A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/1182646
between specialists. This will allow our support to work more as a team with the co- leads instead of chasing projects and trying to meet both sets of co-leads schedule. NISC support has also changed since the shutdown and it has been challenging bringing them up to speed with the large workload. I will also reiterate from the August reports of both Josh Haviland and Brent Luna, on the Agency's failure in standing up the 8260.43C for validation, prioritization, and oversight teams, as well as working toward establishing a workable IFP process. To my knowledge, the new teams for the 8260.43C have not been stood up since the order took effect in April 2019. As more work is requested, the lack of prioritization and oversight are detrimental to controllers as procedures are not scheduled for necessary modifications. The addition of PMT-lite restrictive policies has also slowed our process. Requiring us to schedule SMEs 45 days in advance for every meeting or telecon, extends projects timelines. If we miss the timeframe or need to add additional, the meetings could be delayed or canceled. Eastern Prioritizations - At the present time, there are still multiple "top priorities" including VORMON, NEC, P56, Community Round Table (RT) Noise Groups, RDU, and "Trips" at IAD. Safety doesn't appear to be at the top of the priority list. RDU has had major safety issues with their RNP since they were published. It took the connectivity from two other projects, VORMON and NEC ACR to finally move this project to its hopeful completion in FY20. P56 has national security ramifications, therefore is the top priority. Then the battle comes down to the VORMON, NEC, and Community Noise RT. VORMON has a blanket approval from AJV14, but as we have started working projects such as ZDC VORMON, AJV14 and the Program Office have questioned funding for what the procedures the air traffic facilities have requested. AJV14 and the Program Office only want to fund what is directly attached to the NAVAID, not what is necessary. Eastern currently has five VORMON projects dealing with over 50 NAVAIDs. The projects are ZBW, TDG, RNL, PXT, and ZDC VORMON. NEC has three current PBN design projects: NEC ACR, NEC ZNY Offshore Y-routes, and NTHNS and GLDMN SIDs. PHL, EWR, JFK, and LGA all have non-PBN initiatives active under NEC. Technically, under the NEC scoping document all airspace and procedures from the Washington Metro area to Boston would fall under NEC, which is around 85% of the work in eastern. Lastly, the Community Noise Roundtables are given priority depending on the political climate of the week. Both Eastern PBN teams have been pulled in multiple directions by Community Roundtables to evaluate their requests. Current Eastern Roundtable projects include BWI, DCA, BOS, PWM, and CLT. Eastern Projects - Current Eastern Service Area projects being worked by Matt Cathcart, Management Co-lead and myself are as follows: