Narrative:

My first time working the new oapm (optimization of airspace and procedures in the metroplex) STAR's. I was leery this was going to work; and was correct. It started with [an aircraft] slowed to 250 knots; with no handoff. Several airplanes bearing down behind him at 290+ slowing to 280 knots. It took multiple vectors and leaving aircraft high to work it out. I went to report it to someone. No supervisor around. No tmc (traffic management coordinator) around. No oapm sme (subject matter expert) around.I'm not a big fan. The last update to our procedures allowed ZTL to put aircraft on the dual arrivals from the northwest and northeast whenever they wanted. That's been a disaster. Instead of the traditional 'center puts them in line' they would just throw them all at the atl 40 DME fix. Instead of doing the sequencing 60-100 miles from the airport; where the airspace is very wide and altitudes are plenty; A80 is now doing it inside their airspace with barely 10 miles to vector and 3 altitudes to do it. Now; with oapm engaged; they're higher and faster; and if you do have to adjust a speed; you're in danger of missing crossing restrictions or hitting satellite airspace. Instead of having 40 miles to work it out; you're really not able to do anything about it until 25 DME now. We are being pressured to leave the aircraft on the oapm routes. Tbfm (time based flow metering) is a disaster in the new procedures. My session was about 45 minutes long; and I saw one sector saturated to the point they were put into the hold with three other areas with zero traffic. A tactical reroute of aircraft in south carolina would have avoided holding and unnecessarily delaying aircraftwith the new procedures; when you do have to take action when the system fails; the phraseology is longer and more complex (and you have to take it slowly since pilots aren't ready for it and you want them to get it the first time; or you have to repeat it all; oh yeah; while the aircraft you're talking to and other aircraft in the scenario are higher and faster). It takes too much frequency time and hand-holding; and you get behind very quickly. And all I had were 5-6 aircraft. Imagine if I had 12 or 13. We should've had at least 3 days [of training]; but staffing wouldn't allow it; so 24 hours of training was jammed into a single 10 hour day. Our staffing isn't such that we could do it.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A TRACON controller reported receiving an aircraft prior to taking the handoff. The subsequent arrivals behind this aircraft were much faster and overtaking. The Controller did not think the facility's new arrival procedures were efficient.

Narrative: My first time working the new OAPM (Optimization of Airspace and Procedures in the Metroplex) STAR's. I was leery this was going to work; and was correct. It started with [an aircraft] slowed to 250 knots; with no handoff. Several airplanes bearing down behind him at 290+ slowing to 280 knots. It took multiple vectors and leaving aircraft high to work it out. I went to report it to someone. No supervisor around. No TMC (Traffic Management Coordinator) around. No OAPM SME (Subject Matter Expert) around.I'm not a big fan. The last update to our procedures allowed ZTL to put aircraft on the dual arrivals from the NW and NE whenever they wanted. That's been a disaster. Instead of the traditional 'Center puts them in line' they would just throw them all at the ATL 40 DME fix. Instead of doing the sequencing 60-100 miles from the airport; where the airspace is VERY wide and altitudes are plenty; A80 is now doing it inside their airspace with barely 10 miles to vector and 3 altitudes to do it. Now; with OAPM engaged; they're higher and faster; and if you DO have to adjust a speed; you're in danger of missing crossing restrictions or hitting satellite airspace. Instead of having 40 miles to work it out; you're really not able to do anything about it until 25 DME now. We are being pressured to leave the aircraft on the OAPM routes. TBFM (Time Based Flow Metering) is a disaster in the new procedures. My session was about 45 minutes long; and I saw one sector saturated to the point they were put into the hold with THREE OTHER areas with ZERO traffic. A tactical reroute of aircraft in South Carolina would have avoided holding and unnecessarily delaying aircraftWith the new procedures; when you DO have to take action when the system fails; the phraseology is longer and more complex (and you have to take it slowly since pilots aren't ready for it and you want them to get it the first time; or you have to repeat it all; oh yeah; while the aircraft you're talking to AND other aircraft in the scenario are higher and faster). It takes too much frequency time and hand-holding; and you get behind VERY quickly. And all I had were 5-6 aircraft. Imagine if I had 12 or 13. We should've had at least 3 days [of training]; but staffing wouldn't allow it; so 24 hours of training was jammed into a single 10 hour day. Our staffing isn't such that we could do it.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.