A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/589908
o ATIS Final Plan REMOTE TOWER: Keiron Heflin (IAD) is the Article 48 Representative for the Remote Tower Proj ect at Lees burg Airport (KJYO). Below is Mr. Heflin's report for this week. · Week 11 of Data Collection is complete. Participating this week were Chris Perdue (BNA) and Todd Jones (MSY). o This was the second round of Data Collection for both participants . o Worked 1200 – 2000 shifts to provide more input on night operations . · NATCA worked with the FAA to schedule an additional week at the end of the original schedule to make up for Week 9 that was canceled due to the change in the fiscal year. Cyn thia Lowther (ILG) and Kathleen Drew (PTK) will be the controllers working this last week of the first round of Data Collection. RUNWAY SAFETY : Ric Loewen (DFW) is the Runway Safety Action Team (RSAT) lead for the union. Mr. Loewen is also the Article 48 Representative for the Runway Status Lights (RWSL) progr am. Below is an update from Mr. Loewen. · The majority of this week for me was a working group/T op 5 CAP development and SRMP. o The issue the team was tasked with was to determine what ste ps could be taken to reduce the number of RAEs contributed to by a controller s apparently ineffective scan. The draft product of the team will be circulated over the weekend f or submission early next week. o If adopted as proposed a Human Factors directe d study will be completed and evaluated, its findings being combined with the expertise of another group of aviation industry experts leading hopefully to some principals that can be applied to tower cab design and ATC OJT beginning at the academy phase. · Mr. Loewen also accepted a tasking to work a CAR addressing shortcomings in coordination leading to erroneous or incomplete information about airport construction being pas sed to air traffic facilities. He is still waiting to hear who the Agency cou nterpart will be and will need to get a briefing f rom the ERC. o On its surface, the issues addressed in the CAR appear to closely parallel an effort chaired by RTCA that Mr. Loewen is also a part of dealing with the information stream that exists years in advance of all major construction projects. · Finally, Mr. Loewen was introduced to a new group studying the risk associated w ith using runways as taxiways. o This team is collecting and analyzing data throughout the NAS to better quantify the r isks associated with this practice. o This has been a concern for the runway safety program office for some time and it is time to update the data before moving forward with any corrective or other type of action. · RWSL conducted a pre - IOC briefin g at EWR that Mr. Loewen was not able to attend due to the above - mentioned workgroup. He is waiting for an out brief from the facility and program on how that meeting went. SURVEILLANCE and B ROADCAST SERVICES (SBS) OFFICE: Eric Labardini (ZHU) lea ds NATC A's SBS Article 48 Team. Below is Mr. Labardini's report for this week.