NATCA Bookshelf

National Office Update: Sept. 29, 2019

A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association

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AJI Human Performance (HP) Taxonomy Workgroup - A workgroup was collaboratively developed thru AJI and NATCA to develop an HP taxonomy that can be utilized across safety programs within the five organizations. Work is currently ongoing, and the workgroup has now met on two occasions. ALM JSAIT - ALM JSAIT is a workgroup with the objective to understand the frequency of approach and landing misalignments across the NAS, and the factors leading to these events. The workgroup has had several meetings, and I anticipate mitigations being developed shortly. WEATHER Eric Avila (ZHU) is NATCA's Article 114 Rep for Weather. His report is below: NexGen Weather Processor/Aviation Weather Display (AWD) - Build 7.5 of the AWD is dedicated to displaying the National Weather Service (NWS) products. The Human Factors Work Group (HFWG) met with Raytheon weekly to analyze the NWS products and provide feedback as to how the products should be displayed. Raytheon is making good progress on the display and the HFWG will continue working on the AWD as Build 7 comes to a close in October. Weather and Radar Processor (WARP) - ZTL transitioned from the Base Mosaic Generator (BMG) to the Selectable Mosaic Generator (SMG) on Aug. 15. The BMG product has a slower refresh rate and lower resolution compared to SMG. ZTL previously switched to SMG. However, they determined when using the altitude filters, real weather was being removed. ZTL reverted back to BMG, and after reviewing analysis, ZTL found an altitude stratum that could be used by SMG to properly depict the weather radar. ZDC is now the only remaining center running BMG. The Morehead City, N.C., radar is interfering with a nearby ASR radar located in Wilmington, N.C. The Agency is waiting on the NWS to change the MHX frequency. However, this may take up to a year to complete. The Program Management Office (PMO) is attempting to shorten this time period due to safety concerns. BMG is currently being used at ZDC with the MHX radar removed. The PMO has run analysis showing that the BMG/SMG coverage with MHX removed are similar in the area of concern for ZDC. SMG has been placed in the training lab with MHX removed to allow ZDC to compare the two systems side-by-side in the area of concern. Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) Weather Evaluation Team (WET) - The CDM WET met at the Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City, Mo., on Aug. 20-22. The primary focus of the meeting was to discuss the forecasting impacts associated with forecasting the status layers at San Francisco. There are often conflicting forecasts from the Center Weather Service Unit (CWSU) and industry meteorologists and the group discussed the best way to help alleviate some of this confusion. The WET made a recommendation to host a telcon with the CWSU and industry meteorologists, along

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