Who makes the BIG decisions?

[Merlin]

How do things REALLY work in the national airspace system? Like for instance, a release time of 30 minutes from now going into a major hub, who makes that decision?

I always hear that "they" want to slow us down or "they" gave us an EDCT.

Is there a national nerve center that runs air traffic for the whole country (Im mainly talking about Air Carrier or other high altitude jet ops... not necessarily the old guy in the Piper Cub who files IFR for a 50 mile hamburger run on Saturday)?

Do individual centers determine the flow into their own airspace or does someone bigger do that?


I guess what I am asking is, what is the big, organizational picture and who does it all fit together, from a traffic management point of view? Just who are "they"?


Jeremy

 

[desertdog71]

MY WIFE make the really big decisions.

Sorry I couldn't resist that one.

 

[daveatc]

The Air Traffic Systems Command Center makes some of the big decisions, but the majority of what you're referring to, "flow control," comes from the Traffic Management Units (TMUs) for whatever Center your travel applies to.

You can get an EDCT for all traffic heading to a certain airport, where the airport may initiate the hold request up the chain due to airport conditions, unexpected rwy closure, etc. You can have flow control for a specific route due to weather, which you see alot in Chicago or Minneapolis Center when those Spring storms pop up and you can't really fly J###, so everyone has to take J***. Ground stops due to Presidential Movement, which comes from the Center. Etc. If LGA is getting beat down, they will call Approach and tell them to slow down arrivals. Approach will start requiring minimums in trail, lets say 10 miles, who in turn passes it on to Center. TMU there will increase that 10 mile minimum that Approach gave them because they know they have fit planes from 4 different arrival paths into that pipeline, so maybe they'll put out 50 miles in trail, coupled with an EDCT of 30 minutes for all traffic destined LGA that may go out as far as the west coast, depending on the requirement.

Clear as mud?

 

[E_Dawg]

All I know is you will be sequenced behind Southwest.

 

[daveatc]

No, it's whoever is slowest....that's who you'll be behind.

 

[falconvalley]

All I know is you will be sequenced behind Southwest.

Which one?? There are like 10 on the localizer!

 

[MikeD]

The BIG decisions are made by THE MAN.

 

[jtrain609]

"I thought you were the man"

 

[Fox Xray]

You guys should see some of the people who are making the big decisions. To label these individuals as zero's would be a compliment... I kid you not. As a controller I like to goof on management but we have some who are pretty sharp and do a good job... in the flow control ranks they are a different story, they are beyond clueless. I read posts on here about pilots asking about delays and I think to myself... if they only knew...

 

[ABP52380]

You guys should see some of the people who are making the big decisions. To label these individuals as zero's would be a compliment... I kid you not. As a controller I like to goof on management but we have some who are pretty sharp and do a good job... in the flow control ranks they are a different story, they are beyond clueless. I read posts on here about pilots asking about delays and I think to myself... if they only knew...

Yeah, like Maid Marion. Gotta love what she's done for ATC. :whatever:

 

[daveatc]

You guys should see some of the people who are making the big decisions. To label these individuals as zero's would be a compliment... I kid you not. As a controller I like to goof on management but we have some who are pretty sharp and do a good job... in the flow control ranks they are a different story, they are beyond clueless. I read posts on here about pilots asking about delays and I think to myself... if they only knew...

Yeah, explain to me why it's the controllers who can't hang in the sector who wind up in flow control?

 

[NJA_Capt]

No, it's whoever is slowest....that's who you'll be behind.

Whooooooa Nelly........Gotta throw a flag on that play!!!!!

The Citation X has been flying for 10 years now (a fleet of over 220 a/c)and is 80-100 mph faster than any airliner on the planet, and it still gets held in the back. It isn't much of a deal to slow Johnny Jumbo from .80 to .78, but it is a major speed reduction to go from .91 to .78. Would ATC ever consider slowing an airliner at FL390 from .81 to .68 ?? We were recently given continuous S turns for the last 600 miles of a trip so they could keep us behind an airliner.

What will they do when this baby comes out??? (Sorry about the big pic)

 

[Fox Xray]

Yeah, explain to me why it's the controllers who can't hang in the sector who wind up in flow control?

I'm not trying to act like I'm this great worker but it's so true, all the people that go into these details, such as TMU, really aren't the best people for these jobs. They generally are running from work and the people on the floor are happy when they leave. Unfortunately they wind up screwing us from places like TMU... LOL.

 

[surreal1221]

Yeah, like Maid Marion. Gotta love what she's done for ATC. :whatever:

Ah. . . so true. . . so darn true.

She pushed me away from the career, and I know I'm not the only one.