Thanks!

For those of you, like me, working in the high-speed aluminum tubing industry, let's be thankful that we are able to serve the flying public when they need us the most. For those of you getting the weekend off....

Enjoy your turkey!



Till next time...

DM

E-Scammin'

By now many of you are aware of NextGen, the FAA's vague plan to change the world, courtesy of your tax dollars. The first big step in this plan is to convert the main computer system that has been in use (and running strong, sorta) since the 1960s (EDIT, I'm told the actual machines in use are only from the 80s...). Yes, it is out of date. But it works. The same cannot be said, as of November 2009, for the new computer system, ERAM.

ERAM is supposed to be deployed already, at least to most of the Centers. So far it's stuck at the first implementation in Salt Lake. We don't hear much about it in Boston, except that it is coming, and we need to get ready for it, and that it will solve all of our problems! The FAA sends controllers up a few at a time to watch a computer based lesson plan detailing the future features of ERAM. There is even a test at the end implying that the informative lecture should be committed to memory and we will be obligated to fully understand the concepts when the system goes online months and years down the road. Yet, all of the features are "subject to change" prior to Boston actually getting plugged in. I'll try to remember the differences while I'm working live traffic on our old HOST system 40+ hours a week.

ERAM is hitting a little closer to home in Seattle Center. They work directly with Salt Lake and have seen first hand the uncertainty that comes with testing such an important piece of safety equipment on live traffic, only to watch it not work. As it turns out, one of the controllers there has been writing a much better, more informative blog for years longer than I have even been a controller. I invite you to slew over to the newest adjacent sector and check out the FAA Follies. I try to avoid the politics whenever possible, but, when they cannot be avoided, the Follies is all over it.

Till next time....

DM

PS. These spectator computer lessons are not going to be our only training on the new system, we'll get a few days in the simulators, but still.......

So close yet so far...

When it comes to Air Traffic, I am always on the lookout for new information to learn. Controllers in my area will give me a lot of crap for knowing too much about things I have no business knowing. Last week someone was angered about another area's move and yells out to no one in particular, maybe the wall, "Hey, don't be short cutting guys when there's an EDCT for construction..." I blurted out "To Minnie?" "Uh, yeah, how the *#&^ did you know that?" Shrug, "this buddy of mine was writing about it in HIS blog..."

Anytime I go to a new city, I try to get a tour of an ATC facility there. Most facilities have their little quirks and oddities that never cease to fascinate me. Four years later, I think I have finally found Boston Center's quirk.

Boston Center has 5 areas, A-E. In training, we would just randomly go and spend time in other area's to see traffic from their perspective. I personally spent time in Area B and E a few times, and occasionally stop and talk to people in Area D. Until today, I had never stepped foot inside Area C. They are one of the busiest areas in the Center, if not THE busiest. My area only works with one of their sectors (BOSOX) directly. The rest, while only 40-50 miles from my area, is a mystery. I know they work JFK arrivals from the northeast. They work more BOS arrivals than we do and about half the BOS departures. The Hampton Sector goes crazy in the summer. Boston High works tons of overseas departures. Other than that, that's it.

So, I had the distinct pleasure of being RM's special guest as I was sidetracked on my way out of the control room to go on break. How could I turn her invitation down!? I got a quick overview of PVD sector, which works all the BOS arrivals, and BOSOX, which works the departures and takes PVD arrivals from the ALB sector (my ALB sector!) and descends them into PVD approach (hey! I just worked that guy!). They weren't very busy, so we chatted about nerdy controller stuff. They use 3 mile separation in a big chunk of their area. Area A doesn't use 3 mile separation...YET. They're working on it.

About 99 percent of En-route Center airspace requires 5 miles separation and 1000 feet vertical below FL410. This 5 mile requirement is necessary because we combine numerous long range radar data into one "mosaic" display on our screen. There is no radar sweep or anything like that. There are a few places where the computer will only use one radar site at a time, and as long as the plane is below FL180 and within 40 miles of the single radar site being used, we can use 3 miles, just like an approach control. Boston Center has more 3 mile separation areas than any other Center. At least, that is what they tell us to make us feel special.

The same 40 mile rule applies to approach controls. However, since approach controls are centered around their radar, only small portions of their airspace exist beyond the 40 mile bubble. Thus, 5 mile separation is considered more of an exception to their 3 mile, 1000 foot rule.

The Providence (PVD) sector in Area C descends Boston arrivals to cross PVD VOR at 11000, who are then handed off to Boston Approach. PVD sector uses 3 mile separation within 40 miles of PVD airport's radar site. Providence, RI is more than 40 miles from Boston (42.7 according to Airnav), so the approach control they hand off to requires 5 miles at that point of transfer. While the Center can allow planes to get within 3 miles as they descend into Boston, they must take action to regain 5 miles again before handoff to Approach. This seems to be the only instance in the US where the En-route Center requires less separation than the approach control taking the hand off below them!

If anyone around the country or the world has any examples of this occurring elsewhere, please comment!

Till next time....

DM

PHOTO NOTE:
Thanks as always to SkyVector.
Light Blue shows the Boston arrivals.
Dark Green shows the PVD arrivals that descend under the Boston arrivals.
Boston Departures go out over LUCOS, BOSOX to BDL and GLYDE to BAF. Consider it a Where's Waldo of fixes!

IFR at O90

My area has 6 sectors. We generally only have 4 of them open. In this case, the ART/UCA sectors are combined 90 percent of the time. Most of the planes that traverse the ART sector end up conflicting with planes in the UCA sector, so it really works out pretty good. Most planes are flying into the wind, so there is plenty of time to think about the imminent death that potentially could happen over SYR, the main confliction point. If there was any sector that I like the least, it would be ART/UCA. Sometimes it is really fun, though!

These two sectors, when combined, are, from a mental task standpoint, three sectors. UCA sector is the main westbound J547 route leaving ZBW. ART sector works alot of military operations (the MOA stuff on the chart above), coordinates with the Canadians from Canadia, and also sees alot of transient traffic going to eastern Canada and points east. Then there are all the "satellite airport" operations into OGS, MSS, PTD, and MAL. That action tends to take place below 10000, and can really create a headache if coupled with lots of in-trail in the UCA sector. For the most part we can't do any vectoring to approaches, although if I can throw down some ILS approach phraseology, I'll pass breaks!

We generally only see one or two operations at a time into these 4 airports we own up along the border, if any at all. Due to their proximity to each other and our lack of control towers and radar, it is one-in, one-out when the weather is bad. No, we don't get to line 6 planes up on final like Boston Approach. There are times when we get a big bunch of inbounds all at once, and we joke that we become Ogdensburg Approach instead of Center controllers. I will now coin the term "O-90" for this third segment of our sector; the part below 10000 between Wheeler-Sack approach to the west, Ottawa Terminal and Montreal Centre to the north, and the Montpelier sector to the east. Controllers may appreciate my attempt at witty aviation humor, or not. Either way, let's get on with the story.

Last weekend was Columbus Day, and everyone was flying up north to see the leaves change colors. Unfortunately, for those spending their hard earned money flying up to see them, the weather sucked (Ok, I think Sunday was nice!). Allow me to recap Friday evening. I had been at ART/UCA D-side for most of the afternoon, and had left for a break with one slow moving PA32 inbound to OGS from the south. I returned 35 minutes later to fully entrench myself back into ART/UCA D-side... A biz-jet had come screaming in from the west and gone into OGS first, and only now was the PA32 finally getting an approach clearance. The UCA portion of the sector was heating up with westbound jets, and my radar controller was initiating some DTW and CLE spacing.

Two Cape Air C402s departed ALB, one bound for OGS and the other for MSS, as normal, and the MSS inbound offered to slow down and hold for their company to get into OGS first, since we can't run simultaneous approaches.

Flight service calls and requests IFR clearance for two aircraft out of OGS, a SR22 and the biz-jet Citation that had just landed before.
"Uh, I'm still waiting for a cancellation from a PA32 at OGS"
"Oh, I have that, yes, he cancelled IFR," says the FSS
"Ok, who is ready to go first, is one of them number one for the runway?"
"Yeah, the Cirrus (SR22)" ...Great....

I turn to my Radar controller and ask her if I can launch a departure or two ahead of the Cape Air inbounds. She stops the OGS arrival at 6000 and clears him to the OGIVE beacon on the Localizer approach to hold awaiting departures. The MSS arrival gets 7000 and direct the MISSE beacon on the ILS approach to hold, as well. We only own 6000 and below along the river so I'll have to point him out to Montreal Center at some point. The SR22 filed some random route to HYA, so I cross it out and write a better route underneath.

I pick up the FSS line again.
"(the SR22) is cleared from the OGS airport to the OGIVE beacon via direct, maintain 5000, expect routing to HYA via ALB V130 MVY direct and higher when radar identified, clearance void if not off by....(10 minutes at the most), contact boston center on 135.25, squawk code 4617, also verify the pilot can maintain his own terrain and obstruction avoidance to Ogive."
FSS reads it back and I tell him to call me back in a few minutes for the Citation, as I may be able to get him out, too. These Cape Air guys are still a ways out...

I put the strip into the small bay we have between the D and R positions, start a track on the scope to remind everyone that he's only climbing to 5000, and update the route into the computer. I take a quick look around the sector and call Toronto for a handoff. Then I call Montreal and make two handoffs and point out the MSS arrival holding at 7000. Its pretty darn busy in the southern half the sector, and right as I start to get a feel for what is transpiring, the FSS line rings again, requesting IFR on the Citation.

"Sorry, the first guy isn't off ye/"
My radar controller is waving at me and I look over to see an aircraft ident out of 3800 over Ogive. "Ooooo, he's off, standby please"

The track acquires on the SR22, and my radar controller starts issuing the clearance beyond the beacon. I motion her to follow the end of my pen on the strip to make sure she gives the correct route. "radar contact over ogive, cleared to HYA via..." Pen is over ALB, which was on the original filed route "via direct ALB..." Then down a line to V130 "V130, MVY, direct" Excellent, I wonder if he can climb above the Cape air and get outta there. I call Montreal back and point this Sr22 out climbing fast (for a prop) soutbound. She descends the Cape air to 5000, and they swap out nicely as the SR22 climbs to 9000. 6000 is now available for the MSS lander to hold so down he goes.

We still have 4000 available, and we actually saw the SR22 in radar there, so I get back on the line and quickly issue another short clearance to the Citation "cleared from OGS to the OGIVE beacon via direct, maintain 4000, expect routing to SYR via ART upon radar contact, clearance void if not off by... (you got 6 minutes buddy, make it quick), contact boston on 135.25, squawk code 0036, verify pilot can maintain...."

Start another track, put 4000 in the datablock, call Wheeler-Sack to pointout the SR22 climbing southeastbound. We got a RUT lander going head on with all our westbounds at FL410...and we need to get him down through everyone...somehow. I call Cleveland and get control to turn him left. My radar controller is really kickin' some ass. Off comes the Citation requesting 12000. I call Sack back and make the pointout climbing above his altitudes. He gets up to 4000 quickly and only has to make half a turn at OGIVE before we're clearing him on course to the southwest. He slingshots out of the hold just as the first Cape air is establishing a hold over OGIVE at 5000. We get our 5 miles quickly and climb the Citation up to 12000. Cape air is fully established in what is more of a procedure turn than anything, and gets his approach clearance. He promises to cancel as quick as he can so we can start his company into MSS.

After a few minutes, FSS calls back with an IFR cancellation at OGS and an approach clearance into MSS is issued. My radar controller finishes her fine work and the spacing is all taken care of. Switch the planes to Cleveland, give a briefing at O-90, put on my jacket and walk around the parking lot in the rain. Now that I think about it, maybe this sector isn't so bad after all....

Till next time...

DM

For those not familiar with all the acronyms:
ART - Watertown, NY
UCA - Utica, NY
SYR - Syracuse, NY
OGS - Ogdensburg, NY
MSS - Massena, NY
ALB - Albany, NY
HYA - Hyannis, MA (on the cape)
MVY - Martha's Vineyard
V130 - Airway between ALB and MVY
J547 - High altitude airway that goes from New Engalnd through Syracuse to Buffalo and points west.
MOA - Military Operation Area, when active, no IFR planes go in there at the altitudes reserved.

In Process...

The FAA hiring process is an ever-changing, confusing process whose only constant is that it requires patience on behalf of the individual getting hired.

Patience is one thing, uncertainty is another. How long do you need to remain patient before you start wondering if they forgot who you are? A "quick" phone call to Oklahoma usually nets you a "we're working on it, be patient". Ok then. What to do with some free time before you get the call to report to training?

I worked some menial retail/temp/food service jobs until finally convincing Domino's Pizza to take me back as an assistant manager (I delivered pizza for 3 years in college). "When are you going to leave us to be a controller?" "I don't know. A year? Two? Six months if I'm lucky!?" I'd graduated from a CTI college (UND) over a year before and was told a year or so. Then the FAA stopped hiring for a while.

For some reason, I got the job(!) at a store about a half hour from my parents house (2 hours in rush hour, oh well) and have since amassed enough experience to permanently over qualify myself for any FAA management position. Eight months later I got the best phone call I've ever gotten and had a training date in Oklahoma City.

I could go on and on about how a Domino's pizza store runs surprisingly similar to an Area in an ARTCC (we had different positions that were combined when slow and individualized when busy, we talked on the phone alot, we had a map of our area to learn, and there was a sense of urgency making each driver take the best and most efficient delivery route as possible), or tell great stories about my felonious customers who kept getting themselves arrested by writing bad checks or assaulting my drivers. But that time is gone. For me, at least.

I knew this kid in high school once. We were partners at the back left table in Biology class in 10th grade. Our teacher was enthusiastic and always wore pink button down shirts. That's all I remember. I knew I didn't want to be a biologist. I also figured I'd never talk to Brendan again. I couldn't remember his last name because he never wrote it down on his homework. Name__Brendan___. He found me on Facebook a few months back, though. He had applied to be an Air Traffic Controller and was "in process" for Seattle Center. He thought long and hard about who he knew that might be a controller, and my name was first and foremost, apparently. He had questions about the hiring process (most I couldn't answer) and the job (should I keep talking?).

Well, Brendan was married, living in Texas, and was bored out of his mind waiting for the FAA to get around to calling him back. Jobs are harder to find these days. So he turned to Craigslist. He posted a request that someone buy him a jetBlue all-you-can-jet pass(not what you were expecting), and he would pay them back by doing basically whatever they asked of him. Ya know, fly unlimited on jetBlue from Sept8 to Oct8, shenanigans ensue....

So an internet magazine saw the ad and hooked Brendan up. Just fly 70 flights this month, on us. Oh, and don't ever leave the airport or the plane. He's got one week left, and he's tired, but seems to be having fun with it all. I don't personally endorse Twitter, but it's been fun following him up to the minute here.

He's also been writing some very entertaining blog-type features every few days for the company that is paying his way. You can find their link on the right side of Brendan's twitter page or go here.

I tried to catch him on his way through Boston a few times to buy him some Chowdah and arrange a Logan tower tour, but he only had a few minutes here and there between flights.

On a side note:
Many CTI graduates rightfully turned down the controller job they'd been waiting for after the FAA imposed their White Book on us and simply took what jobs they had acquired, while waiting for the FAA to call, as a better offer. Now that we have a contract, perhaps we should call these folks back and give them a chance to change their minds.

Till next time...

DM

Cleared Direct Kingston....

It's a nice VFR Sunday afternoon. Comair comes off Albany going to JFK. Normally, Albany Departure puts the aircraft on a 330 heading so I can climb above BDL/EWR traffic as shown in my last post. In this case, there are skydivers just northwest of the field, so Departure puts the aircraft on a 360 heading, straight north. There are a few ALB arrivals coming from the west mingling with some other VFRs, so no sense taking him all the way around to the north and then back to the west and south...

"Put him on a 090 heading, mainatin 14000."

A loop departure is in full effect as I quickly clear the plane southbound to IGN and climb him to FL200. He cuts behind a BDL arrival and remains west of a BTV arrival at 15000. A pointout to CANAN and PWL sectors, "contact Boston Center 125.57" and I go back to my LGA spacing and the VFRs flying around...

Till next time....

DM

PS EDIT: Apparently, the plane wasn't done making right turns....

For you NexGen fans out there, take note: The blue dashed line is the filed arrival route, and the green line is the track flown. Getting rid of radar will never fix this. Bulldozing LGA might. Oh, but then where would all the LGA traffic go? JFK? yeah...

Now that I think about it....

...I'm gonna blog about this one.

I last wrote a warm and fuzzy post on Labor Day, but that was before I went to work.

We had our sectors combined up in our Sunday morning (even though it was Monday) configuration. Utica, Watertown, Rockdale at one scope and Albany, Delancey, Hancock (that would be Al-De-cock, yes) at another. Childish names aside, it really is my favorite setup. Around 10am, though, the list of flight plans started growing to a number that made us ask, "what day is it again?" The next controller back from break prefers NOT to work at Albany sector (I love it!), so I offered my D-side chair to him and I'd go split Albany off and open it at its normal scope by itself.

A few minutes later I was settled in with my settings and range the way I like it. I was one-holing, which seemed fine at the time, but maybe I could have used a D-side after all. I don't think we had enough people there on the holiday for that sort of thing anyways...

Albany, in general, goes from zero to holy-crap-what-just-happened very quickly, and today was no exception. When you're surrounded by 14 other sectors and an approach control, well, you can get a lot of handoffs flashed at you at once!

It started off with the LGA-BTV prop at 15000 northbound. Then a northwestbound ALB departure. So far so good. Then a BTV-EWR prop at 16000. Then two southbound ALB departures come off quick, the first goes down J6, the other over PWL (PWL is east of J6, see diagram below). Approach turns them to a northwest heading so I have a chance to get them higher first. I put the first guy on a 250 heading to give me room to crank the second one hard left inside to PWL. I get a BDL departure in the eastern half of my airspace and climb him to FL230. I'm about to turn my J6 departure southbound to join the airway, but now I notice the handoffs I'm getting from DNY sector, on a converging course with this departure. The first is a BDL arrival out of FL250 for FL180 and then a PVD prop arrival a few miles behind at FL210. So I leave the J6 departure on his present heading and aim him right at the prop at Fl210. I realize I'm never gonna top the BDL arrival but I have a chance to miss the prop. I call DNY and get control. They seem concerned about my plan but, at the same time, glad that I offered to work Albany sector instead.


Thanks to flightaware as always. Pardon me, I'm still learning Photoshop, but I did get it to overlap OK :)

I descend the PVD prop to FL190, I turn my ALB departure, now climbing out of 17500, to a southeastbound heading to give it more time to climb. He falls in nicely behind the BDL arrival, but I'm not sure that new heading is gonna miss the prop. I turn the prop 20 degrees right while I'm at it. Now the high side is flashing me 3 Newarks from the north, and a LGA arrival at a weird angle from the east, converging my with BDL departure who is climbing well. I take the LGA handoff and then call to point him out to the low sector to my east, who I plan to descend the plane through to get under the BDL departure. "Pointout east of CAM, AWIxxxx descending southwestbound" All I get is a lecture: "Well, I don't think he's ever going to hit my airspace?" There is a little cutout in the airspace and I'm certain the plane is gonna hit that spot. "He's gonna run along your corner there descending" "If you say so, I don't think you're gonna hit me though" "OK then, DM" And I hung up. I don't think I ever got an approval, but I really don't have time to care. "AWIxxxx, Boston Center, descend to reach FL200 in 2 minutes or less." That should do it.

Back on the other side of my scope, it isn't working out, so I have the PVD prop expedite his descent (He's still far away from PVD, no sense pushing it down to FL190, I guess) and I turn the the departure more to the left. I say goodbye to the BDL arrival, the PWL bound departure, and the BDL departure. I turn my LGA direct PWL once he's under my departure to keep him away from the PVD prop and continue the descent to FL180. Once above FL200, "cleared direct ACOVE, join J6, thanks".

Till next time....

DM

The sun rises....

1100 days ago (yes, that would be three years), I was freshly certified on my first two positions in my area, HNK/DNY D-side. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. It still amazes me today. That is one of the reasons I write this blog. The things air traffic controllers do everyday is nothing short of amazing, and I'm proud to be a part of it.

However wronged I feel, despite the anvil we've had tied around our ankles, and for all the political bantering of the last three years, I still get to go to work, today included, and talk to airplanes. I love my job, if not for the opportunity to see and do things differently and better, everyday.

And I just sealed a green envelope filled with a ballot with an big X on it. 1100 days later my employer finally has showed me enough respect to adopt a contract we can ALL agree to. As the sun rises today, I reach for my sunglasses....

The future is looking bright.

Till next time....

DM

The Point.

If there was ever a perfect argument for a reality based National Airspace System, please visit the newest link on the right hand side, WWVB. His 6 part NextGen ATC and ATC Delays Series is second to none. You may have to scroll down and click SERIES. It's worth the effort. EDIT: If you just click on COMMENTS down under my initials, you'll find the direct links, Thanks!

I have had past discussions with other controllers and pilots featuring spur questions such as "Why on earth did Us Airways leave PIT?" or "Why would someone flying from Chattanooga to Buffalo want to connect in Newark?" or "Grand Island, Nebraska is neither Grand, nor and Island....Discuss!!!"

Till next time...

DM

Five Phases

Now that I have almost two whole summers working on my own at Boston Center, I will play the humble role of the seasoned expert and report the trends that I have found. Controllers, please add your two cents if you'd like.....

As promised... The Five Phases:

PHASE ONE - RANDOM
As the morning becomes afternoon, clouds build and turn from cute little cumuli into budding cauliflower. The props start asking for deviations around random clouds that show no signs of precipitation. In another hour, full blown raging thunderheads pop up all over the sky. From the controller perspective, we show many areas of "moderate precipitation," but whether or not an aircraft deviates around it or flies right through it is completely random.

By late afternoon, some small thunderstorms start merging together to form bigger more obvious storms. Patterns develop, and it becomes quite obvious where planes are simply not willing to fly any longer. This brings us to the next phase...

PHASE TWO - WEIRD
Once we figure out where planes will fly, and where they won't fly, it's time to set up some reroutes. This is a very busy time. You start working traffic you don't normally work, and usually not in the direction you're used to working it. Eastbound sectors become two way sectors. Westbound sectors become eastbound sectors. Weird things often happen. Boston arrivals may usually enter your sector from the west...now you're working them all from the south too. Kennedy arrivals may have to be handed off to Cleveland Center going the wrong way (see previous post from earlier in the summer!). Everyone is rerouted over ART. Albany departures won't take a westbound heading...

Phase two gives everyone a headache, because every plane is much higher maintenance. Normally you see ORD in the datablock and you think "stay's level, handoff to Cleveland". Now, you need 40 miles in trail on a reroute to Toronto. You see an ALB departure going to IAD. You think "point out to DNY sector on J6 climbing...." you hear "we don't show that on our route, center" "Oh crap" He's filed over SYR this hour.

Aircraft on some routes refuse to meet standard SOP restrictions for the next sector. Normally, you'd descend a PVD to FL290...well, they need to stay up at FL390 to get over the line of storms. Fine with me...but that starts affecting two or three sectors down the line that aren't designed to have a PVD arrival that high. BDL arrivals start deviating east of course and now an entirely different area in the Center is getting involved.

At some point, all those reroutes stop working (storms are moving)....

Either you set up a whole new set of reroutes and Phase Two continues indefinitely, or....

If you're feeling lucky, the storms will form into a nice line and cut off all the flows into your sector....Which brings us to phase three.

PHASE THREE - SOLITUDE
Phase Three seems great. You're sitting at your once nasty sector, all by yourself, maybe working one or two planes at a time thinking "what are these two planes THINKING! They must have a death wish!" After a while, you really can't justify getting paid to sit around and do nothing....

The kicker: The longer Phase Three remains in effect, the higher the chances of Phase FIVE occurring. We'll get to that later.

PHASE FOUR - RELEASE THE HOUNDS
As the storms pass through, normal routes become available in and out of your sector again. The Ground Stops are lifted and the traffic is coming with a vengeance. Passengers and Crew have been stranded on the hold pad for hours waiting for this break in the weather. Brace for impact. TMU releases the planes with nary a restriction but don't expect the approach control to just take what you've got unless there is some sort of in-trail. Sectors run at high volume for hours on end, often at the end of a night shift. Beware of Overtime looming at the end of your shift in order to keep staffing on hand to keep the sectors open.

If storms back build over the major airports, or the miles-in-trail you gave the next sector doesn't cut it for the approach control...

PHASE FIVE - HOLD IT
These planes have been waiting all day to get in, and now the arrival gate has been slammed shut. It's coming up on midnight, if not later, and everyone is miserable. Aircraft are holding, running low on fuel and duty time requirements, and frankly, its time to go home. The overnight "mid" shift people are taking over, and after a long hard days work, all you have to show for it is four neatly stacked holding patterns full of airplanes. "Enjoy!" as you run for the door...

NOTES:
- All phases do not happen everyday.
- Many nights never make it past Phase Two.
- This may not apply to all areas of the country.
- Phase Five doesn't happen very often, and thusly, phase three doesn't happen very often either.
- Phase Four really sucks and makes us feel very uncomfortable during Phase Three. We know what's coming.
-Phase Three hasn't happened nearly as much this year as the last few years I've been around.

Comments moderated but welcome.

Till next time...

DM

A few links

Well, after stressing out over the Thursday night that lay before me, I ended up training at Albany D-side the whole night. This allowed me to ponder my soon-to-be-blogged next post about the progression of craziness we go through on a summer nightly basis.

I felt that I cheated the devil by not having to talk to airplanes on Thursday...

Then Friday happened. I will simply post some links to the always fabulous Flightaware.com so that you may feel fortunate you were not among the flying public that night. If you were flying that night...well, sorry.

The following flights were all supposed to land at NY's LaGuardia airport (LGA) sometime during the evening....

MEP228
TRS512
AAL744
AAL1684
CHQ3012
NWA538
TCF7588 (this one is good)
PDT4611(This one made it!)

Till next time...

DM

What's worse?

So, it's my Monday. I just made the mistake of going to the NWS website and looking at the map above. A warm front came through, bringing us a little hot air to mix with that cold front right behind it. Note the yellow circle of hell that says "Severe T'storms Possible". The northern 5/8ths of that circle is Area A. I then check the radar and the storms are already starting to build over SYR. Fantastic. There is still time to call in sick, but, I won't.

I just don't know what is worse:
1 - Working traffic on a night like this.
2 - Getting myself all worked up, sitting in my chair at home, knowing what is coming.

Oh well, maybe they'll reroute planes away from that yellow area....HA! RIGHT!!!!

Till next time...

DM

Just a tribute.

This is actually something that came about a week before we lost the late, great, OxiClean man himself. A few controllers in my area were throwing around ideas for this and we even considered attempting to procure an official voice over...

"ARE YOU HAVING TROUBLE SPACING YOUR FLOW? WELL, LOOK NO FURTHER. BILLY MAYS HERE FOR NEWARK METERING!!!

"THIS IS THE SOLUTION TO ALL YOUR PROBLEMS! YOU CAN DO IT ALL! TURN 'EM, CRANK 'EM, SLOW 'EM, SPIN 'EM. IT'S EASY!!! CALL NOW! A TMU SPECIALIST IS STANDING BY TO SWITCH TO IN-TRAIL!!!

"AND IF YOU CALL RIGHT NOW, WE'LL THROW IN PHILLY METERING AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOU!! JUST PAY SHIPPING AND HANDLING!!"

RIP Billy Mays.

Till next time...

DM / DU

PS I'd like to add that he would never have done this....becuase he only endorsed products he personally believed in. With that said, they are showing commericals on TV again, and I feel this is a fun way to remember Mr. Mays.

Summer time Part 2

Here is another sampling from my Delta friend taken in the middle of June between ATL and EWR and back.



Between the Nexrad display we're all used to on the evening news or the NWS, the tri-color display we have at the center, to the radar the pilots use (below) to weave thier way through the storms, I love getting the comparative perspective from the other side of the scope...

And this is just a nice picture.

Till next time...

DM

Holy Crap!

OK OK OK. Its been a while. I got back from my vacation and I haven't posted for a month. This is not to say work has been boring, or that I haven't had anything to write about. Summer is well underway, and the situation has actually been more like "WHICH craziness should I write about today?" followed by indecision and then slacker-itis. There has been alot of angst around work to deal with, as well. Our next contract is on the horizon, thunderstorms are in full bloom, and there is a long laundry list of other gripe items that I won't get into on an administrative level.

We have daily overtime assignments, infrequent breaks, and when returning from those breaks, you better have your game face on. We've staffed a Tracker (3rd set of eyes, maybe does the keyboard entries, also) almost all night this last week on one sector or another.

A few days ago, we had a very typical looking line of thunderstorms build over upstate NY. All the flows of traffic from the west into New York approach were cut off, so we rerouted them north and east to Albany and then south into the NY Metro. The northern edge of these storms were on the boundary between DNY and UCA sectors. DNY sector normally works the eastbound descending aircraft into the NY Metro, and UCA sector (adjacently north of DNY) works all the westbound departures from all the New England airports into Cleveland Center via SYR. This lateral sector separation is key to safely climbing the departures to their cruise altitudes.

At first, I just took pointouts from DNY sector, meaning I'll watch his planes deviate into my airspace a little and I promise not to hit any of them with my own planes. After about 15 minutes, the storms grew and some of DNY's planes encroached into my sector to the point they would never reenter DNY's airspace before turning direct ALB where they would get handed off to the ALB sector. Instead of a pointout, I called radar contact and had them transferred to my frequency.

So, I had about 20 planes going westbound, most of them also deviating a little to the right (north) while climbing towards SYR. I then get this slew of eastbound planes going to places like TEB, EWR, LGA, BOS, PVD, MHT, ALB, and JFK. A bunch of them need to be descended to at least FL210, if not lower, yet I have departures stuck below them trying to climb above the weather. I have a TON of datablocks on the screen, and my tracker is doing his best to keep them apart so we can read them. My eastbound planes are at FL210, FL220, FL230, FL250 and FL270 stacked pretty close together. A few departures come out of ALB and they get 16000, and FL200 respectively. There is a BDL departure westbound at FL240, and I force a BUF arrival to FL260 or I'll never get him down later. All 9 planes are within 5 miles of UCA VOR at all those altitudes at about the same time. I double check my altitudes and move on to other tasks. I switch some planes to another sector, approve some other deviations, descend a Montreal arrival, and then get back to those planes over UCA. I need to get my eastbound traffic down, and my westbound traffic up, but I can't get carried away with either because there are a lot more planes coming my way in a similar fashion. I turn my guy at FL260 30 degrees right to get him out of the way. Planes start passing and the transmissions start up like rapid fire. My 200 goes to 240. The 210 goes to 170. My 220 goes to 210... No response. Oh wait, that one was still a pointout. "Hey! Descend that guy!" So, DNY's 220 goes to 210... The 240 crosses the 250 and goes to 320..negative, 280. BOS arrival deviating at 290. The BUF lander gets 240 now and back on course. The JFK arrival at FL250 accepts direct IGN (southbound), so now my LGA at 270 can get 230.

If that all doesn't make any sense, well, too bad.... I was just trying my best not to kill anyone and was thinking and talking as fast as I could.

Here is what SHOULD have happened from the start, and what we did the rest of night:
Westbound planes either come to us on a northwest heading (or routed over a fix to the north, like PAGER or BRUIN or ART or MSS) to keep them well north of the weather, so that the eastbound planes can fly right along the edge of the storms but not have westbounders in their face getting in the way. That creates lateral separation from opposite direction traffic that need to climb and descend.

Don Brown, while writing for Avweb once said, "The busiest chunk of airspace in the world is about five miles away from a thunderstorm ... everybody wants to skirt right along the edge. Well, guess what? Everyone can't. Not if you want everyone to live." Well, holy crap if I didn't have one of those moments. This time, thankfully, everyone lived...

Till next time...

DM