A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/1067228
Ops Team members traveled to ISP to perform an IDAC (Integrated Departure and Arrival Capability) Site Requirement Survey. An IDAC Site Requirement survey involves briefing the facility on what IDAC is, and then go into the tower with facility representatives and technical personnel to get specifics on where the equipment should be placed. Additionally, any other specific requirements for IDAC are identified to ensure correct and complete installation is accomplished. TSAS Run-for-Record entered its second week as members of the Ops Team participated in the activity. This activity was intended to complete the initial requirements verification of the TSAS capability. This activity involved many personnel including STARs/TAMR representatives, TBFM Ops team members, TRACON TSAS SMEs, and more. In addition to multiple groups participating in this activity, multiple labs were also involved, and the information gleaned from this activity will help with the overall development of the TSAS capability. NEC SMEs on the Ops Team visited ZAU to continue the information gathering for the PHL arrival system improvement task that is part of the iTBO initiative. Ops team members briefed the TMU facility on the PHL TBFM improvement plan and gathered information to assist with the overall development of the system. Some local tower personnel were in attendance and an IDAC briefing was given. During the week of Dec. 10, the TBFM Ops Team held their 'all hands' meeting in Washington, D.C. Due to a number of constraints this was the first meeting of the team in a year. Having this meeting in D.C. allowed a number of FAA HQ groups to visit the team, and also allowed the team to update these groups on the work accomplished over the last year. Updating training, briefings on NEC/Sustainment/TSAS work, planning and scheduling for 2019, as well as a number of other tasks were discussed and completed during that week. On the last day, the Ops team visited Mosaic to get a demonstration of a TBFM replay tool as well as viewing a prototype of a TBFM simulation tool that looks very promising for possible TMU training in the future. Additionally, NATCA TBFM Ops team members visited the NATCA National Office. A big thank you to Matt Sullivan and everyone in the Safety and Technology department for a great tour and their continued support. The NEC SMEs and a number of support personnel travelled to the Tech Center to start testing the PHL TBFM Extended Metering Adaptation the week of Dec. 17. This was the first chance to run this newly created adaptation in the TBFM lab to allow scheduling of departures from each facility that will be involved in the PHL arrival/XM system. This activity involved tying in the TBFM Lab with the Tech Center VTL Lab to not only allow departures to be scheduled, but to also have the flights airborne meet the system delays to fully evaluate the system. The next steps will be to install and test additional TBFM work stations to allow each facility to visit the Tech Center in the spring of 2019, and actually schedule aircraft and operate the PHL system first hand. This would not be possible without a lot of continued support from a large contingent of personnel at the

