A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/685047
meetings at CLT supporting NATCA ATD - 2 Representative Pete Slattery. · Met with PBN Program Manager Donna Creasup, to discuss PBN model facility concepts. · Traveled 4/4 weeks in this briefing cycle . REMOTE TOWER: Kieron Heflin (IAD) represents NATCA in accordance with Article 48 on the Le esburg Remote Tower initiative. Mr. Heflin forwarded the information below for this week's update. · On April 17th the second round of passive data collection was completed in the R - Twr at Leesburg Airport, which began in the third week of February. This has been titled as Winter Passive Data Collection as what we were hoping to capture was how the R - Twr responded to the different weather and light conditions that are pr esent during the winter months. o Also, more data was collected regarding the abilit y to see and identify targets/traffic during thes e weather and light conditions. o Six curr ent air traffic controllers/SME s were brought in from around the country to collect this data for periods of app roximately two weeks at a time. o The reasoning b ehind the two week time frame was that SAAB, who is the designer of the r - twr, feels that controllers become more comfortable with the r - twr the more time they spend in the r - twr environment. · The work group consisting of NATCA, numerous branches of the FAA, VSATS and SAAB had several meetings, tel cons, email exchanges on the need and feasibility on bringing in a radar monitor and radar feed to enhance the " situational awareness" in the r - twr environment. Currently the idea has been shelved and may b e possibly resurrected at a later date. · Currently having weekly meeting s and telcon s concerning the Concept of Operations for the r - twr put forth by SAAB. · Currently havi ng weekly meetings and telcon s reviewing and commenting on SAAB/ VSATS E valuation plan Phase 1A. The hopes are to have a Mobile Tower set up at the Leesburg (JYO) airport running passively as well as the r - twr running passively and be able to exec ute a comparative data analysis testing plan. · Currently having numerous m eeting s and telcon s to hammer out the Leesburg Sequence of Events & Draft Time line for a Safety Risk Assessment Panel. This has been in flux as frequently each step is predicated on the previous step/benchmark being met , and if this is not met by any of t he parties involved by the time line moves. · The SRAP is a very important part of the process as the risks identified in running the r - twr will be identified and if they can be mitigated to an acceptable level this will be a step towards ultimately actively testing the r - twr. RUNWAY SAFETY COUNCIL (RSC): The RSC is a group in Washington that was created in 2007 to address Runway Safety. NATCA has been active on this council since day one and at one time was the industry co - lead. Chris Stephenson (S & T) represents NATCA on the RSC. Below are the minutes from their last meeting. · Meeting Report : The meeting was called to order at 9:08 a.m. by James Fee, AJI - 1400, followed by brief