. I few descents, a few shortcuts, one turn for spacing, speed assigned to keep it, and 30 minutes later, I live to see another day. I sign my name on the dotted line indicating my receipt of the critique, and its off to the break room for a little ping pong.

Happiness is getting paid to do this.

DM

Delays, get over it.

I promised this blog was going to start deviating drastically, so I'll keep this one short. Its just a thought.

Everyone always rants and raves about how horrible the delays are. Or they're on TV, claiming to have invented a wheel of a different shape, which apparently will rid the world of pesky delays. Instead of taking more time to set the record straight, ponder this: If we were able to mystically eliminate delays in the aviation industry....I'm pretty sure we'd be the ONLY form of transportation that wouldn't have any delays.

Next time you're patiently waiting your turn at a traffic light watching the cars cross in front of you, or you're the pedestrian also waiting for the light to change, so you can sit on the bench to wait for the bus to arrive, or next time it snows and the train runs late, or there is a gale force wind making a quick trip across the bay less than desirable at that moment, just slough it off. Get over it. For some reason, we think that aviation, and the airlines in particular, can somehow be void of common nature. To run late. If anything, the reason its such a big deal in aviation is because the airlines aren't always forthcoming as to why. Since "ATC delays" are the main "cause" of delays, we seem to think we can simply do something, anything to the ATC and make the delay go away. Bzzzzzzzzz.

DM

More Confusion?

I have decided to turn this blog in a different direction.

While past blog posts have focused on a more technical aspect of ATC, the future of this lowly blog will be centered around a more informal, day-to-day narrative. The most recent post, "The Mid Flick", is an example how I hope to change the writing style. Don't expect too much, because I am never afraid to let things get a little out of hand!

The idea behind this change is simple: If I take specific snapshots of traffic situations during the upcoming summer traffic season, the journey though the land of ATC can be both more interesting and more informative for all of us.

DM

The Mid flick

Now that I am fully checked out, done with training, on my own, left to my own devices, creating my own havoc over upstate NY, I am also working the occasional "mid" shift. I like the overnight mid shift for two reasons: First, I have weird sleeping habits, and they are willing to pay me to be awake in the middle of the night. The second reason is the traffic. There's hardly any. This is not really why I enjoy the mid, however. There is SOME traffic, but it's different. It is really quiet so everyone is direct somewhere they normally can't go direct to during the day. This creates new and still-interesting (to the new guy) conflictions.

It still amazes me, and irritates the pilots, when two planes are going to hit unless I take action....at 4:30 in the morning. So I take action, as I am trained to do. The pilots often question the turn off their direct routing, or a descent from their optimal cruise altitude. After all, they act like they're the only plane in they sky at 3 in the afternoon, imagine their dismay when they realize they're not the only ones flying at 3 in the morning!

So, there I was, working the mid, its 4:30am, and I have 3 airplanes. Cleveland Center is still on their back-up system (the main computer is reset for maintenance at night sometimes), so I only find out about my next airplanes when they call on the line for the hand off with flight plan information. 5am is often a "busy" time, as all the trans-con red-eye flights are approaching BOS and BDL and NY from the west. I am already talking to the first jetBlue Airbus at FL350 heading to Boston. There is another following about 30 miles back at the same altitude. I had just taken the clock off the wall above the headset boxes to skip an hour for daylight savings, so half the planes are running an hour later than normal. Its not nearly as "busy" as it could be. I get an Air Canada full of sleeping vacationers heading north to the crummy weather in Ottawa, also at FL350. The high sector in Montreal Centre also has a United flight from Kuwait to Dulles at FL400 direct Syracuse.

Normally, even at this late hour, New York still needs the IAD arrival descending to FL300, as they also have a large eastbound rush of red-eyes that are traffic for this crossing Triple Seven. I have three, potentially four planes that are crossing just south of Syracuse. Three of them are at FL350, and the fourth needs to somehow get from FL400 to FL300. So I start the Air Canada down to FL330, and the United down to FL340. The winds are strong out of the southwest, so I figure I'm only doing the United jet a favor by getting him out of the strongest headwinds. Apparently not. He firmly lets me know that by starting down now (an hour from his destination) he is wasting 2500 pounds of fuel. Just then, Cleveland calls with the second jetBlue, so I tell the United to just maintain FL380 for now, standby with your sad story, and I pick up the line to take the hand off. Cleveland takes a point out on the United with control for lower if I need it. This covers me all the way down to FL300 if NY can't take this guy at his current altitude. I call NY next and give them the United hand off, including approval for FL380, since most of her red-eyes are running late tonight. I spring the good news to the United and explain to him that we don't enjoy descending him through all of our traffic to meet that restriction, but we don't really have a choice most of the time.

Now that all my traffic is safe, I take the hand off on the third Boston, call Montreal to hand off the Air Canada, and then, as often happens at 5am, I am left with nothing to do. So, I thought about how much gas I just saved United Airlines. 2500 pounds. A gallon of Jet-A weighs about 7 pounds, and its costs about 7 dollars a gallon, so the math is easy. I saved United Airlines about 2500 bucks by making a phone call.

Granted, my first though was that since we're running the FAA like a business now I should be able to claim some of this profit as my own. UAL Corp should be mailing me a check for like 10 percent of their savings since we're technically business partners.

It also made me remember what a retired controller from my area once said. He always thought that the union has been going about this contract/non-tract strife the wrong way. We are not in the business of saving money for anyone, or making money. We are in the business of making sure airplanes and their passengers arrive safely at their destination. We go out of our way to get airplanes up to smooth, fuel efficient altitudes. We go out of our way to give airplanes shortcuts so they can save time and money. The FAA, the flying public, and the airlines take the safety aspect for granted. Airlines try to make flying more efficient and cost effective for themselves. Perhaps if they added up the combined cost benefits of every shortcut we issue every day, someone would realize that we're not the enemy in this game of money and power. We're here to help. The difference is that we don't put money first. We put safety first. Saving money is pretty pointless if you can't get to your destination to spend it.

DM

Time out

Its summer time and I have been spending my moments of inspiration away from the computer. Radar training has been humbling and I have more important things to focus on other than writing this blog. I figure I'll get back to writing about the NAS in the future. Until then, don't miss me.

DM