Weekly Update 5/7

All,

I hope everyone is having a good week.  3 quick things for you.

Line Vacancy

There is currently a solicitation up to fill a Sat/Sun no mid line.  It is looking like Amy is going to get that and then we will bid out her line.  Please remember to check the sheet.  It doesn't take that long to do.  There is no reason this should take several weeks to finish.

Credit Solicitation

You may have seen in the area there was a posting to solicit for credit hours on certain shifts to cover for CIC class.  I think there is some confusion about this.  The agency absolutely can solicit for credit hours as long as they do so equitably (Article 34 Section 8 of the Slate Book).  If they solicit for credit hours and then assign OT, that is not ok.  That would be grieved.  If OT needs to be added to the schedule, then it must be OT, regardless of who volunteered for credit. I will be working with Jason Alliston in the future to develop a process that we can count on to be used every time with regards to credit solicitation.  I think we can do better than taping it to the sign in computer.

Talk to Me

There has been a rash of issues brought to me by people other than the ones that they happened to.  I don't see myself as someone who is difficult to talk to so this is hard for me to understand.  I have several avenues that you can contact me through that I am always monitoring.  You all have my number, my email, and if you want to ask a question publicly, the slack.  So I am having trouble understanding why so many issues never make it all the way to me.  I hear about them after the fact, through someone else, or not at all.  I would like to encourage you all to bring any issue to me.  No matter how small.  I know I play around a lot, but I am not mean, I promise.  I am here for you guys and I can only be as good of a rep as you will let me be.

That's it for this week.  Hope you guys are out enjoying this nice weather!

In Solidarity,

Drew

503.593.8178

drew.s.stewart@gmail.com

Weekly Update 4/30

All,

I hope everyone is having a great week.  I do have a few things of note to update you on this week so try to make it all the way through this one.

New CPC Line

I am meeting with whoever our OM is (currently unknown but it will eventually be Alliston) on Tuesday to discuss where to put the new line that we have no the FG is certified.  Per the MOU we have until May 2 to get the new CPC line done.  My goal is still to fill April's line but we will see what they agree to.

New Sector 36 Frequency

This is still a ways off, scheduled to happen June 12.  Apparently 121.4 interferes with WADS and they carry a bigger stick than us so we are changing our frequency.  There will be more to follow on this, just wanted to give you what I know now.  There are 4 sites that need changing.  King Mountain and North Bend will go down at the same time then Horton and Harness Mountain after that.  The actual chart change will be 19th of July.  The new frequency will be 127.55.  More to follow in the coming weeks on that.

OT Return to RDO

The language in our MOU has caused some confusion on how we handle return to RDO requests from an OT assignment.  If you are on the volunteer or "yes" list and assigned an OT, you will not have an automated return to RDO put in.  You will need to make that request yourself.  If you are on the non-volunteer or "no" list and you are assigned OT, you will have an automatic request to return to your RDO put in.

Meaning if you are on the "yes" list and you are assigned an OT that you do not want, you will need to put in a request to return to your RDO and it will be dealt with in the order it was received.  This does not preclude mgmt form cancelling an OT as long as they still follow Article 38 Section 9 of the contract which says: Overtime shall not normally be canceled without seven (7) days notice.

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Scheduling Policies

Since I took over as rep I have struggled to set a good policy for exactly how we will handle schedule moves.  We have general rules that we follow but because building the schedule is an imperfect process when abnormal things come up we have to improvise and then we find ourselves in a spot where we may be inconsistent next time something abnormal comes up.  So what I have done here is try to write down a general guideline for how we handle schedule moves.  This is not meant to be a decree and if you have a suggested change please let me know and we will discuss it as a group to find the best way to handle our scheduling.

Main Goal is Preserving the Cascading Line

The later you are in your workweek, the more likely you are to be moved earlier if an earlier shift is needed.

First and foremost above all else, the first return to shift request will be the one subjected to the biggest move.  Example being if you get moved from a day to a mid or swing, you will be first to go back to your shift over a 6 to a 7.  Same with swing to day.

Second to that is what day of your week you are on. If on your 5th day you get moved later, your request to return to shift will be ahead of a 4th day that got moved later, provided that the move is the same distance.  (0700 to 0800 and 0600 to 0700)

If a swing shift is needed, we will draw from those people who are working their first day shift of their workweek.  An example of this is Bill’s schedule (Sat/Sun straight 0700s).  If someone needs to get moved from the day to the swing on Monday, the competition for moving will be between Bill and the Thurs/Fri crew since all of them are working the first day shift of their work week.  Again, making every effort to preserve a cascading line.

If a day shift is needed, we will draw from those people who are working the furthest swing shift into their workweek.  An example of this is Jason Cruz’s schedule (Sat/Sun straight swings).  If someone needs to get moved from the swing to the day on Friday, the list of people who could be moved is Jason Cruz and anyone on a standard Tues/Wed line.

If we can move an AWS (10 hr line) line 2 hours forward or backward while still maintaining a cascading schedule, we will do that first as opposed to moving day to swing or swing to day.

Also, midshifters are not in the rotation for third swings but they are in the rotation for later day shifts. (As late as an 1100)

If 2 get moved from an 8 to a 7 from the same crew, whoever has been moved most has their request to return in first.  No difference in whether the total number of moves were earlier or later since we don’t know what you do and don’t like.

Tracking resets every year and to initially establish it, lowest seniority moves first.

In the past the policy on moving someone’s shift when they have a leave request in has been unclear. The policy moving forward will be that we will only NOT move you if your leave can be approved at posting time.  Exceptions to this will be the 4 shifts that make it more difficult to get leave from.  (1600, 1530NF, Mids, 0600)

Example:
If someone has a 4 hour EOS request off of a 1500 and it is their turn to get a 1600, the only way they get passed for that 1600 rotation is if either the leave can be approved prior to publishing OR we can publish at guides (or above) and give the FLM the opportunity to approve it. 

Example:
If someone has an entire shift requested off and it is their turn to get forced to a mid we will only skip them them in the rotation for that mid if the leave can be approved at posting OR we can publish at guides (or above) and give the FLM the opportunity to approve it.

Getting skipped in the rotation for a shift means the person who got it is racking up the tally marks for shift moves and it will decrease their likelihood to get moved in the future.

As far as smaller moves go (like a 0700 to an 0800 or 1330NF to a 1500), first priority still goes to protecting the cascading schedule.  

Example:  Two Thurs/Fri people have 0700s on Tuesday.  Bill also has a 0700 on Tuesday.  If we need to move someone to an 0800, to protect the cascading schedule, Bill would only be in the rotation on Tuesday if he had a shift that was an 0800 or later on Monday.

Dreamlines are also first to go. 

Example: I have a 1230 Dreamline from a 1330 on Thursday. If a 1330 is needed for coverage later into the night, it will be me that is moved, not someone from the day shift.

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That pretty much covers it.  If you have any questions or concerns with how I have chosen to handle this moving forward, please let me know.  We've spent so long with "hand-shake" agreements and "best guesses" of how to handle stuff so I am making an effort to specify these policies.  Like I mentioned, this is an imperfect process so even with these rules in place something will still come up that is not covered here but at least with have a guideline.  Hit me up on slack or email with any questions.

In Solidarity,

Drew

Weekly Update 4/23

All,

I hope everyone is having a good week.  It's been a busy one for me.  I am finally headed home from Philly in a few hours and ready to get out of this city.  I only have a few things this time, one of which is a convention update.  Enjoy!

LSC Opening

Clarence Courtney (Area A) has been selected to the training department and will remain with the LSC, however with the retirement of Dawn McElvain, we will be soliciting a replacement for her.  If you are interested, please send Troy an email directly (not me) by Monday, April 30rd COB.   All selections will be vetted by the Local Eboard and LSC.  His email is louhoozer@hotmail.com.

CICs Approving EA

Troy spoke with Don Hill today and they agreed that CICs can approve EA for "Blood Leave" as long as they consult with the OM first.  So in other words, the OM has to approve it.

Convention Recap:

Day 1:

Credentials Committee Report:  387 delegates, 191 alternates and 361 members in attendance representing 14,788 votes

Business:

A18-01 regarding National Standing Committees- passed without debate.  

A18-02 regarding Nomination and Election of Officers- passed without debate. 

A18-03 regarding National Conventions- Adopted as amended.

A18-04 regarding National Conventions- Defeated. 

A18-05 regarding National Conventions- Defeated. 

A18-06 regarding National Conventions- Defeated. 

A18-07 Withdrawn by the authors

A18-08 regarding Interpretation and Amendments to the Constitution-  Passed without debate. 

A18-09 regarding Seniority- Defeated. 

A18-10 Withdrawn by the authors

A18-11 regarding Seniority- Defeated. 

A18-12 regarding Seniority- Defeated.

A18-13 Withdrawn

A18-14 not heard (out of order)

A18-15 regarding Seniority- Defeated without debate. 

A18-16 regarding Seniority of BU members other than ATCS/TMC/FSS/NOTAM (Region X)- Passed. 

R18-01 Membership Trust Fund- Passed.

R18-02 Past Presidents Attending Conventions- Postponed

R18-03 Reimbursement for Training/Meetings - Passed.

Day 2:

Credentials Committee Report:  388 delegates, 196 alternates, and 347 members representing 14,788 votes.

Safety Committee: CFS registration is now open. CFS dates are October 22-24, 2018.

Organizing Committee: 3351 new NATCA members since 2014, 25 new FCTs now NATCA since 2014. RNT is now NATCA and that makes 100 represented FCTs. 95% of ATCS are NATCA members.

Business:

NEB Resolutions

1. Large Group Financial Tracking- regarding charter and financial policies for En Route, TRACON FACREP and CORE30 airports-Adopted. 

2. CFS Lodging- regarding NEB determination to issue or amend a CFS lodging policy-Adopted. 

3. Convention Subsidy- regarding criteria for determining which Locals qualify- Adopted.

 R18-02- regarding amending Past Presidents Attending Conventions- Passed. 

R18-04- Withdrawn by authors

R18-05-Withdrawn by authors

R18-06-amend/rename: Recognition of NATCA Locals from facilities transferred to the FCT Program- Adopted.

R18-07- Withdrawn by authors

R18-08-not heard

R18-09- Add new: PSD-5 Vision100 retirement for FSS ATCS- Postponed indefinitely.

R18-10-Withdrawn by authors.

R18-11- add new: PSH-1 Honorary Membership- Gordon Graham- Adopted.  

*New Business Day 2 (untimely amendments and resolutions not in the original booklet sent out to membership): 

UA18-17-regarding Finances (minor wording change)- Passed

R18-12-regarding Amend: SR-1 ARVP Official Time (wording change)- Passed

R18-13-regarding Amend: SRN-1 National Officer Salaries- Passed.

R18-14- add new: PSH-2 Honorary Membership- Mike McColgan- Adopted. 

R18-15- add new: as amended SRF-24 Convention Subsidy- Adopted.

Day 3:

Benefits Committee:  natcabenefits.com

Retirement Seminar in Seattle 11/13-11/14, register at portal.natca.org

Open enrollment for UNUM ends 4/30 (natcadisability.com). 

Aviation Medicine Advisory Service (AMAS)-   www.aviationmedicine.com Free and confidential information and council from doctors (who don’t work for the FAA) on issues/questions that may affect our medical. 

Ford X Plan- dealer cost plus 10% plus any incentives. (www.fordpartner.com) Partner code: BOFVJ

AT&T discount program-  Discount code 4924955 for 15% off.

Penn State Program- (online bachelors and masters degree programs) NATCA members provided in-state tuition and 5% tuition discount and college credit for completing a certified NATCA Academy course. www.worldcampus.psu.edu/b2b/natca

Geico Discount Program-  www.geico.com/fed/natca 

Credentials Committee Report:  382 delegates, 197 alternates and 381 members representing 14,753 votes. 

New Business Day 3 (untimely amendments and resolutions not in the original booklet sent out to membership): 

UA18-18- regarding Article VII: Nomination and Election of Officers - Adopted.

R18-16- regarding deletion of PSD-1 Twenty year Retirement (9/96)- Passed.

R18-17- regarding Add new SRG-10 return rights after training failure- Passed. 

R18-18- regarding Add new: PSH-3: Dean Iacopelli Conference Room- Passed unanimously. 

R18-19- regarding Amend: SRF-24 Convention Subsidy (4/18)- Adopted.

World Controller’s Cup- November 4-10th 2018 www.playthewcc.com

 

Other Items and my thoughts:

The dates for the 2020 NATCA Convention in Houston, TX have been confirmed as May 27-29th.  Mark your calendars.  Also after a very close vote, Fort Lauderdale was awarded the 2022 convention over other bids from Boston and San Francisco.  FLL will probably be the cheapest overall option, not counting the cost to get us west coasters out there, but I was really pulling for SFO.  Oh well.  Lake Tapps 2024??

The other really interesting thing was the general consensus on not deleting section 3 of our seniority policy.  That is the section that makes it to where if you take a supervisor job and come back, your seniority gets reset.  We passed the policy in Miami in 2008 and every convention since there has been a proposal to remove it.  The following 4 conventions there was really heated debate on the topic and even a roll call vote in 2010.  A roll call vote is where each member's vote is individually cast by your delegates.  I assumed that we were getting closer and closer to deleting that section which would restore seniority to those who were supervisors and returned to the boards.  I was very pleased to see that there was almost zero debate on the topic as only one person spoke in favor of it.  It was almost unanimously defeated, only one vote in opposition.  That means no changes will be made, supervisors do not get seniority back.

The other interesting item was the debate about where and how often to have convention.  I won't bog you down with the details of the debate but the general gist of what we passed is this: The convention body still votes on the convention location (as opposed to the proposal of making it permanently in Vegas).  The only way that it will end up in Vegas is if the host city does not meet certain logistical and financial criteria set by the NEB.  Those criteria could be anything form room rate limits to whether or not we can all stay in the same hotel.

We also changed the President and EVP salaries to where both make the same amount ($260,000 per year), this takes effect in September after the elections.  Previous salaries for President and EVP were $250,000 and $240,000, respectively.

You should be receiving an updated National Constitution in the coming weeks.  I am happy to discuss any of the convention business with any of you at any time.  I nerd out over this stuff so don't hesitate to ask.  Looking forward to getting back to the West Coast soon and I'll be back to work Wednesday.

In Solidarity,

Drew

Weekly Update 4/16

All,

I am in disgusting rainy Philadelphia preparing for Convention.  I don't have a lot to share this week but here are the two things I do have.

Upcoming OJTI Class

There is an OJTI class upcoming in June.  If you have an interest in becoming an OJTI, let you supervisor know.

CICs Approving Excused Absence

Jason Alliston is officially our OM and one of his big issues is CICs approving excused absence.  The HRPM says that FLMs have approve excused absence and  "Blood leave" is an excused absence.  However, the contract does not specify who can approve excused absence and the contract supersedes the HRPM.  I spoke with Troy about this and he is going to work on this issue with Don Hill to see how we should handle this as a facility.  In the interim, I would recommend having a supervisor or OM approve the blood leave.  I'll let you know what I find out.

In Solidarity,

Drew

Weekly Update 4/9

All,

Really not much to share this week, just rolling over some updates and reminders from previous weeks.  Next week is our biennial convention in Philadelphia.  At our last local meeting, we took a vote to see how the local feels about each proposed amendment.  Those results are posted outside the control room.  If you have any questions or opinions on those amendments or about convention at all, please don't hesitate to ask.  Also, congrats to ZD for being our newest CPC!

AL Retirement Gift

We are still collecting money to donate to Al's season tickets as a retirement gift.  You can send me any donations via venmo or PayPal to drew.s.stewart@gmail.com.  His retirement party is tomorrow night (4/10) in Tacoma at the Parkway Tavern @ 6pm.  Click here to RSVP on the facebook.

Shift Change Request Reminder

Remember that shift changes for an entire pay period can be done 28 days before the first day of that pay period.  So the actual day of the request could be 40 days out but as long as it is within 4 weeks of the Sunday that starts the pay period, it is legit.  A simpler way to look at it is that at midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning is the first second that you can put in a request for a pay period that is two ahead.

Credit Request Reminder

The biggest thing I want to remind everyone of with credit requests is YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE CREDIT ON THE BOOKS TO REQUEST TO BURN IT.  Meaning if you have 4 days of credit requested throughout the year then it is not possible for you to have the days necessary to cover that since we can only have 24hrs of credit.  Please keep an eye on this.  It is a very easy thing to get caught doing wrong and if you get caught doing it, you will likely be the reason mgmt audits everyone’s leave requests.

In Solidarity,

Drew

Metering Explanations from TMU

All,

I wanted to clarify a couple of things from my last email.  The attached explanations came from TMU and still contain some issues that we might need to work through.  Main one being whether or not we route a/c direct to BTG when we are done with them.  The 7110 requires all routes to be updated and TMU wants us to call them every time we route key a locked in aircraft so something has to give.  Making that many calls to TMU is not operationally feasible.  I haven't heard any issues coming from the floor about this in awhile so it seems like it is something we are working through with a modicum of success.  Just know that when you route key aircraft to BTG there are things that could happen to make the time jump.  Be prepared for that possibility.  Again, these are TMU's responses, I just want to get them out to you all so you know their thoughts on all of this stuff.  Feel free to join in on slack to discuss.

Metering Explanations:

Metering Delay/Sequencing Delay

• TBFM calculates delay to meet an arrival rate (which is programmed via a spacing matrix by the TMCs).  It also calculates delay in order to sequence aircraft at each of the metering fixes and/or metering arcs.
• During metering, an aircraft may have a small delay indicated in the D area, but none in the B area.  This delay is due to TBFM sequencing the aircraft at the outer Meter arc.  This will only be an issue if the D area controller decides to meter more time than the indicated delay.  That would result in the aircraft being behind the assigned meter time and that will push back (waterfall) the delay backwards into the other arrivals.

Updating routes and Frozen times jumping

• Updating a Frozen aircraft’s route: If TBFM projects the aircraft will arrive at the Meter fix (arc) later than the currently scheduled time after a route amendment, the aircraft might jump to the back of the list and the slot that the aircraft had in the TBFM timeline could potentially disappear. If the TMC is notified prior to a controller routing an aircraft, the current slot can be noted/preserved so that the aircraft can be placed back in it quickly if it were to jump out.
• TBFM will adjust times even after they are frozen. The adjustments are small, but they are large enough to potentially lose a slot when an aircraft jumps out of the assigned slot.  If the TMC is not aware that the aircraft was routed direct, and that aircraft jumps to the back of the list, he/she may not know where that aircraft was originally.
• TMC Techniques:
  • Swapping slots with aircraft that have negative times to keep the list up to date.
  • Shuffling slots with internal departures (swapping the aircraft in the list).  This is done because the towers can release aircraft two minutes earlier and one minute later than their CFR time, so the departures do not always land in the correct slot once departed.
  • List stability.  TBFM will jump aircraft around when frozen aircraft are mixed with unfrozen aircraft.  Since ZSE’s arrival streams have varying freeze horizons, it is common for TMCs to freeze aircraft further out to create stability.
• Oceanic, Alaskan, Hawaiian, and sometimes Canadian flights do not appear in TBFM until they are within ZSE radar. These flights will suddenly “pop” into the TBFM list since they appear a lot later in radar than flights on the other arrivals. The TMC may shuffle the flight down the metering list to put the aircraft in a more equitable arrival slot.  This would affect the frozen times on all streams.

Delay Countdown Timer (DCT)

• When an aircraft is in level flight and on its FP route, the DCT is accurate. Once an aircraft’s speed is changed, the DCT changes to reflect the new ground speed (by turning, descending or climbing an aircraft, it’s speed will change).  TBFM constantly updates the DCT based on the aircraft direct the next fix in the FP with the current speed. 
  • For example:  An aircraft has a 5 minute delay according to the DCT.  This aircraft is turned into a strong head wind, which drops the aircraft’s speed dramatically. TBFM recalculates, which drops the DCT to 0 after two minutes of actual time has passed.  Once that controller sees a 0 for the DCT, that aircraft is turned back to the fix on it’s FP and the DCT now jumps back up to 3 minutes. This is because TBFM has recalculated again based on the speed, which increased once that aircraft was out of the wind.

When aircraft are slowed too much or slowed when there is no delay: 

• Over delaying an aircraft results in negative delays on the TBFM timeline. Once an aircraft has fallen behind its slot, that slot is very difficult to fill. Over delaying an aircraft creates compacted demand where there originally wasn’t because it pushes that aircraft back into the aircraft behind it. This may result in times being shuffled, the metering list being rescheduled or even ZSE being shut off by TRACON due to an excess of aircraft.
• Having aircraft cross a metering fix/arc with 0 to +1 is better than -1.

Again, this is directly from TMU.  Please don't hesitate to jump on slack and discuss.

PS - You can also venmo money for Al's retirement gift to garretwilk@gmail.com

Weekly Update 4/2

All,

This is my second crack at this update.  I accidentally deleted the first one right after I finished it. So I broke my computer in half and then lit it on fire.  So I am doing this update on my wife's computer.  Anyway, here is the news this week.

AL Retirement Gift

I think I removed AL from this list successfully, so if I didn't...Sorry for ruining the gift Al.  Chris McKeever is taking up a collection to pay for part of AL's season tickets for the Seahawks upcoming 4-12 season.  If you are interested in donating to this, please either give cash to myself or Garret (he doesn't know I am volunteering him for this) or PayPal/Venmo to drew.s.stewart@gmail.com.  Just make sure you include a note about what it is for.  The plan is to give it to him at his retirement party at the Parkway Tavern on 4/10, time tbd.

Shift Swaps

If you do a shift swap with someone, try to have it properly reflected in the webscheduler.  Often times someone will be requesting a 0700 form a 1000 and another person will be requesting a 1000 from a 0700 and those people will agree to a swap.  In this case, try to reflect it in the webscheduler so others don't end up thinking they were skipped.  This is ultimately a mgmt responsibility but it helps us to make sure we don't accidentally screw each other as well.

Area Training Rep

Still waiting to hear from Troy on this.

Article 46

I wanted to clear something up regarding Art 46.  Let me start by saying that the example I am about to explain is not on the horizon for us, I just want you all to know how it would work if it was.  If we end up with a shortage on a crew, we will solicit volunteers to move to that crew.  If we are unable to get a volunteer, we will determine a "fat crew."  The junior person from this "fat crew" will then be forced to move to the short spot.  This is not a personal policy, this is a procedure that is clearly laid out in our contract in Article 46.  I have had this conversation with several people in the area and I just wanted to make sure everyone understood it.  Again, this is not something that is looming for us, just something I want to make sure we all understand.  Keep this in mind when bidding your line next year, if you want to be a little more secure on your crew, never be the junior person.

Juniper Complex Fixes

Our new fixes to clear the southern portion of the Juniper Complex (LOKEY and DNTAY) have been added to the system.  They are not currently on the maps or on the scopes but that will change in coming updates.  Garret has placed little cards that show where they are under the glass on 13 and 30.  LOKEY is the western fix and DNTAY is the eastern one.  DNTAY doesn't technically clear the whole extension but that portion is only to FL270 (I think) so you will likely have altitude there anyway.  I put the fix locations in the header to this email as well for you to see.

Full MVA Redesign

As I mentioned last week, Garret has been working to learn the new MVA program and is making some progress on getting our MVAs adjusted.  He has posted proposed changes in the area and I have attempted to attach them HERE and HERE.  Below is a list of what the proposed changes are, please see me or Garret with any concerns.  I think these will be great if we get them changed.

D-Area MIA Proposed Changes:

Project Goals:

1.     Simplification and ‘softening’ of many MIA boundary lines.  Currently, we have a total of 82 MIA areas/polygons.  This proposed revision would reduce them to 60 areas (25% decrease).

2.     No losses of significant altitude areas where vectoring for or issuing crossing restrictions at fixes for approaches is necessary.

3.     Removal of many small, non-cardinal altitude areas (i.e. 049, 059, 098, etc.).

4.     Closer integration with all adjacent sectors, Centers and Cascade Approach MIA/MVA areas (not completed yet).

Sector 30 changes:

1.     New 080 cardinal altitude area in the vicinity of SIY for vectoring arrivals/departures.

2.     Adjustment of current 071 area east of BOK/4S1 to regain the old 070 cardinal altitude MIA area.

3.     Expansion of the 060 area south of ACV by moving the 060/070 boundary along the ACV LOC slightly east.

4.     Expansion of the 037 and 050 areas along V27 and the coastline south of the FOT VORTAC w/the VORTAC now completely inside the 037 area.

5.     Replacement of the larger 092 area SW of MFR airspace with a new 090 area that now includes a smaller 092 isolation area in the vicinity of LEANN/TALEM/KLAMA.

6.     Adjustment resulting in a smaller 159 area for Mt. Shasta with new 150 and 100 step-down shelf areas.

7.     Expansion of the 040 area north of CEC along the coastline to coincide with removal of the 044 area.

Sector 36 changes:

1.     New 025 area south and east of the OTH LOC between MITUE/EMIRE to accommodate vectors for the ILS approach for ADS-B equipped aircraft (once the LOC is depicted, of course).

2.     New 043 area in the vicinity of COOSE extending northeast to accommodate a lower crossing restriction at COOSE for the VOR/DME-B.

3.     Adjustment of current 057 and 060 area boundaries south of RBG to accommodate lower altitudes for RBG inbounds being vectored for the 157-R and EROWY (w/ IDISY still in the 057).

4.     Adjustment of the current 050 area in the vicinity of RBG, extending that area south and east of the VOR by over 4 nm.

5.     Adjustment of current 071 area east of BOK/4S1 to regain the old 070 cardinal altitude MIA area.

6.     Removal of the isolated 039 area north of the OTH VOR/DME (now all just 040).

Sector 10 changes:

1.     Adjustment of 086 area in the vicinity of LMT giving slightly more room (2-3 nm) in the area southwest of TAHNE.

2.     Adjustment of the 100 area in the vicinity of Mt. McLaughlin allowing for MIXUP to be 1-2 miles inside the 090 area.

3.     Expansion of the 090 area in the vicinity of MIXUP, SPRAG, and north toward the Sector 05 boundary.

4.     Removal of 088 area in the vicinity of MIXUP.

5.     Adjustment of the 102 area in the vicinity of LKV, creating a new larger 100 area with new 101, 102, and 116 exclusion areas instead.

Shift Change Request Reminder

Remember that shift changes for an entire pay period can be done 28 days before the first day of that pay period.  So the actual day of the request could be 40 days out but as long as it is within 4 weeks of the Sunday that starts the pay period, it is legit.  A simpler way to look at it is that at midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning is the first second that you can put in a request for a pay period that is two ahead.

Credit Request Reminder

The biggest thing I want to remind everyone of with credit requests is YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE CREDIT ON THE BOOKS TO REQUEST TO BURN IT.  Meaning if you have 4 days of credit requested throughout the year then it is not possible for you to have the days necessary to cover that since we can only have 24hrs of credit.  Please keep an eye on this.  It is a very easy thing to get caught doing wrong and if you get caught doing it, you will likely be the reason mgmt audits everyone’s leave requests.

Metering Explanations

TMU has been working to put together an explainer document for some common questions about metering.  These are TMU's answers to common questions.  The following is what they have come up with:

Metering Explanations:

Metering Delay/Sequencing Delay

• TBFM calculates delay to meet an arrival rate (which is programmed via a spacing matrix by the TMCs).  It also calculates delay in order to sequence aircraft at each of the metering fixes and/or metering arcs.
• During metering, an aircraft may have a small delay indicated in the D area, but none in the B area.  This delay is due to TBFM sequencing the aircraft at the outer Meter arc.  This will only be an issue if the D area controller decides to meter more time than the indicated delay.  That would result in the aircraft being behind the assigned meter time and that will push back (waterfall) the delay backwards into the other arrivals.

Updating routes and Frozen times jumping

• Updating a Frozen aircraft’s route: If TBFM projects the aircraft will arrive at the Meter fix (arc) later than the currently scheduled time after a route amendment, the aircraft might jump to the back of the list and the slot that the aircraft had in the TBFM timeline could potentially disappear. If the TMC is notified prior to a controller routing an aircraft, the current slot can be noted/preserved so that the aircraft can be placed back in it quickly if it were to jump out.
• TBFM will adjust times even after they are frozen. The adjustments are small, but they are large enough to potentially lose a slot when an aircraft jumps out of the assigned slot.  If the TMC is not aware that the aircraft was routed direct, and that aircraft jumps to the back of the list, he/she may not know where that aircraft was originally.
• TMC Techniques:
  • Swapping slots with aircraft that have negative times to keep the list up to date.
  • Shuffling slots with internal departures (swapping the aircraft in the list).  This is done because the towers can release aircraft two minutes earlier and one minute later than their CFR time, so the departures do not always land in the correct slot once departed.
  • List stability.  TBFM will jump aircraft around when frozen aircraft are mixed with unfrozen aircraft.  Since ZSE’s arrival streams have varying freeze horizons, it is common for TMCs to freeze aircraft further out to create stability.
• Oceanic, Alaskan, Hawaiian, and sometimes Canadian flights do not appear in TBFM until they are within ZSE radar. These flights will suddenly “pop” into the TBFM list since they appear a lot later in radar than flights on the other arrivals. The TMC may shuffle the flight down the metering list to put the aircraft in a more equitable arrival slot.  This would affect the frozen times on all streams.

Delay Countdown Timer (DCT)

• When an aircraft is in level flight and on it’s FP route, the DCT is accurate. Once an aircraft’s speed is changed, the DCT changes to reflect the new ground speed (by turning, descending or climbing an aircraft, it’s speed will change).  TBFM constantly updates the DCT based on the aircraft direct the next fix in the FP with the current speed. 
  • For example:  An aircraft has a 5 minute delay according to the DCT.  This aircraft is turned into a strong head wind, which drops the aircraft’s speed dramatically. TBFM recalculates, which drops the DCT to 0 after two minutes of actual time has passed.  Once that controller sees a 0 for the DCT, that aircraft is turned back to the fix on it’s FP and the DCT now jumps back up to 3 minutes. This is because TBFM has recalculated again based on the speed, which increased once that aircraft was out of the wind.

When aircraft are slowed too much or slowed when there is no delay:

• Over delaying an aircraft results in negative delays on the TBFM timeline. Once an aircraft has fallen behind its slot, that slot is very difficult to fill. Over delaying an aircraft creates compacted demand where there originally wasn’t because it pushes that aircraft back into the aircraft behind it. This may result in times being shuffled, the metering list being rescheduled or even ZSE being shut off by TRACON due to an excess of aircraft.
• Having aircraft cross a metering fix/arc with 0 to +1 is better than -1.

NCF Step Challenge is Over!

The standings are as follows:

1. TX (1,156,978 Steps)
2. KC (933,465 Steps)
3. DP (745,641 Steps)
4. HA (561,890 Steps)
5. AM (539,633 Steps)
6. ZK (20,734 Steps)

I'm guessing that some of you quit tracking your steps...looking at you ZK.  But nonetheless, thank you all for participating and donating to the NCF.  The prizes I promised are as follows:

• Rare Breed Wild Turkey Bourbon (I pick this one)
• 24 pk of PBR
• $20 Starbucks gift card

KC, let me know which of the remaining 2 prizes you want, DP gets the other one.

Just for perspective, the person who won the whole challenge got 4,041,795 Steps.  That's cray cray.

That's it for this week.  Let me know if you have any issues and don't forget to join the conversation in Slack.

In Solidarity,

Drew

Weekly Update 3/26

All,

I hope everyone is having a good week.  Lots going on right now so bear with me and try to make it to the end of this update.

Line Waterfall

I hit a snag with our line waterfall.  I assumed that as soon as we bid out Al's line, we would immediately bid out April's line.  Well Poole pushed back on that idea and it put us in a bind.  So because we are not bidding out April's line just yet, I have to give her a chance to bid in the waterfall too. I did, and she took KR's old line.  So there has been a slight amendment to the waterfall.  I am meeting with Poole on Wednesday in hopes of settling this and bidding out April's line but if I am unable to come to an agreement with him, I will send it up to Troy and Don to sort it out.

The adjusted waterfall to take place for PP11 is as follows:

MK to AL
KR to MK
AW to KR
AM to AW
CH to AM
KD to CH
YJ to KD
ZK to YJ
GR to ZK
KX to GR

RNT is Now NATCA

Renton Tower has joined our ranks as a NATCA facility.  For us, this means that ZK will be picking up a few years of seniority and will be moving up in the world.  I don’t know for sure yet exactly where he fits with the added time but I think it is right around KC.  Amy will be gathering the information on this soon and updating our seniority list.

Area Training Rep

This is still at the facility level.  I spoke to Troy last week and he plans to meet with Don Hill to discuss specifics.  If you have any questions or suggestions about it, please feel free to take those to Troy.

Article 46 Move to B Area

As of yet, this is still not happening.  Any discussions regarding this move are on hold until the fall.  If you hear anything about it let me know and I will run down its accuracy.

LSC Vacancy

Expect there to soon be a facility wide solicitation to replace Dawn McElvain on the LSC.  I’ll let you know when that officially comes out.

Full MVA Redesign

Garret has been working to learn the new MVA program and is making some progress on getting our MVAs adjusted.  To do this in the most effective way would require a total redesign of our MVA Map.  I am onboard with this because the end result is going to be lower MVAs all around.  If you are opposed to a change in our MVA map, please let Garret or me know.

Cascade Approach

Cascade has begun the process of renegotiating their LOA with us.  So far they have asked for the following:

EUG airspace

• ZSE control on contact for all RBG / OTH landers.
• ZSE control for turns up to 30° on aircraft leaving airspace.

MFR airspace

• ZSE route all MFR landers from 36 direct SAMIE.
• Notify Cascade when sectors combine/decombine. Just so Cascade knows if an aircraft needs to go to 30 or 10 if they’re climbing high eastbound.  (I assume it'll still be anyone's guess what frequency they end up on)

They are also are interested in taking some of our airspace.  They want to increase their vertical boundary by 1-2,000 ft.  I am generally against the idea of giving up airspace but I wanted to see what you all thought about it.  Cascade says that their MVA in the SW corner is 9,100 and it’s tight sometimes especially when MFR is landing 32. Also, they could top our Mt McLoughlin MVA, for better radio coverage for Sector 10 and aircraft would not need that V122..LMT transition. 

We are in the early stages of talks with them so please jump on the slack and let me know your thoughts or tell Garret or me in person as well.

A Sides Being Converted to D Side Processors

From the ERAM Adaption Oversight Team:

ERAM "Tech Refresh 2 Early D" is underway to address an ERAM risk related to hardware failures and limited availability of spares, including the D/A positions.  In the current ERAM software baseline, the replacement processor do not support D/A positions, which will continue to using existing hardware until delivery of the EAE200 system release.  In addition, Risk 246, P615 Performance Issue, identifies CPU and memory utilization issues associated with existing D/A position processors.

An opportunity exists to replace additional processors during "Early D" and reduce both risks affecting the D/A processors by converting converting D/A positions if the D/A functionality is not required.  This adaptation change must be implemented in advance of hardware replacement to ensure the current, fallback and alternate releases installed on the processors are compatible with both the old and new hardware.

The conversion of D/A positions to D positions is optional, and sites should retain any D/A positions they feel are necessary.  Any remaining D/A positions will be replaced during the "Tech Refresh 2 Full" activity and the delivery of the EAE200 system release that supports D/A positions using new hardware.

Impact on us:

We have 2 D/A position processors on the D area, known to us as "A Sides."  There is one hidden behind our bay headers and one in between Sector 13 and 14.  We were asked if we could convert one of those to a full "D side" processor.  I elected to upgrade the one in between 13 and 14.  This will likely have no impact on us, but it is possible they install a D Side screen to go with the new processor.  If you actually read everything above and are now all the way down here I am pretty impressed.  Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns regarding this process.  Anthony Goodwin can probably answer them as well.

Shift Change Request Reminder

Remember that shift changes for an entire pay period can be done 28 days before the first day of that pay period.  So the actual day of the request could be 40 days out but as long as it is within 4 weeks of the Sunday that starts the pay period, it is legit.  A simpler way to look at it is that at midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning is the first second that you can put in a request for a pay period that is two ahead.

Credit Requests

The biggest thing I want to remind everyone of with credit requests is YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE CREDIT ON THE BOOKS TO REQUEST TO BURN IT.  Meaning if you have 4 days of credit requested throughout the year then it is not possible for you to have the days necessary to cover that since we can only have 24hrs of credit.  Please keep an eye on this.  It is a very easy thing to get caught doing wrong and if you get caught doing it, you will likely be the reason mgmt audits everyone’s leave requests.

In Solidarity,

Drew

Weekly Update 3/19

All,

I hope everyone is having a good week.  I've been gone for the past week but I have been doing my best keep up with what is going on in the area and here is what I have for you this week.

Map Changes

Garret has been hard at work in airspace trying to add some stuff to our maps.  This has been a tedious process for him but he is making some headway now and we wanted to try to get some feedback.  Here are the proposed changes:

a.       Add the following roads to our "EMER" map button:

1.       I-5, starting 30 nm north of EUG to northwest of RDD.
2.       US-97, starting 30 nm north of the sector 10/05 boundary to its termination point in Weed, CA.
3.       US-199, from Grants Pass, OR to Crescent City, CA.

b.       Add the following lakes to a new button labeled "LAKES/RIVERS":

1.       Crater Lake
2.       Upper Klamath Lake
3.       Shasta Lake
4.       Summer Lake (NW of LKV)
5.       Lake Albert (NE of LKV)
6.       Crump Lake (SE of LKV)
7.       Big Sage Reservoir (NW of AAT)
8.       Lake Malheur (near Burns, OR)

c.       Add the following rivers to the same new "LAKES/RIVERS" button:

1.       Rogue River, from northwest of Crater Lake to Gold Beach, OR.
2.       Umpqua River, from just north of OTH to just west of Mt. Thielsen.
3.       Trinity River, from just south of Weed, CA to the mountains east of ACV
4.       South Fork Trinity River, from the mountains east of ACV to just southeast of Dinsmore, CA.
5.       Sprague River (NE of LMT)
6.       Suislaw River, from Florence, OR to 20 mile south of EUG.

d.       Remove the "NRS WAYPNTS" map button.  These are the "K" fixes that we rarely use anyhow.  They will still be viewable using the GPD on the EDST (D-Side) if necessary. Removing this button will make room for our new "LAKES/RIVERS" button.

e.        Add TUNGS southeast of FOT on V27 (IAF for the RNAV-B approach at EKA).  We don't have anything on the map now in that area so clutter won't be an issue.

I have attempted to attach a map to this email showing these but we'll see how that goes...

Let me or Garret know what you guys think about all of these proposals either via email, in person, or in slack (button below).

LMT Hours

We had previously agreed to amend LMT's operational hours effective 5/1.  They have lost another controller and need to push that up so we have agreed to have the new hours take affect on 4/1.  The new hours are 0700-2200 Local.  You can expect that in a briefing this week.

Line Waterfall

We completed the line waterfall and for those who care it went as follows:

MK to AL
KR to MK
AM to KR
CH to AM
KD to CH
YJ to KD
ZK to YJ
GR to ZK
KX to GR

These changes should take place in PP11.  No change in the plan for AW's line.  I will let you know when I know more.

Shift Change Request Reminder

Remember that shift changes for an entire pay period can be done 28 days before the first day of that pay period.  So the actual day of the request could be 40 days out but as long as it is within 4 weeks of the Sunday that starts the pay period, it is legit.  A simpler way to look at it is that at midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning is the first second that you can put in a request for a pay period that is two ahead.

 

Overbid Leave

There is growing concern in the area and amongst the FLMs that some of you have overbid your leave.  I have on many occasions assured mgmt that we will police that ourselves and we will make sure we are not over bid.  Please don't make me a liar.  If you are close on your leave then please double check it to make sure you didn't over do it.  Keep in mind that when requesting credit, you must currently have the credit in the bank.  Having an approved request to work the credit to earn it does not count.  Mgmt has been pretty loose with this but we all need to make sure we know the rules.  If mgmt decides to do a leave audit and you are overbid, they will likely pursue discipline and that is really not fun for anyone even if we are able to stop it.

 

Schedule Issues

If you come across a schedule issue and it is something that the FLM can easily fix, feel free to pursue it yourself.  However, if you do not get the answer that you want, please let me know and I will deal with them.  This is easier than beating your head against a wall with certain FLMs.

In Solidarity,

Drew

Weekly Update 3/12

All,

I hope you are all having a good week.  PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE CHECKING THE LINE VACANCIES AND INDICATING WHETHER OR NOT YOU WANT IT.  We are currently working on the plan for April’s line.  I will let you know when I know more.

Possible LMT Trip

I’ve been told there might be a little extra money in this year’s budget for a trip to LMT.  If this does happen, the people that go will be those that were selected to go last time when it fell through.

EAP

I recently learned that EAP is actually something we can safely use.  They provide financial and legal advice as well as many other services.  When I came into the Agency I was taught never to use the Agency’s programs because I was told “never tell the agency something is wrong with you if you don’t have to.”  That has since changed and the EAP is co sponsored with NATCA and confidential (unless you are a harm to yourself or others).  You probably all learned this in IST like I did but here is the link if you decide to use it:

Magellanhealth.com/member

Shift Change Request Reminder

Remember that shift changes for an entire pay period can be done 28 days before the first day of that pay period.  So the actual day of the request could be 40 days out but as long as it is within 4 weeks of the Sunday that starts the pay period, it is legit.  A simpler way to look at it is that at midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning is the first second that you can put in a request for a pay period that is two ahead.

Schedule Issues

If you come across a schedule issue and it is something that the FLM can easily fix, feel free to pursue it yourself.  However, if you do not get the answer that you want, please let me know and I will deal with them.  This is easier than beating your head against a wall with certain FLMs.

I'm on Leave

I will be on leave until 3/21 but I will be pretty accessible.  I’ll be in Denver on 3/14 and 3/15 for the Regional Preconvention Meeting and then I’ll be off to Chicago to celebrate 34 years of not dying by drinking green beer and puking in a green river.

In Solidarity,

Drew

Weekly Update 3/5

All,

I hope you are all having a good week.  Not a ton going on in the area right now outside of line vacancies but here is an update on some stuff that I have worked on recently.

Juniper Complex

We have had a pretty good conversation going on on Slack about Juniper Complex procedures so make sure you get on in there if you have something to say.  For now, no policies are changing but one thing did come up regarding transitioning the airspace.  The B area doesn’t generally believe that they need to let us know ahead of time before clearing someone into Juniper.  That being said, if you do choose to transition the airspace, be sure to call them and advise them not to clear anyone in the airspace until you say otherwise.  I know there are different opinions on whether or not we should even be transiting the airspace while it is scheduled to go hot but should you choose to, I think this is a good practice.

Metering

Last Wednesday we did a little test run on the floor where we set the amount of delay taken by the B area to 0.  The time we displayed was still the arc time but the delay was the full delay at BTG.  Meaning the true arc time was the displayed time minus 5 minutes.  I don't think this really gave us what we were looking for.  I think what most of us want to see is the actual BTG time.  So for now there will be no change.  I am working with TMU to find a way to display the BTG time and no arc time.  I think that might be the most seamless way to do it.  In that case we would just cross the boundary into the B area with the 2 digit timer (count down timer) at 5 or under.  I’ll let you guys know what I find out.

FLM Issues

We have had a few issues where an FLM remembered an exchange between an employee and him differently than the employee remembered it.  I only say this to draw attention to the fact that if you decide to talk to an FLM on the non-recorded line, you are running the risk that the story changes after the fact.  I’m trying not to just outright accuse anyone of anything, but you all know who to be weary of.

Shift Change Requests

Vaden is the scheduling supe now and he has been publishing the schedule a little earlier than we are used to.  Overall this is a good thing but it brings back up the issue of people putting in requests too early.  He deleted the first few he found and re added them, I would not expect that to continue.  If you put your request in too early, expect it to get deleted and not put back in.  Remember that shift changes for an entire pay period can be done 28 days before the first day of that pay period.  So the actual day of the request could be 40 days out but as long as it is within 4 weeks of the Sunday that starts the pay period, it is legit.  A simpler way to look at it is that at midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning is the first second that you can put in a request for a pay period that is two ahead.

B Area Article 46 Move

THIS IS ALL STILL IN RUMOR PHASE.  However, I do want you to all be prepared in the event that it happens.  Article 46 of the contract allows the agency to realign the workforce.  The TL;DR version is that they will determine the eligible employees (likely D area) and then solicit a move to the B area.  If they are unable to get a volunteer they would force the junior CPC to the B area.  If you do volunteer you get a 1% bonus when you go and another 1% when you check out.  I’ve attached Article 46 of the contract to the bottom of this post if you want to read it for yourself.

Bid Vacancy Waterfall

Looks like MK will be getting AL’s line and we have a pretty big waterfall about to take place so please please please initial ASAP as to whether or not you want the posted line.  I will be hassling you if you don’t.

I feel like everyone who wants to be on slack already is.  Hit me up if you have any issues with slack or anything else.

In Solidarity,

Drew

Article 46

Section 1

The Agency shall notify the Union at the national level as soon as possible, but not less than twelve (12) months, in advance of a facility closure, or relocation and/or severance of existing facility functions and/or services or inter-facility realignment requiring the reassignment of employees. The notification period may be reduced by mutual agreement of the Parties at the national level.

Section 2

In the event of a facility closure, or relocation and/or severance of existing facility functions and/or services, or inter-facility reorganization, the procedures outlined in Article 47 of this Agreement shall apply when a reduction-in-force is necessary.

Section 3

The Agency shall notify the Union representative as soon as possible, but not less than six (6) months, prior to intra-facility reorganizations (e.g. areas of specialization are realigned and/or established) involving bargaining unit employees.

The Agency shall notify the Union representative as soon as possible, but not less than three (3) months in advance, when a staffing imbalance exists within a facility that requires retraining of individuals to solve the imbalance.

These notification periods may be reduced by mutual agreement of the Parties at the local level.

Section 4

In exercising the provisions of Section 3, the Agency shall determine the number of employees to be selected. Solicitations for volunteers shall be facility-wide unless otherwise mutually agreed to by the Parties at the local level. If after this initial change has been completed another imbalance was created that requires further action, the Agency shall designate the area from which volunteers will be sought and the number of employees to be selected from each area.

Section 5

In facilities where staffing imbalances exist, volunteers shall be solicited from all qualified employees where no individual retraining is necessary to complete the change. If after this initial change has been completed another imbalance was created that requires further action, the Agency shall designate the teams from which volunteers will be sought and the number of employees to be selected from each team.

Section 6

In exercising and complying with Sections 4 or 5, each vacancy shall be filled by the reassignment of the most senior qualified volunteer. If there are no volunteers, selections shall be made using inverse seniority from among the qualified employees within the designated area(s)/team(s) which were identified in the solicitation. The transfer of employees shall be accomplished within three (3) months of the close of the solicitation. If the transfer is not accomplished within three (3) months of the close of the solicitation, the selection list shall be considered void.

Section 7

A CPC who has volunteered for an intra-facility reassignment shall receive an incentive bonus equal to one percent (1%) of the employee's Base Pay and an additional one percent (1%) once he/she has fully certified in the new area. When a CPC who is involved in an intra-facility transfer in accordance with this Article is unsuccessful in achieving certification in his/her new area, the employee shall be retained within his/her existing facility. The first priority shall be a reassignment back to the area that he/she was previously certified. Nothing in this Section precludes the Agency from offering multiple areas based on organizational needs. If more than one (1) position is offered, the employee shall be given the opportunity to select the area to which he/she will be assigned.

Section 8

In the event that an administrative/directed reassignment becomes necessary as a result of one of the actions stated in this Article, the Agency shall expedite existing selections awaiting release to/from affected facility(s) prior to making a decision as to the number of employees to be affected as well as the locations involved. Should it be determined that there are still employees subject to directed reassignments, the Agency agrees to set qualifications and solicit volunteers. The Agency will then assign the most senior volunteer(s). If there are insufficient volunteers, inverse seniority shall apply from among qualified employees.

Employees adversely affected by the conditions set forth in this Article shall be entitled to receive permanent change of station (PCS) expenses in accordance with Article 58 of this Agreement.

Section 9

Nothing in this Article is intended as a waiver of any bargaining obligation with respect to remaining substantive issues and/or the impact and implementation arising from any change as a result of the implementation of any provision of this Article.

Section 10

The express terms of this Article apply separately and distinctly to each of the following bargaining units: Air Traffic Controllers, Traffic Management Coordinators/Specialists, FSS, and NOTAM Specialists.

Open Line

We are currently bidding out Al's line to take effect no sooner than PP10.  Please indicate on the sheet posted in the area if you are interested.  This will create a pretty big waterfall so please be vigilant about checking the sheet.  We are still in the process of figuring out the best way to bid April's line but we won't be doing that until we can complete the bid for Al's line anyway.

Also, the posted Article 5 solicitation is going to be for FLM Donny Cone and for Jordon Sandoval.  So keep that in mind when making your decision.

Solicitation for Refresher and the Training Department

There are currently two solicitations posted on the sign in computer.  

One is to be an R side instructor for JC in the Training Department from 4/2-5/17.  This closes 3/8.  Please let your supervisor know if you are interested in this.  In the past these have been eligible for 10 hour days but this one is unclear on that.  Make sure you ask your Supervisor if that is something you want to do.

The other solicitation is for Refresher Training.  The classes would be from 5/21-5/25.  This solicitation closes 3/15.

I know a few of you have already shown interest in these but make sure if you are interested that your supervisor knows.

Drew

Weekly Update 2/26

All,

I hope everyone is having a good week.  I did a little revamping with the email.  Hope you like the giant NATCA logo and the fighters.  I might be getting the hang of this website finally.  Got a few things going on so this update might be longer than usual, so please do your best to stick with it all the way through.  Here goes…

QC Detail

The detail to work with Lee Kramer in QC is still open for another couple of days (Closing date is Feb 28th).  Make sure you get your name in if you are interested.

From CEDAR:

Employees selected for this assignment will provide assistance to the Support Manager for Quality Control. Operations permitting, duties will be assigned intermittently for a period to be determined by the Support Manager for QC.

Dawn’s Job — Training Specialist

Temporary NTE 1 year (may be extended)

Bid closes 3/6/2018

Link: https://www.usajobs.com/getjob/viewdetails/491379600

Schedule Movement

We will soon be bidding out April Warfel and Al Passero’s lines.  Hopefully as soon as Wednesday.  I expect this to cause quite a shuffle so please make sure you are checking the sheet and marking whether or not you are interested in the line.  I want to get this done as fast as possible so Angie has time to reflect it in PP11.  You can expect me to be hassling you if you don’t initial the sheet.

Metering

Ok so this is a big deal right now.  We recently had a joint team brief with the B area and TMU.  I am going to try to capture some of it here.  Frist of all, apparently during metering someone is “regularly” assigning M79+ to aircraft.  This claim was made by one person in the B area and I don’t believe it.  If for some reason it is true and it is you assigning M79+ during metering…STOP.  PLEASE STOP.

• Route Key:  Route key everyone.  Get the route updated before you send them to the next sector.  I know you may have been told differently in the past, but that is no more.  Update all routes.  The only way this can negatively impact the meter program is if the new route puts the aircraft at BTG at a time later than their scheduled meter time.  This should almost never happen and TMU should be vigilant and correct it when it does.

• Showing the whole delay:  We are still working on making this a reality.  This Wednesday I plan to run a test of it to see if there are any negatives and if I see none, I will be working to make it permanent.  In the meantime it might not be the worst idea to be informing pilots that in the next sector they will still be delayed 5 more minutes to help get them used to it.  Randy Vincent is also supposed to be getting with the airlines to let them know they will be metered through multiple sectors in ZSE.

• Locked in Times Changing:  Apparently this is just something that might happen.  I have seen it happen where the time went up 3 minutes after we turned the aircraft back.  This should be rare but can be caused be a whole host of things.  The best thing to do if it happens is to hit the new time.  If you feel like it, you can call TMU and if they have a slot further up the list, they might be able to change it.  This is just something we are going to have to do deal with for now.  I am hoping that seeing the BTG time changes this.

• Meter Delay vs Sequence Delay:  I have been working with metering for about the last 8 years and I had never heard of a sequence delay until last week.  I think a better explanation is coming from TMU at some point but the general idea is that aircraft can have a 2 minute delay with us and no delay in the B area.  I previously didn’t think that was possible.  If we have 2 then they have 5, right?  Well apparently not always.  We could potentially be seeing a delay that is intended to space the aircraft out as required for the HAWKZ arrival.  This was news to me and hopefully we will learn more about it in the future or even better, maybe it will stop being an issue when we see the whole BTG time.

Possible Bid for B Area

Just a heads up, the front office is kicking around the idea of opening up a bid for a D area person to go to the B area.  As of right now it is just an idea and it would be voluntary.  I’ll let you know if any of that changes.

Juniper Complex

We are currently having a good chat on Slack about how we should handle Juniper Hart clearances and what we should expect the B area to give us as the “controlling agency.”  Make sure you join up on that channel if you want your voice to be heard!  Click the link below that applies to you!

Legislative Class

Last week, Jackson Yang took two days of his personal time to go learn more about NATCA’s legislative involvement and how our lobbying efforts work.  I think it is awesome that he stepped up to volunteer for something like that and I wanted to shout him out for it.  Please let me know if you have any interest in anything NATCA offers as far as classes or any activism goes and I will get you whatever information you want.

Slack Invites

Lots of people joined last week!  Don’t forget to turn on notifications if you want to know what is going on in there.  Only the following people are left to join:

Mark Baden

Geoff Goodfellow

Eric Johnsen

Bill Kohler

Brett Lewis

Derek Myers

April Warfel

Carl Warfel

Jared Zautner

Jessica Randall

If your name is listed here, click the orange button below.  If your name is not here then you are already on slack and you can click the blue button to join the conversation. (In case you are viewing this on the website, these buttons are only visible on the email.)

To make sure you are in the right channel, click the multi colored hashtag (pound sign) in the top left and select the lowercase d to join our slack.  Then go to the top right and go to settings and turn on all notifications.  If you don’t turn them all on, you won’t get any.

In Solidarity,

Drew

Weekly Update 2/19

All,

Hopefully everyone is having a good week.  A few new things this week and a few carryovers from last week.  Looking forward to seeing everyone today at 4pm at Dave and Busters!

New OM
During my grueling two day collaboration training on 2/14 and 2/15 I learned that we will be getting B Area Supervisor Jason Alliston as our next OM.  I discussed a few things with him and I am cautiously optimistic about how he will be as an OM.  Not sure when he will take over, but I think they are shooting for April.

Supervisor Duties
In case you care who is assigned what, here are the following duties that are assigned to our area FLMs:

Baker - Airspace & Procedures/510/Pubs
Brennan - Quality Control
Brier - Training
Michelsen - Schedule/TMU

AMDT Change
The change should currently be in effect.  Has anyone seen any issues on the floor with the increased delay?

Pending Requests
Jason Poole is still planning on briefing all of the supes on this in March.  However, our incoming OM (Jason Alliston) is in agreement with me on this and plans to follow the contract as well.  Make sure you are letting me know about any issues with this.
 

Just as a reminder, here are the relevant contract excerpts:

Article 24 Section 14

Spot leave is leave requested for any period during a posted watch schedule. Leave requests for the shift being worked shall be approved/disapproved subject to staffing and workload within thirty (30) minutes of the request being made. Leave requests for future shifts shall be approved/disapproved subject to staffing and workload within two (2) hours of when the request was made, or prior to the end of the shift, whichever is less. Approval/disapproval shall not be subject to conditional circumstances. Leave requests shall be approved in the order that they were requested. If the request was disapproved and annual leave for that time period later becomes available, the leave shall be approved in the order that the request was received.

Article 32 Section 8

When considering an individual request for a shift and/or days off change, the Agency will consider the staffing and workload of the losing and gaining shift as a precondition to approval. If it is determined that those needs are adequately met, the change shall be approved.

Area Training Rep
I got a few volunteers for this and we are currently in the process of setting up the details.  More to come.

CEDAR/Hot Sheets
Anyone getting PRoCs yet for not checking their CEDAR?  Let me know.

Refresher Training
Refresher Training will be taking place May 21-24.  We are still looking for some volunteers and some ideas for this.  Please let me know if you have any suggestions on either.

Next is some notes from Garret from our Meeting with the Coast Guard last month:

---

ZSE/USCG Meeting Summary – January 2018

Background:  At the request of the US Coast Guard, two pilots from the North Bend Sector arrived at the Auburn Municipal Airport for an informal face-to-face meeting and facility tour with ZSE personnel on Friday, January 26, 2018.  The primary purpose of the meeting was to improve mutual awareness of operational requirements and limitations between all parties in order to increase safety and efficiency.

Participants:  Lieutenant Chad A. Perdue was the lead representative for the USCG.  Glen Wood (Airspace and Procedures Support Manager) was the lead representative for ZSE.  Representing the D-Area was Garret Wilkerson (Airspace SME), Bill Kohler (Airspace SME), Drew Stewart (NATCA Area Rep) and Vaden Michelsen (FLM).  Representing the B-Area was Jonathan Bradshaw (Airspace SME) and Annika Preciado (FLM).

Takeaways and Discussions:

1.     USCG primary concern:  The North Bend Sector operates the MH-65D helicopter (Type AS65/G, aka “Dolphin”), which is not approved for flight into known icing conditions.  This limitation often prevents USCG pilots from being able to accept an IFR clearance at or above the MIA as required by ATC.  Therefore, the Coast Guard was most interested in learning how ATC might be able to issue them a clearance for an Instrument Approach Procedure (IAP) without having to climb to the MIA.

Solution:  We discussed how pilots should contact ATC in advance and (1) relay their current position (preferably by referencing a FIX, WAYPOINT or FRD) and altitude, (2) emphasize MEDEVAC priority, if necessary (i.e. “Coast Guard Rescue”), and (3) state the approach requested.

If the pilot is unable to accept a clearance at or above the MIA, it was suggested (weather permitting) that they make an alternate request to maintain VFR until established on a published segment/transition of the approach (no closer than the FAF) at or above the published altitude of that segment/transition.

We explained how in this case, ATC could issue an approach clearance below the MIA, only if the pilot is able to maintain VFR and subsequently report established on a published approach segment/transition at the proper altitude.  We also discussed how contacting ATC in a timely manner with such a request helps increase efficiency since other traffic may also be a factor.

2.     Fuel limitations:  Due to the somewhat limited fuel capacity of the MH-65D (AS65/G) helicopter, their ability to absorb additional delays is also limited.  If ATC does need to delay them for traffic, it is important to issue them an accurate expectation of the delay time.

3.     OTH pilot training:  Since both new pilot and recurrent training require a certain number of approaches in a given time period, the Coast Guard will periodically request multiple approaches at OTH.  It was discussed how to streamline this process and increase efficiency for both the pilots and ATC:

a.     The D-Area suggested that the Coast Guard call the FLM/CIC desk number about an hour before such training flights to coordinate timing and give the sector controllers a heads up.  This gives ATC the opportunity to plan accordingly for workload and staffing.

b.     After discussing their needs further, ZSE also suggested a specific way for the Coast Guard to file their IFR flight plans for approach training at OTH:

i.     KOTH..OTH..EMIRE..KOTH, requested altitude 040, with “NO SIDS” in the remarks.

We explained our requirement to issue a transition on the OTH6 SID, which the pilots usually do not want to fly.  By having them file this route with “NO SIDS” in the remarks, they can be cleared “as filed.”

This routing also allows ATC to issue a clearance for the ILS or LOC RWY 4 approach once the pilot reports established on the transition between the OTH VOR/DME and EMIRE at or above the transition altitude of 3000.  This routing also gives the controller the ability to issue the approach clearance without radar-identification.

 4.     OTH call signs:  North Bend Sector commonly uses C6501, C6512, C6514, C6522 and C6581.  They told us the first two digits represent the helicopter type, except that the C66XX call signs are also the AS65/G when the last two digits are rolled over from 99.

---

Slack Instructions
This is not really all that complicated but you do have to make a few moves to ensure you get all of the alerts for the area slack channel.  Here's the best step by step process I can come up with.

If you have are already set up in the slack app, skip straight to step 4.

1. Download Slack
2. Go to your email and click on the link I sent you (might say from Devin Carlisto)
3. Set up your account.  Please put your full name in the name spot and as your display name, please only put your operating initials.
4. Click the multi-colored hashtag - # - (pound sign if you're over 50) in the top left corner of the app.  When this menu comes up, there should be a  lowercase "d" there with a lock next to it.  Click on that.
5. You are now in the D area slack.  To get any notifications, you have to turn on "all" notifications individually for each channel.  So now click the three vertical dots in the top right.  Then go to settings --> notifications and turn on all notifications.  If this gets to be too much for you, you can always go back and change it later.
6. Please announce yourself!  I am keeping a list of who all is set up in the slack and I promise I will hassle you relentlessly until I know you are at least on the slack.  Whether or not you choose to participate is up to you.

You can follow the same process (step 5) in the main ZSE channel (#general) if you want to get notifications for that as well.

The following people still need to sign up:
Zach Deubler
Tim Clark
Andrew Ferguson-Johns
Eric Johnsen
Wonbae Kim
Jordan Sandoval
Kelly Saunders
Matt Williford
Korri Courtois
Mark Baden
Geoff Goodfellow
Mark Haechler
Brett Lewis
Bill Kohler
Derek Myers
Paul Ross
April Warfel
Carl Warfel
Denise Spencer
Jared Zautner

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR SLACK

I wrote those instructions mostly from memory so forgive me if I missed something.  Also, I have taken several people's phones and set it up for them and I can do this for you as well.  Just find me on break and I'll do it.  Also, I can do this at the Dave and Busters Meetup today (2/19) at 4pm!!  Hope to see you all there!

In Solidarity,

Drew

D Area Update - Fall Special

1.  2015 Leave -

Ok, this is likely your final warning from me.  Management has told me that anybody who has overbid their leave (what you have plus what you will accrue this year) will have their requests canceled for any requests that you don't have the leave to cover.  For example, if you have 24 hours of annual left for this year, and you have five days of annual requested, your first three days will stay there and the next two will be deleted.

You have until roughly October 12th to fix your leave requests.  I say roughly because they aren't sure how much time Joni and Katey need to count up everyone's leave and then count up the requests, subtract holidays, etc etc.  I do know management wants to have it done before the next pay period schedule is published because that one has Thanksgiving and they want to make sure people aren't illegally blocking somebody from getting leave.  I would expect to see something posted in the area about this soon.  Let me know if you have any questions about this.

2.  NATCA Nominations -

Troy beat me to the punch notifying all of you last week, but nominations for all positions in the facility are open as of Thursday.  You can nominate one person for each of Fac Rep, VP, Treasurer, Secretary, and D-Area Rep.  You should have a nomination form in your mailbox (your work mailbox).

3.  2016 Bidding -

A lot of people are wondering when we will start the bidding process for next year.  Renee says that the MOU's are basically done and agreed on, and they are at the region to be approved.  They expect that to happen this week.  They plan to brief the workforce on the new MOU's during the week of Oct 12, and then start bidding the week of Oct 19.  Last year we took a very long time to get through the whole thing.  I take a lot of the blame for that, as it became tedious to constantly keep track and notify people to bid.  So, for this year, I want to say, let's try and move it along a little faster.  Please be prepared to bid when it is your turn.  I'll hopefully be better at keeping it going, and Joni will also be helping to move the bid along.

4.  Red Book Ideas -

I don't know how many of you get emails from NATCA national, but they sent out an interesting one recently.  The "red book" contract will expire next summer and so the process of negotiating a new contract will begin this winter.  NATCA wants to hear from you if you have some ideas on things that could be changed, added, or removed from our current contract.  Here is what Paul and Trish sent:

Brothers and Sisters,

Our Collective Bargaining Agreements for the ATCS, TMC/S and NOTAM bargaining units (Red Book) are set to expire in July 2016.

After a review of the existing articles and mid-term agreements reached since ratification, it has been determined that that we will open negotiations with the Agency in order to incorporate the improvements and benefits that we have secured since 2009. We will also explore improvements in a number of other areas.

We are in the process of identifying a team that will bargain on your behalf. It is anticipated that bargaining will commence early 2016.

It is important to know that NATCA successfully lobbied Congress to change the impasse procedure in the 2012 FAA Authorization Bill to prevent the FAA from unilaterally imposing work and pay rules as it did in 2006. The new law ensures that if the parties do not reach agreement upon a new contract that we will proceed to mediation.  If the parties cannot reach a voluntary agreement through mediation, we will go to binding arbitration.  

In advance of any formal bargaining, we are asking the membership to submit ideas for consideration in any new agreement. These ideas will be reviewed in preparation for negotiations. Please submit your suggestions to 2016contractideas@natca.net.

In Solidarity,

Paul Rinaldi

NATCA President

Trish Gilbert

NATCA Executive Vice-President

5.  Article 5 Person -

They are looking for somebody to do an upcoming D-side dysim stint for Korri and Geoff.  Let myself or your supervisor know if you are interested.

Ok, that's the latest news,

Chico

The Latest

1.  2016 Schedule -

Ok, the results are in, and by a narrow margin option A prevailed.  That is the option with 3 16's and both mids as 23's.  So, that will be our schedule for next year.  Here is a copy of it for your reference:

2016 D Area Schedule (2 CWS) Final

I talked with Renee yesterday and she says that right now the plan is to start bidding the week of October 12.

2.  Guides -

Guides are going to be lowered starting next year.  I know we have had a bit of a discussion about these, and I know that initially people seemed against this idea, but I think more people have come to realize that it will only help bring us closer to what we actually do anyway.  It will also be that much easier to get one more person off the schedule.  They aren't being lowered across the board however.  I think we are only going down one on the weekday day shifts, so it will basically be:

Weekdays 10/8

Weekends 8/8

It's not final, but I'll let you know when I know.

3.  Early Shift Change Requests -

I don't know how many times I've written about this, but it has come up again.  This time however, some people's shift change requests actually were deleted by management and not reentered at the bottom of the list.  I've already notified people whose requests were deleted, so if you didn't hear from me, you're good.  Just know that if you put in your request early, it can be removed and not necessarily put back in for you.  I know that sometimes people get away with it because nobody catches it, but I just wanted to have you watch out for that so you don't lose out on your shift change.  If you have questions about when you can put in a valid request, let me know.

4.  Wearable Technology in the Control Room -

This info came from Troy.  He expects this to be briefed to the facility soon.  I just thought I'd throw it out here for your reference:

The Parties have conducted a joint review of the capabilities, functionality and use  of cell phone watches (Apple, Andriod, etc.) and fitness trackers.  The parties have agreed that these devices are permitted in operational areas but shall be set in the “off” (powered down) position.  If the watch/tracker cannot be powered down (turned off), it shall not be permitted in operational areas.  Turn Off Tune In,  and Professional Standards programs provide tools and resources to assist in educating employees.  Issues arising from implementation of this joint guidance will be addressed using Article 8 and Professional Standards prior to more formal measures being initiated.

Shelly Mlakar and Phil Barbarello

5.  All Members Meeting -

I'll be out of town, but there is an all members meeting coming up this Friday, September 25th.  It will be at the Spunky Monkey at 3pm.  This could be a very informational meeting as we have a lot of things looming on the horizon right now.  i.e. Next year's schedule and MOU's, staffing, elections for next year's reps, and also the sequestration/funding/furlough stuff that is coming up very soon.

6.  Nerdy Radio Stuff -

Mary Chandler sent this to me about the recent frequency congestion we've had on sector 13.  This is totally just FYI, but I thought it was kind of interesting because I didn't realize that this was how frequencies worked:

Apparently Sector 13 has been having some frequency interference issues (remember you can send me a little note now that Dan has retired so I can track problems on your behalf).

The technicians out in the field took many trips and went through all sorts of trouble-shooting on their equipment and then they bumped into a broadcast station engineer at the access gate to Powell Butte (east of Redmond, Oregon) and found that a new radio station had started broadcasting on 8/25/15.  Apparently the FAA was not on someone’s checklist to ensure the new station wouldn’t interfere with our frequencies but we should have been.  One of Sector 46’s RCAGs (CH29) is at the same location as one of Sector 13’s RCAGs (CH48) and when CH29 transmits plus the two radio stations (one old and one new) are transmitting, the frequency waves add up to Sector 13’s UHF frequency.

    121.35 (sector 46)

  + 107.7 (existing radio station, no problem)

  + 106.5 (new radio station, a problem)

  =  335.55 – Sector 13’s UHF frequency

Honestly, I’m not making this up … I got this info straight from the radio guys’ mouths/email.

Anyway, the new radio station is “on the hook to change frequency, add filters, lower their power, or pay for whatever changes we would make to our site to accommodate their operation” according to the FAA frequency management engineer.  I will let you know if I hear more on the subject and please don’t hesitate to ask if you need further information!

That's the latest,

Chico

Short D Area Update

Not too much to report lately, but here's what I have...

1.  Annual Leave Requests -

You may have heard already, but there are many people (not just in the D Area) who have overbid the amount of leave they have plus what they are scheduled to accrue this year.  The managers are apparently about to crack down on this, so Russ gave me a heads up to pass along to you guys.  If you think you may be one of these people, you want to go in to web schedules and cancel any leave requests you don't want.  If you aren't sure if you are one of these people, let me know, and I can tell you how to check.  Or, I think I can actually check for you if you are having a hard time with it.

Russ said he isn't sure what the "punishment" would be, but he is speculating that they will leave requests alone for however many hours you have, but then any requests after that which would put you over your annual leave balance would be cancelled.

2.  Training Review Boards -

There are some training review boards coming up.  Troy is wondering if there is anybody interested in becoming a TRB rep for NATCA.  If you have some interest in that, let me know and you can potentially sit in on one to see the process.

That is all I have for now.

Chico

D Area Latest - Schedule Edition

1.  This Year's Schedule - 

Just a heads up, but we will have a line out for bid soon.  It will be Renee Soerink's line.  It is a Sat/Sun RDO line, 15, 1330NF, 8, 6, 23.  This line coming available is based on Jackson or Tyler Shore becoming a CPC.  If Renee ends up going before Jackson or Tyler become CPC, then her mid will rotate through the Sat/Sun crew until they do.  The schedule change will go into effect once Jackson or Tyler Shore become CPC.

Not sure exactly when this line will be going up, but I think we'll probably do it mid/late July.

2.  Guides -

Renee Peavey wants to lower our guides by one across the board (except for the first and last hours of the day).  I don't really see a problem with this as the supervisors consistently go below guides anyway.  This will just more accurately reflect what we need and should allow more people to get leave.  I don't know exactly when this change would happen, but I think it is for next year.

3.  Mids, 16's, and 6's for Next Year -

This is probably going to be complicated to read, so ask me if anything is unclear here....

This was first brought to me by Drew, and then secondly brought to me by Robello.  This is still kind of a rough idea, so it may not end up exactly like this, but this is the gist.

For next year, instead of having mids be 23's, we have them be 2230's (except for the Sunday morning mid on crew 3.  That still has to be a 00).  I'm not entirely sure, but I think most people come in for the mid around 10:30 anyway.  This provides a little extra staffing for that hour.  You can also still request a 23, or a 22.

If we have 2230 mids, we would be able to eliminate 16's also, and instead have 1530's.  We would also be able to schedule one less 16 (now a 1530).  So, for your crew of four, on your first day, instead of 3 16's and one 15 like it is now, it would be two 15's and two 1530's.  You will still be able to request a 16 should you want one.

Finally, in the mornings, there will still be 4 6's scheduled, but one of the 6's on their fifth day will be assigned a 545 (except Sunday morning, because of the mid).  You can flex on that 545, so you can come in as early as 515 on that shift.

Please give me your feedback on this!  I want to know what you think before we go ahead with this idea.  Namely, are you ok with 2230 mids?  Are you ok with 1530's instead of 16's?  I also want to know how to handle the 545 shift.  Should that rotate between the two 6's on their fifth day?  Should it be tied to one line?  Or, Drew likes the idea of bidding "priority" for that shift.  So, you can either bid top priority or last priority for that shift.  If you bid top priority, you will get it all the time unless you are on leave.  If you bid lowest priority, you will get it only if the other person is on leave or on another shift.

If I don't hear any feedback, we will go ahead with this plan.  I think it works fine for us without changing a whole lot.

4.  Next Year's Schedule -

It looks like we'll be bidding 31 lines for next year.  I want to get a schedule ready to take to management, so I've been working on a few.  I assume from the response last year that we are still interested in having CWS lines (4 10's).  So, I've whipped up three schedules here, one with no CWS, one with two CWS, and one with three CWS.  Take a look at these and see what you think.  For the record, I like the 3 CWS one best.  I think that one provides the most even coverage possible.  I went ahead and made these with the 2230 mid/1530/545 thing in mind.  If we don't end up going with that, then that will just change those mid shifts, and also some of the CWS lines would have 14's instead of 13's.  I also made these based on the current guides.  If the guides do go down by one, the schedules wouldn't change at all.

3 CWS -

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gRZuhEFAaDhkJa54icM_bI_6KWqSc1YSkiG70YItVCc/edit?usp=sharing

2 CWS -

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gS1nd5nJ2v1-SoGfJml-jOgQguxa9p4t3QUP_ZppMvs/edit?usp=sharing

No CWS -

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1M8gcmtdZQtVDHxsJeu5UosG38vFMlgZxNRqN8sESOis/edit?usp=sharing

Keep in mind, these schedules are just preliminary and can (and probably will) change once Robello and Renee take a look at it.

5.  Parking Stickers -

Ok, I think parking stickers are ready to be picked up again.  The D-area week is July 19-25.  I think you can go in any time though and get a new one.

6.  Remote Monitoring -

This is another thing Drew has brought up to myself and also to Russ.  At ZFW and also at ZKC (and likely other centers) they have the ability to remote monitor other sectors.  So, you can dial into whatever sector you want and hear their frequencies.  Drew and Russ told me this was useful for seeing if an aircraft took a frequency change, or other things where you don't necessarily want to bother the next sector.  Russ went ahead and turned this ability on for sectors 30, 13, and 14.  I think 10 has it also.  To use it you first dial *2.  Then call the sector you want to monitor.  For example, if you wanted to listen to 46, you would dial *2, and then 446.  To turn it off, you dial #2 and then you do something else that I can't remember right now.  Ha ha, better ask Drew or Russ for clarification before you try it.

I also heard recently that Dan Baker is trying to get this turned off.  I think he is concerned about the possibility of distractions?  Anyway, just know that it is there.  For now anyway.

I think that's all for now.  Let me know what you think about the schedules, and also the 2230 mid thing.

Chico

D Area News

1.  Radar Map Changes - 

So, after getting feedback from some of you, the ACV glideslope tick marks are going to remain on the scope as they are now.

Al has another change on the way to help us out.  He is making a couple waypoints to route people around VARMIT.  Attached is a picture of the change.  I'm not sure exactly when we'll see those, but they are on the way.

2.  ZOA LOA Changes - 

Al has definitely been busy in the airspace office and is working on LOA changes in the ZOA letter.  Please let myself or Al know what you think about these changes:

1.  In addition to giving and receiving control for 15 degree turns, we will also give and receive control for speeds and beacon code changes to and from ZOA.

2.  Instead of ZOA calling us every time the RENO MOA goes active, we will have something in the letter that says as long as ZOA turns on the airspace in the EDST that will serve as notification to us.  This will reduce the amount of calls that we have to answer from ZOA.

(For the record, I'm in favor of both of these changes)

3.  Big Wig Meeting - 

Facilities from all over the northwest came to ZSE last week to discuss collaboration between NATCA and management.  Most of it wasn't too groundbreaking, but there were a few things I wanted to pass on from it.

ERR's - The ERR policy is likely going to change within the year.  It isn't finalized yet, but we were told that it will be soon.  They are basically going to have a "target" number for staffing at each facility.  If your facility is "well-staffed" (over 100% of the target number) you will be guaranteed a release within 3 months.  If your facility is around the target number (90-100%) you will be guaranteed a release within one year.  If your facility is under staffed (below 90%) your ERR won't be considered until your facility reaches target staffing (or 90%).  Again, this isn't finalized and I was scribbling this down as fast as I could, so these numbers could be a little off.  If you are considering an ERR, you may want to do it soon as I'm fairly sure ZSE is currently understaffed.

Distractions in the control room - Jim Ullman (our Regional Vice President for NATCA) was at the meeting and was particularly concerned with distractions in the control room.  He seemed to be mostly referring to cell phones, but other distractions as well.  This is a direct quote from Jim, "You guys want to be treated like professionals, you guys want to be paid like professionals, then you guys need to act like professionals."  So, be careful about using your phone in the control room.  Jim said NATCA doesn't have any moral ground to stand on to try and defend you.

Flight Surgeon - Most of you guys have heard about the new flight surgeon we have and how he has created a lot of problems for controllers at our facility.  Well, the equivalent of Jim Ullman was there on the management side (I forget his name, but I think the last name is Osterdahl?) and he hadn't heard anything about the problems the flight surgeon has been giving us.  Troy Harrison spoke up first about it and told Osterdahl about the problems we were having, and numerous other facilities spoke up as well regarding situations they've had also.  Osterdahl said he was definitely going to follow up on that.  He did admit he doesn't have much authority over the flight surgeon, but said he would look into some of the claims.

4.  GA Fam ride potential - 

The following comes from Garret about an exciting possibility:

Greetings everyone,

The purpose of this e-mail is to solicit interest among ZSE controllers that would like to go on an unofficial (non-duty time) FAM flight with a local general aviation pilot.

Since March I have been volunteering with the FAA Safety Team doing pilot outreach & educational work.  The goal is to improve safety through better communication, mutual understanding and teamwork between pilots/controllers.

One of the contacts I’ve made within the local general aviation community is Jim Posner from the Bremerton Pilots Association, a chapter of the Washington Pilots Association with about 1,000 members.  I’ve arranged 4 pilot tours at ZSE during the next 2 months so that they can see/hear the environment we work in.

Jim and several other members of the BPA have generously offered to donate their time & money so that ZSE controllers’ can ride-along with them on a flight.  This is a great opportunity for anyone that has never been in the cockpit of a small airplane before.

Understand that for liability reasons the pilots have made it clear they would rather keep these flights “unofficial”, aka, on your own schedule.  This keeps the process much simpler and does not put any additional stress on our staffing.  Although most of the pilots are based in Bremerton, in most cases, they should be willing to meet you at the nearest suitable airport that is convenient for you.  Depending on the pilot you might be able to see IFR and VFR operations.  There is no financial obligation whatsoever.

If you are interested, please e-mail me (garretwilk@gmail.com) your contact info and if you have ever been up in a small airplane before.  I’ll use a first-come, first-served priority for those that respond with interest.  If the demand is great enough I’ll give further priority to first-timers.

Please feel free to e-mail/call/bug me anytime with questions you might have.  Once I get at least 5 people on the list, Jim and I will begin putting pilots in contact with controllers directly so that you can work out the timing/location details on a one-on-one basis.

As of now, I’m sending this out to the D-area ONLY.  But by next week the other areas will get this e-mail as well…so jump on it now if you’re in!

Thank you,

Garret Wilkerson

ZSE, D-Area

E-mail:  garretwilk@gmail.com

Cell:  206-290-5737

5.  Leave and the Lack Thereof - 

I've been saying this, but just to reiterate, staffing is going to be very thin throughout this year.  Thursday and Friday swing shifts are going to be the shortest that we have throughout the week.  Most shifts are one over guides and some two over with everyone showing up, so there isn't much wiggle room.

There are already some of you that aren't getting your non-primetime leave approved, and I'm sure there will be more of that.  We basically have to make sure that management is doing everything they can to get you that day off (short of overtime).  So, they should be borrowing somebody from the day/swing if they are able to or using trainees for staffing, etc.  I had to clarify that to Russ this week, so there could be other supervisors that don't realize that either.

We discussed leave at our latest e-board meeting as negotiations for next years MOU's are going to happen soon between Troy, Jeff, and management.  Would you guys be interested in less leave spots that were guaranteed?  Or more slots, but not as many guaranteed?  There were differing opinions in our meeting, and I wanted to get your feedback that I can take back to them.

Whew, that was a lot of info...