Hi C Area!
We are still looking for 2 volunteers to be Datacomm SME’s for the implementation coming next spring.
The cadre class is 11/1-5 and then either 11/7-9 or 11/10-12 for the last part of the class. Yes, they are holding classes on Saturdays.
The training portion of this detail is 1/7/23-3/31/23. Classes are 3 days long and will run Mon-Wed and Thurs-Sat.
Please let me know if you’re interested or if you have any questions about the process.
Thank you!
Crumbley
As of today, Amanda Crumbley will be stepping up as C Area Rep. I want to thank her for stepping up and filling the role as I have become extremely busy in life and with my other NATCA duties. I remain an officer of the local, as your treasurer, I would be happy to field any issues you may have and coordinate with Amanda to get them resolved. With that, here is a message from Amanda. Going forward any emails from this address will be from her.
Hi C area!
The decision to step into the area rep role wasn't one I took lightly, but I am looking forward to the challenges and learning opportunities that being your area rep presents.
I hope to continue to foster a good working relationship with management and our surrounding areas. I know there are concerns with other facilities that need to be brought forward, and I will work hard to ensure they are resolved. My hope is you bring some solutions to the table with your concerns so we can all work together to resolve issues.
Please feel free to reach out to me with your questions and concerns, and I will do my very best to address them or figure out where I need to go for answers.
Thank you,
Crumbley
360-635-8244
Data Comm training and implementation has been tentatively scheduled for the first half of 2023 at ZSE. We are currently looking for 2 people to be the CADRE, trainers for the Data Comm team at ZSE. If you are interested in being a Data Comm instructor please let me know. The training dates are scheduled for October 31 - November 10 and you must be available for those dates.
The facility is chartering a Collaborative Work Group (CWG) on reducing or eliminating paper flight strips. There will be at least one member from each area to represent the needs of their area. If you are interested in participating please let me know.
The target date for PSC/YKM sectors to move to GEG is October 2022. This date may slip depending on many factors. In the meantime we will be crafting a new LOA for GEG to include PSC/YKM sectors. I have spoken informally with many of you about things new would want to pursue in a reimagined LOA. So far some of the topics identified are:
Name of approach control to remain Spokane Approach? or change to another inclusive name.
Reduce manual coordination from aircraft between MIA and 090 at PSC/GEG.
CARP being used beyond mid shift times.
PSC staying open an extra hour.
YKM arrivals below 110 requires manual coordination, elimination of language.
If you have any other idea please let me know.
C Area,
Spot Leave Requests
We’ve agreed to open up spot leave request for 2022 unpublished schedules on Sunday 1-16-22 at 1:00AM local. Opening spot leave requests during a mid is when the least amount of people are in the control room in an effort to maximize everyone’s opportunity to access web schedule at the same time.
To be clear, any spot leave requests made prior to 1:00AM on Sunday 1-16-22 for unpublished schedules will be deleted and you will have to re-enter your request.
If there are any questions with this please let Devin or myself know.
AWS Request
If you haven’t made an AWS request and want to do so please let Carly Way know as soon as possible.
Lastly, I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for the opportunity to be your area rep a second time. It’s been truly a unique experience during the pandemic, 5x10 schedule, 5x5 schedule, and all the changes associated with that over the last 2 years. Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!
Thank You!
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
Acting Rep
After discussing it with Amy, Drew, Devin, Kieth, and myself. Starting next year Devin will be the acting rep until Kieth is re-certified in the area. The intent behind this is to provide us with a rep that’s in the area while Kieth is in a training status and help with bridging the transition from the end of my term to Kieth’s appointment/term. I will still try to help where I can in a limited acting alternate rep role during this interim. Moving forward, Carly will still handle NATCA’s responsibility with our schedule.
Spot Leave
Currently we can’t open the schedule for future non-published spot leave requests until we’re done bidding all rounds for CPCs and Trainees. As soon as we’re done bidding, we’ll coordinate a time with management to open up the schedule for everyone. Just to be clear, any spot leave request made for future non-published schedules will be deleted and we’ll have to re-enter any requests made.
1330B
In case there’s any confusion with web schedule’s 1330B shift. It is a 10 minute beginning of shift flex. Meaning we can sign in anytime during that 10 minute window (1320 to 1330). In the past some of you may remember we had 1330NF shifts that allowed a 10 minute beginning of shift flex. This shift was changed in web schedule to 1330B to differentiate it from the 16NF and 0000NF shifts that are true no flex shifts.
Thanks
James Darlington
C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
Just a reminder there is an all members meeting tomorrow with our RVP Alex Navarro at 10am in the East/West conference room and virtually.
TELCON INFO:
Friday, November 19th @1000 PST
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join on your computer or mobile app
Click here to join the meeting
Or call in (audio only)
+1 253-240-0613,,335054440# United States, Tacoma
Phone Conference ID: 335 054 440#
C Area,
Just a heads up, we should be able to start round 3 later tonight.
Carly has offered to help with recurring shift swaps and AWS requests. Below I’ve attached the form we’ll need to put the requests together and present to management. If you’re interested please fill it out and give it to Carly before this Thanksgiving.
Click Here for Recurring Shift Swap and AWS form
Please feel free to reach out with any questions
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
We’ve agreed to keep 2 slots per day year round for the trainees. Should be able to start round 2 later tonight or tomorrow at the latest.
Thanks
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
I was hoping to have an update today on round 2 leave slots for trainees and shift swap/AWS forms for 2022 but unfortunately there is a slight delay. Expect more on those later this week.
Thanks
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
We’ve finished redistributing the CPC leave slots, and the gist is we moved 37 slots in total.
Reduced slots in part of February for IST, September for refresher training, part of July, and August.
We were able to add those slots back around mid winter break, a few around spring break, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a some other holidays.
We tried to add some more slots around spring break but due to data-com training next year we weren’t able to add more. We ended up agreeing to leave it at 3 slots rather than reduce or add more as a compromise.
Exact dates listed below.
Reduced
Feb 6th to 19th (IST)
July 16th and 17th
July 23rd
July 29th and 30th
August 1st to 3rd
August 8th and 9th
August 14th
August 20th to 26th
September 19th to 23rd (refresher)
Added
Feb 20th to 26th
March 22nd and 23rd
March 26th
March 29th and 30th
May 30th
Oct 10th
Oct 29th to 31st
Nov 11th
Nov 20th to 23rd
Nov 25th and 26th
Dec 18th to 24th
Dec 26th to 31st
We should be able start round 2 for CPCs sometime this evening.
Still finalizing a few things with before we can start round 2 for trainees, but should have more updates on that this weekend.
If there are any questions please feel free to give me a call.
Thanks
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
Due to an oversight on my part we’ll be bidding 8 R-Side lines and 1 D-side instead of what I sent out previously. The 8th R-Side line will go to Wed/Thur. Specifics below.
8 R-Side lines with 1 on every crew but 2 on Wed/Thur
1 D-Side lines on Sat/Sun
All trainee line shift start times will be 1500, 1330NF, 0800, 0700, 0700
We’re working on updating bidATC and should be resuming the bid in the near future
If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call anytime
Thanks
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
I don’t have an exact date on when we’ll start bidding trainee lines but we’re hoping to start sooner than later.
Unless there are any last minute changes, expect the trainee lines as follows
7 R-Side lines with 1 on every crew
2 D-Side lines with 1 on Sat/Sun and 1 on Wed/Thur
All trainee line shift start times will be 1500, 1330NF, 0800, 0700, 0700
If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call anytime
Thanks
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
Before we start bidding wanted to update the previous posted schedule for anyone to reference. Everything should be up to date in bid ATC as well, but if there are any changes before we start bidding I’ll let you know.
We’re basically going with the 34 line schedule that has 1330NFs (with a 10 min flex) all week that was posted in the previous update with 2 minor changes. The 1600s on Saturday are changed to 16NF rather than just noted as 16NFs, and only the two 16NFs and one 1530 are highlighted to rotate each week with a note covering the rotatoin. Outside of that, everything else is the same.
Click here for the 2022 schedule
Once we’re done with round 1 for CPCs we’ll start bidding trainees and I’ll have a trainee schedule sent out beforehand.
If there are any questions please let me know.
Thanks
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
SGET
There is a SGET detail posted by the ART computer to build scenarios for data comm. The solicitaions lists it’s for anyone that is SGET certified but there may be a possibility to get a waver for this if anyone is interested. Please let myself or your supervisor know if you have any questions or are interested.
C Area Only Local Meeting
Tomorrow (October 6th) at 1:00pm local Amy, Drew, and myself will be hosting a C Area only meeting to cover the details and process for appointing the next C Area rep.
This will be a great opportunity to ask questions and discuss any concerns.
The meeting will be both virtual and in person at work in the QC conference room, again on October 6th at 1:00pm local.
Click here for the virtual meeting link.
Thanks
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
Article 5s
There are two solicitations by the ART computer, one is for IST and the other is for data comm. The exact dates are on the sheets. If you have any questions and/or are interested please let me or your supervisor know.
2022 Schedule
We are not complete with schedule negotiations so this is subject to change.
I wanted to post the last 2 proposed schedules we are negotiating.
The only difference between the two is 1400s or 1330NFs on the weekends.
All 1330NFs will have a 10 minute flex like we had in years past.
Besides 1330NFs replacing 1400s for briefings the other somewhat bigger guideline changes is having 3 1500s and 2 1600s instead of the current 2 1500s and 3 1600s.
Saturday swing will have 1 1530 and 2 1600NF shifts that will rotate.
Overall guidelines largely remain the same with some date adjustments to the summer and winter guides.
Again these are subject to change and expect more to follow.
Click here for proposed schedule A
Click here for proposed schedule B
C Area Only Local Meeting
On October 6th at 1:00pm local Amy, Drew, and myself will be hosting a C Area only meeting to cover the details and process for appointing the next C Are rep.
This will be a great opportunity to ask questions and discuss any concerns.
The meeting will be both virtual and in person at work, again on October 6th at 1:00pm local.
We’re trying to book the east West conference room or the QC conference room. Once we have a room booked I’ll send out an update.
Click here for the virtual meeting link.
Thanks
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
Unfortunately I don’t have any official news on next year’s schedule or when we’ll be bidding. I’m hoping to have more of an update in the coming weeks. However, one of the bigger proposed guide changes we made was to swap the number of 1500s and 1600s. Our proposal is to have 3 1500s and 2 1600s instead of the current 2 1500s and 3 1600s.
The A Area has asked me to send out an update to everyone requesting RNT arrivals on the CHINS forced down to FL240 instead of pilot’s discretion to FL240. This is due to the restriction to cross RADDY at 110 which is not published on the plate. There is a NOTAM out to address this but sometimes pilots miss it and aircraft end up high at RADDY. The plan is to update the CHINS arrival to show this new crossing restriction at RADDY for RNT arrivals but I don’t know when that will be published. For now, it’s just a request to start them down if we can.
Lastly, if anyone has any questions or are interested in being C Area rep next year please let me know.
Thanks
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
With airlines canceling flights and traffic projected to drop off after labor day we have agreed to publish PP21 (starts 9-26) M-F Day -1 (at 10). Also, all of PP22 will be published at winter/off-peak guides. If there are traffic increases or other changes we have agreed to revisit this.
Schedule negotiations for 2022 are taking place. Expect updates on 2022 guides, lines, etc once finalized. Unfortunately, at the moment we don’t have an exact date on when we’ll start bidding. Thanks in advance for your patience on this.
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
As many of you are already aware we’ve been trying to address ZLC ZSE Seattle routing for a while now. The gist of the changes are as follows but expect to be officially briefed by management this week if you haven’t been already with more details and effective dates.
Seattle turbojet aircraft south of Q152 (think near J16) will be routed no further than PDT on the CHINS arrival. No more direct SUNED without an apreq from ZLC. This should include aircraft from 16 on the CHINS as well. There will be some exceptions if ZLC is giving us in-trail spacing that will be covered in the LOA further.
Seattle turbojet aircraft north of Q152 (again think near J16) will be routed no further than MLP on the GLASR arrival. There is an exception that ZLC 20/19 can route Seattle turbojet aircraft direct GEG if they are north of MLP. This change should help alleviate the departure arrival conflictions we see today when aircraft are direct TEMPL from 48.
We also added control for speeds.
Lastly, I’d like to thank the airspace office (Paul) and our C-Area airspace supe (Eric) for all their support with these changes.
If there are any questions please feel free to reach out.
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
C Area,
In somewhat consideration with the national email for facilities that are still 5x5 to go back to BWS by June 6th, we have agreed to go back to full MOU guidelines by the middle of PP13.
To start the PP, we agreed to -1 of MOU guides in the first week on M-F day and swing to help ease the transition into full MOU guides by the second week of PP13.
To be clear, weekends and the second week of PP13 are full MOU guides.
I’ve attached a copy of our 2020 MOU with guidelines below. And, just as a reminder due to national COVID requirements these guidelines were carried over from 2020 to 2021 with no changes.
Summer guides are as follows
M-F Day 11, Swing 9
Sat Day 10, Swing 8
Sun Day 10, Swing 9
Winter guides are as follows
M-F Day 10, Swing 9
Sat Day 9, Swing 8
Sun Day 9, Swing 9
Click here for the 2020 MOU with guidelines
If there are any questions please feel free to reach out.
James Darlington
NATCA C Area Rep
904-347-3065
