NATCA Bookshelf

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 13 NextGen Now | Winter 2014 The North Texas Metroplex initiative included a number of strategies that streamlined the airspace and helped reduce complexity for air traffic controllers and flight crews. As part of the program, the FAA developed 80 new procedures to take advantage of the precision of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. The strategies included: • Creating Optimized Profile Descent (OPD) procedures into Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Dallas Love Field (DAL). OPDs allow pilots to almost idle the engines while the aircraft descends at a constant rate, like sliding down a banister. Previous airspace procedures required planes to level off at certain points to allow for coordination between air traffic controllers. OPDs reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions. • Developing similarly efficient alternative routes that can be used when weather affects normal arrival and departure paths. • Establishing departure and arrival routes that align airplanes on preferred paths, reducing the number of miles flown. • Establishing a dedicated arrival route from the northwest into DAL, eliminating congestion in the airspace above DFW. • Creating GPS-based arrival and departure paths for DAL, resulting in more precise flight paths over neighborhoods near the airport. • Developing satellite-based departure procedures that provide predictable, repeatable flight paths that enable planes to climb steadily without leveling off from time to time, allowing them to reach a cruising altitude sooner. "OAPM is a win for the Agency, NATCA, and its other unions, the airlines, and the general public," NATCA Fort Worth Center (ZFW) Facility Representative Paul Lastrapes said. "Through these new procedures, we'll deliver planes into the Metroplex more efficiently and using less fuel which is good for our environment. Wins all around."

• Cover