37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
Attributes | |
ACN | 1480493 |
Time | |
Date | 201709 |
Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
Place | |
Locale Reference | MKJK.ARTCC |
State Reference | FO |
Environment | |
Flight Conditions | VMC |
Light | Night |
Aircraft 1 | |
Make Model Name | B767 Undifferentiated or Other Model |
Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
Flight Phase | Cruise |
Route In Use | Airway UR640 |
Flight Plan | IFR |
Person 1 | |
Function | Captain Pilot Flying |
Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
Experience | Flight Crew Type 243 |
Events | |
Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Airspace Violation All Types |
Narrative:
We possibly flew through a closed fir (flight information region); as were unable to contact any ATC facility as we flew through the kingston fir. We departed on a routing that took us through the kingston (mkjk) fir on UR640. Approximately 3.5 hours prior to reaching the fir boundary; we received a message from dispatch stating that mkjk was planning to close for the evening. Over the next hour; the dispatcher worked up a new routing to avoid the fir; with the plan that we would request the new routing as soon as we reached barranquilla (skec) fir and confirmed that mkjk was indeed closed. While I was on break; the crew checked in with skec; but were told that mkjk was still open and accepting handoffs. They checked with dispatch; who replied that they had not received a NOTAM closing the fir airspace after the initial advisory from mkjk that they were planning to do so. I returned from break as we approached the mkjk fir boundary. I again re-confirmed with dispatch that they had no NOTAM closing the fir; and skec handed us off to mkjk about 20 miles prior to the boundary. We attempted contact on the assigned frequency several times with no reply. As we continued into the fir airspace; we attempted contact on every single ATC frequency listed in jepp FD-pro; including approach control frequencies; but still no response. We talked to a military aircraft; who also had no response on any frequency.after discussion; we decided that the best course of action would be to continue on our flight plan routing through the fir and make contact with havana as soon as we could reach them. We did make contact with havana about 15 minutes prior to the fir boundary; and continued normally. In total; we were in the mkjk fir with no ATC contact of any kind for 47 minutes.the major concern is that we flew through closed fir airspace; with the associated lack of ATC services and traffic separation. It seems; with the information I have; that kingston failed to file the required NOTAM to formally close their airspace and barranquilla; without the NOTAM; continued sending overflight traffic to continue into closed airspace. Without the NOTAM information; both dispatch and the barranquilla fir thought the airspace was still open.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: B767 Captain reported flying through the MKJK FIR after it had been closed by the controlling agency without issuing a NOTAM officially closing the FIR.
Narrative: We possibly flew through a closed FIR (Flight Information Region); as were unable to contact any ATC facility as we flew through the Kingston FIR. We departed on a routing that took us through the Kingston (MKJK) FIR on UR640. Approximately 3.5 hours prior to reaching the FIR boundary; we received a message from dispatch stating that MKJK was planning to close for the evening. Over the next hour; the dispatcher worked up a new routing to avoid the FIR; with the plan that we would request the new routing as soon as we reached Barranquilla (SKEC) FIR and confirmed that MKJK was indeed closed. While I was on break; the crew checked in with SKEC; but were told that MKJK was still open and accepting handoffs. They checked with dispatch; who replied that they had not received a NOTAM closing the FIR airspace after the initial advisory from MKJK that they were planning to do so. I returned from break as we approached the MKJK FIR boundary. I again re-confirmed with dispatch that they had no NOTAM closing the FIR; and SKEC handed us off to MKJK about 20 miles prior to the boundary. We attempted contact on the assigned frequency several times with no reply. As we continued into the FIR airspace; we attempted contact on every single ATC frequency listed in JEPP FD-Pro; including approach control frequencies; but still no response. We talked to a military aircraft; who also had no response on any frequency.After discussion; we decided that the best course of action would be to continue on our flight plan routing through the FIR and make contact with Havana as soon as we could reach them. We did make contact with Havana about 15 minutes prior to the FIR boundary; and continued normally. In total; we were in the MKJK FIR with no ATC contact of any kind for 47 minutes.The major concern is that we flew through closed FIR airspace; with the associated lack of ATC services and traffic separation. It seems; with the information I have; that Kingston failed to file the required NOTAM to formally close their airspace and Barranquilla; without the NOTAM; continued sending overflight traffic to continue into closed airspace. Without the NOTAM information; both dispatch and the Barranquilla FIR thought the airspace was still open.
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.