From MWH where I will be doing a TRB tomorrow. I am of course available if you are in need of anything until I return to the west side of the mountains.
First - A big ol’ CONGRATS to Jeydi for certifying on R07/11! Well done to her and everyone involved in her success!
This past week has had a lot of progress and has sparked the need for feedback from you, the C Area folks. I know it can be cumbersome, but please take a couple of minutes and reply to this email so I can have some solid feedback to present.
Recap stuff first:
We had a meeting with ZLC which was quick but helpful. We are tweeking the LOA to clean up some verbiage and streamline it a bit. ZLC wants to stratify 06, creating sector 14 above them. You’ll see the briefing soon, I’m not sure how much longer until that goes into affect but I am hopeful that this will be better than when 12 opened…. Additionally, due to staffing at ZLC, we have seen multiple aircraft “T”’d off at FL280 to stay under their high altitude. They are in agreement that if you want to climb these aircraft, take the “T” altitude out, point out to their high sector and once the point out is approved you can climb them. Or wait until they’re completely in your airspace and climb them. They brought up the “RC” in the 4th line since they didn’t know what that was about, we assured them it was a ZSE thing and for them to disregard it. Reminder - that does not apply to ZLC….
We met with the A Area to discuss some changes to our SOP between the A & C areas. I know there has been talk of an 8 mile in trail requirement, but that is not a thing right now. It is a facility-wide proposal for aircraft on arrivals that we are still in discussions about. We did discuss some other things with the A Area to include Low Performing Jet sequencing, adding some airports to the SEA Terminal Airports list (to match their letter with S46), and adding some verbiage to routing to allow for alternate routes. When we have things agreed upon and in writing, I will for sure share all the details with you.
Feedback:
YKM Shelf - Do you remember the picture I sent out a long time ago proposing a YKM shelf to allow for the A Area to descend aircraft on the CHINS without pointing out to 09? The A Area has brought this up asking what feedback we had about it. I think I only heard a couple of grumblings about it, but nothing Eric or I could take to the A Area with conclusive “yes” or “no”. Please email me or Eric your thoughts, it would be a little triangle shelf that extends over YKM, FL200-FL239. If you have any other suggestions to help with this, please send them. Aircraft on a north flow on the CHINS are wanting to keep their descent going to make the RADDY restriction, and the A Area needs to ensure they aren’t violating 09 with these aircraft. We can continue to accept point outs from 01, or try to come up with an airspace solution to alleviate the need for point outs in this configuration.
GEG - Spokane is talking about gates. We are in talks with them about figuring out a way to make sure aircraft’s routes are forwarded to GEG, but they are asking for the aircraft from the east to be on the HILIE. LUCEV puts aircraft over their COE traffic creating more of a conflict than it helps. We have said that all the departures east-bound go over MLP which conflicts with their inbound traffic, hence the gate options. Thoughts….? Any suggestions…?
Area Refresher/OCP - The area could really use a volunteer for this. You will be given time to work on it and it will be administered to the area 10/20-31. Please let me or your sup know if you are able to help out.
I know staffing has been short and you have been working hard, so please know it does not go unnoticed. A couple of Fridays ago, we were down 3 people and ZLC had a staffing trigger. When Amy alerted me to this, I told her our area was unable to do any heavy lifting to help ZLC as we were also well below where we needed to be for staffing and she passed this along to Cristalle. I am trying to keep an eye on our staffing and make sure that we are supported. I realize sometimes it doesn’t feel like our area is being helped, but there are things happening behind the scenes that do reduce our traffic or move them. The next time I get an example of this, I will do better about taking note of it so I can share it with you.
Thank you for your continued trust and support in the recent C Area Rep nomination. I have accepted the role of rep for the next 2 years and will continue to work hard to be transparent, supportive, available, and focused on the health of our area. Recently, I have also been selected for a position in the National ILT Cadre team, something I am looking forward to! My first training for this will be at the end of September.
You’re doing great, thank you for all your efforts and for taking the time to read this and reply. Have a wonderful week and try to stay cool in these next couple of days. If I don’t return, it’s because I melted into a puddle over here…..
In Solidarity,
Crumbley
360-635-8244
c.area.natca@gmail.com