A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/944688
SAFETY AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT NATCA Safety & Tech Update Week of February 12, 2018 ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES & OCEANIC PROCEDURES (ATOP) John Lenhart (ZOA) is the Article 114 Representative for Advanced Technologies & Oceanic Procedures (ATOP). Mr. Lenhart's report is below. Items worked: Chapter 8 DCP SRMP Pacific Oceanic Workgroup ATOP Work Package 1 consolidation ATOP TR2 In late January the NATCA ATOP site leads and the Agency participated in an SRMP in reference to the proposed changes in Chapter 8 of the FAAO 7110.65. The proposed changes for this particular DCP was to consolidate Chapter 8 by removing archaic material and procedures. Composite Separation for the Pacific airspace was completely removed. NATCA received an IOU from the Agency to start work on another DCP for the next publishing date to address additional procedures that require a Chapter 8 application for the facilities who operate Oceanic and Offshore airspace. This will require subject matter expertise from all facilities affected so we can produce the best product possible. The Pacific Oceanic Workgroup (OWG) was scheduled for Jan. 24, hosted by ARINC in Livermore, Calif. The short government shutdown threatened to derail the OWG but we were able to pull it off with very few unable to reschedule their travel and get to California. Participants of the OWG include the domestic and foreign airline pilots and dispatchers, who operate in the Pacific, SASP, OSWRG, Agency representatives from AJV-84 and, of course, the NATCA oceanic leads and our oceanic airspace manager counterparts. The major issues were PBCS, WX deviations and User Preferred Routes (UPR's) all in the procedural oceanic environment. Southwest Airlines also announced that it would be adding flights to the Central, Eastern, and Pacific Routes from the West Coast to Hawaii. All flights will be fully FANS1A capable, which will cut down on the workload. ATOP Work Package 1 (WP1) has been proposed and has had enhancements to the system attached to it for several years now. Now that it's coming up, some of the enhancements are now obsolete. Along with the Agency agreeing to 1/3 of the proposed cost to WP1, the ATOP Program Office, AJV-84 and the NATCA ATOP Site Leads are in the process or rating the proposed enhancements based on operational need, and will make the decision on what obsolete enhancements are to be put on the chopping block. What NATCA would like is to use that budget on current problem tickets and enhancements, but that comes from a different pot. This is a perfect example of what happens outside the realm of collaboration. We did not have a national team in place during the development of this work package build but have already learned all we need to about the impacts of not being involved.