FAA Initiating New Airspace Flow-Control Program Over Parts of U.S.

The FAA's Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) has initiated a new airspace-specific program to mitigate the effects of thunderstorms that will replace its ground-delay procedures that were airport defined.

According to the FAA's Air Traffic Organization (ATO) Website, until now, traffic managers at ATCSCC only had the use of GDPs (ground delay programs) to deal with the problems caused by severe weather.  A GDP adjusts the departure times of flights going to an affected airport to reduce the level of traffic.  These procedures are collectively known as SWAP (severe weather avoidance program).

The problem is that when GDPs are used to reduce the number of flights in areas of severe weather, some flights wanting to operate in the general area are delayed even if their particular path doesn't take them through thunderstorm activity.  GDPs also fail to distribute delays equitably to all users because when they are initiated at a busy airport they also affect flights that are using nearby smaller airports that have relatively little traffic.

As of June 5, Command Center traffic managers can now use new AFPs (airspace flow programs) which should help solve this problem in some parts of the country.

AFPs control flights through a specific section of airspace rather than flights headed to a particular airport.  Thus, for example, with an AFP in place over the Ohio Valley, planes headed across Ohio to Philadelphia would be delayed, but flights going to Philadelphia from Miami (not over Ohio) wouldn't be impeded.

AFPs also will give users choices, such as rerouting around thunderstorm areas, which GDPs couldn't do.

Currently, the FAA is using AFPs in six "flow constrained" areas all located in the eastern half of the United States.  One group covers parts of Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia before ending over the Southeast Atlantic coast of North Carolina.  The other group starts over the New York shore of Lake Ontario, extends south to the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania, and then stretches southeast over Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean.

Details of the program are available in an FAA Advisory Circular (90-102) that outlines how it works and how operators are expected to comply with its procedures.

When an AFP is issued, the FAA will send an advisory to operators that is accessible at http://www.fly.faa.gov/adv/advAdvisoryForm.jsp.  An AFP will also appear in graphic and text formats on the ATCSCC Operational Information System page at http://www.fly.faa.gov/ois.  06-07-2006.

Click here to become a registered Flt Tech Online subscriber and receive headlines delivered to your e-mail each week

Click here to go back to the headlines