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|
Attributes | |
ACN | 1446880 |
Time | |
Date | 201705 |
Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
Place | |
Locale Reference | ZZZ.ARTCC |
State Reference | US |
Environment | |
Flight Conditions | IMC |
Light | Night |
Aircraft 1 | |
Make Model Name | Commercial Fixed Wing |
Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
Flight Phase | Cruise |
Flight Plan | IFR |
Person 1 | |
Function | Enroute |
Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
Experience | Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 4 |
Events | |
Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
Sat down to work sector xx. Numerous thunderstorms had closed the northeast gate for a few hours before that. One PIREP I got earlier put the tops at FL440; radar data showed hail greater than one inch from national weather service. It was an obvious line of growing weather from ZZZ VOR up to ZZZ1 VOR. Despite that; traffic management unit (tmu) nor management took any action to route the aircraft north of the weather or to an alternate gate despite the fact that the gate was not going to be reopening and the weather/precipitation was extreme. As a result; all the ZZZ ARTCC arrivals end up coming from on due north headings to be routed to the northwest gate. This was also mixing in with a flow of overflight traffic; that was deviating or filing north for the weather as well. Additionally the sector had turbulence at all altitudes; with moderate being reported at FL370 and FL390.sector xx was forced to put aircraft in trail; with numerous aircraft deviating with bad rides; and give aircraft new routes over the northeast gate; as well as clearing aircraft to deviate and putting aircraft back on route. Complexity and volume were both high; leaving little to no time for additional services; including disseminating PIREPS for turbulence; calling precipitation; or providing merging target traffic info; or handling additional aircraft requests. This continued for over 2 hours with little recourse before aircraft finally started getting routed into the sector via ZZZ2 VOR; to provide a more orderly flow.additionally having the latest en route automation modernization (eram) drop with the voice status symbol; was not helpful. Since it was just turned on last week; it was frustrating to use during a busy complex session. It did not help with the complexity to have to change my on frequency system less than a week ago. This weather was known; it was forecast and it was obvious. Tmu did not do their job. Aircraft should have been routed around the known weather when it was obvious the developing line was not moving and the gate was going to stay closed. In trail should have been provided over ZZZ2 VOR with aircraft already being routed to the northwest gate; this event (weather) had been happening for hours! Management at tmu including the operation manager in charge (ompic) did nothing to help the situation. I even stopped by the omic's desk and told him that ZZZ [airport] departures were being routed into the weather and it was not acceptable before his event happened.tmu needs to be proactive and not reactive. Instead of sitting up front eating with their backs to the scope; they should be asking what they can do to help and be involved; it takes yelling and screaming to get aircraft routed the correct way. That is unacceptable. When denver center has constant briefings about not sending airplanes into weather; how does this still happen? It's time for a change; and that needs to start up front with tmu and the omic. Additionally the voice status indicator from the latest eram drop should have been done in late fall before thunderstorm season hits. It's quite stupid to be introducing new procedures/equipment as the summer's storms ramp up complexity.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Center Controller reported that Center Traffic Management did nothing to help with flow control through the sectors affected with weather leading to the Controller having to take action to flow the aircraft.
Narrative: Sat down to work Sector XX. Numerous thunderstorms had closed the northeast gate for a few hours before that. One PIREP I got earlier put the tops at FL440; radar data showed hail greater than one inch from National Weather Service. It was an obvious line of growing weather from ZZZ VOR up to ZZZ1 VOR. Despite that; Traffic Management Unit (TMU) nor management took any action to route the aircraft north of the weather or to an alternate gate despite the fact that the gate was not going to be reopening and the weather/precipitation was extreme. As a result; all the ZZZ ARTCC arrivals end up coming from on due north headings to be routed to the northwest gate. This was also mixing in with a flow of overflight traffic; that was deviating or filing north for the weather as well. Additionally the sector had turbulence at all altitudes; with moderate being reported at FL370 and FL390.Sector XX was forced to put aircraft in trail; with numerous aircraft deviating with bad rides; and give aircraft new routes over the northeast gate; as well as clearing aircraft to deviate and putting aircraft back on route. Complexity and volume were both high; leaving little to no time for additional services; including disseminating PIREPS for turbulence; calling precipitation; or providing merging target traffic info; or handling additional aircraft requests. This continued for over 2 hours with little recourse before aircraft finally started getting routed into the sector via ZZZ2 VOR; to provide a more orderly flow.Additionally having the latest En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) drop with the voice status symbol; was not helpful. Since it was just turned on last week; it was frustrating to use during a busy complex session. It did not help with the complexity to have to change my on frequency system less than a week ago. This weather was known; it was forecast and it was obvious. TMU did not do their job. Aircraft should have been routed around the known weather when it was obvious the developing line was not moving and the gate was going to stay closed. In trail should have been provided over ZZZ2 VOR with aircraft already being routed to the northwest gate; this event (weather) had been happening for hours! Management at TMU including the Operation Manager in Charge (OMPIC) did nothing to help the situation. I even stopped by the OMIC's desk and told him that ZZZ [airport] departures were being routed into the weather and it was not acceptable before his event happened.TMU needs to be proactive and not reactive. Instead of sitting up front eating with their backs to the scope; they should be asking what they can do to help and be involved; it takes yelling and screaming to get aircraft routed the correct way. That is unacceptable. When Denver center has constant briefings about not sending airplanes into weather; how does this still happen? It's time for a change; and that needs to start up front with TMU and the OMIC. Additionally the voice status indicator from the latest ERAM drop should have been done in late fall before thunderstorm season hits. It's quite stupid to be introducing new procedures/equipment as the summer's storms ramp up complexity.
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.