A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/1189372
Individual Airport Operations - Mr. Weidner worked with his AJT counterparts to enable the following UAS operations: • POC - The local Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) chapter held a three-day event Nov. 1-3. The proximity of the event to the runway at POC required altitude and heading restrictions on arriving and departing traffic in the vicinity of the AMA event. Collaboration between POC management and NATCA, working with AJT and NATCA HQ, developed a procedure that worked for all involved. • DCA - TSA conducted a drone detection exercise on and in the vicinity of DCA on Nov. 16. NATCA and AJT worked on the Certificate of Authorization for this operation to ensure that the impact on local air traffic control was mitigated. • ZMP - Mr. Weidner will be traveling to ZMP for a meeting between ZMP and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The meeting is to resolve issues regarding CBP UAS operational flight plans and actual flights being flown. UAS Questions - Any UAS-related questions can be addressed to Mr. Weidner and Mr. Richards at UAS@natca.net. WAKE TURBULENCE John Murdock (PHL) is the Article 114 Rep to the Wake Turbulence Office for NATCA. His report is below: The Miami ATCT and underlying facilities went IOC on Oct. 9 with no issues. Miami represented the first RECAT 2.0 appendix A facility to upgrade to CWT. Training in southern California commenced during the middle of October and continued through Nov. 20. All the facilities, underlying Southern California TRACON, went IOC on Nov. 21. There are over 30 facilities that are either upgrading from RECAT 2.0 or initially implementing to CWT in southern California. An initial meeting was held at the Philadelphia ATCT for the upgrade from RECAT 2.0 Appendix B to CWT. Philadelphia Northeast, Wilmington, Atlantic City, and Trenton ATCTs, along with Dover AFB and McGuire AFB, will be included in the CWT implementation at Philadelphia as new sites for CWT. All RECAT 2.0 facilities are scheduled to be upgraded to CWT by the end of January 2020. An initial plan for the remainder of 2020 was developed and is under review. Currently, Anchorage, Denver, Chicago, New York, Houston, and Indianapolis TRACONs, and all underlying facilities will be upgraded from RECAT 1.5 to CWT. There could an additional site(s) selected, but that is still under review. Current feedback from the field is good on the upgrades to CWT that have occurred. By upgrading facilities to CWT, we have eliminated the disparity of wake turbulence separation rules between control facilities and provide each facility the most efficient radar wake turbulence separation minima. The CWT upgrade training was adjusted from feedback we received from the workforce. November 4-10, 2019 Update AUTOMATED TERMINAL PROXIMITY ALERT (ATPA) Mike Sanders (SCT) is the Article 114 Rep for ATPA. His report is below: