Narrative:

We had weather forecast for the southeastern us. As the day moved on; the weather started to move eastbound and build; as forecast in my pre-duty weather briefing. Warning areas were active. About an hour before things started getting pinched; I heard at least 3 controllers inform the supervisor that if we did not get the warning area released; we were going to need another plan. The supervisor called tmu (traffic management unit) and relayed them this information and requested the warning area to be recalled. As time moved on; aircraft started deviating further and further east; ZZZ arrivals were having to be restricted to 24000 feet (letter of agreement calls for 34000 feet) in order for us to safely run departures and arrivals head on with each other. Still manageable at this point; although the level of safety was suspect. The morning continued to roll-on and the weather continued to move east with multiple controllers; including myself; informing our supervisor that this plan wasn't going to work in the next 20 minutes. The response he was given from tmu was 'I have your request'. Next thing you know; aircraft were deviating into the warning areas. We had at least 2 get in there with point outs and managed to keep most of them outside the airspace with some persuasive suggestion. The warning area controllers began to say unable to take hand offs for our sectors. One sector had at least one aircraft get into the warning area on an emergency squawk. Another sector had multiple aircraft requesting deviations into the warning area. That sector then had to shutoff the adjacent sector from all directions and another sector shut off departures out of another airport. The east area had to hold our aircraft as well. Tmu did not seem to have a plan or reroute anyone until after our controllers shut the door. Multiple controllers holding; multiple sectors shut off with weather; multiple aircraft in the warning areas. I wish I could say this is an isolated incident. However; this is routine at this center. We continuously push the envelope of safety just a little bit more each time. We've been here once before; until car (corrective action report) came about. Car helped for awhile; but we've slowly crept back to where we were before it was implemented as part of our 7110.65. Appendix B in our 7110.65 addresses this very topic. It was a direct result of car some years ago. Tmu absolutely did not comply with this directive. This is not the first time; and I'm certain it will not be the last. We frequently request things from tmu; it falls by the way side; or we're told we don't need it; or we have your request. This is not safe. We are not staffed appropriately to be doing the jobs of two and three people with weather deviations and no support from our own unit tasked with protecting us. A plan needed to be implemented two hours prior; like our own facility SOP calls for. Something needs to change and people need to be held accountable.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZJX Center Controllers reported the Traffic Management Unit refused to provide adequate flow control through their sectors and aircraft were forced to deviate into hot Warning Areas.

Narrative: We had weather forecast for the southeastern US. As the day moved on; the weather started to move eastbound and build; as forecast in my pre-duty weather briefing. Warning Areas were active. About an hour before things started getting pinched; I heard at least 3 controllers inform the Supervisor that if we did not get the Warning Area released; we were going to need another plan. The Supervisor called TMU (Traffic Management Unit) and relayed them this information and requested the Warning Area to be recalled. As time moved on; aircraft started deviating further and further east; ZZZ arrivals were having to be restricted to 24000 feet (Letter of Agreement calls for 34000 feet) in order for us to safely run departures and arrivals head on with each other. Still manageable at this point; although the level of safety was suspect. The morning continued to roll-on and the weather continued to move east with multiple controllers; including myself; informing our supervisor that this plan wasn't going to work in the next 20 minutes. The response he was given from TMU was 'I have your request'. Next thing you know; aircraft were deviating into the Warning Areas. We had at least 2 get in there with point outs and managed to keep most of them outside the airspace with some persuasive suggestion. The Warning Area Controllers began to say unable to take hand offs for our sectors. One sector had at least one aircraft get into the Warning Area on an emergency squawk. Another sector had multiple aircraft requesting deviations into the Warning Area. That sector then had to shutoff the adjacent sector from all directions and another sector shut off departures out of another airport. The East Area had to hold our aircraft as well. TMU did not seem to have a plan or reroute anyone until after our controllers shut the door. Multiple controllers holding; multiple sectors shut off with weather; multiple aircraft in the warning areas. I wish I could say this is an isolated incident. However; this is routine at this Center. We continuously push the envelope of safety just a little bit more each time. We've been here once before; until CAR (Corrective Action Report) came about. CAR helped for awhile; but we've slowly crept back to where we were before it was implemented as part of our 7110.65. Appendix B in our 7110.65 addresses this very topic. It was a direct result of CAR some years ago. TMU absolutely did not comply with this directive. This is not the first time; and I'm certain it will not be the last. We frequently request things from TMU; it falls by the way side; or we're told we don't need it; or we have your request. This is not safe. We are not staffed appropriately to be doing the jobs of two and three people with weather deviations and no support from our own unit tasked with protecting us. A plan needed to be implemented two hours prior; like our own Facility SOP calls for. Something needs to change and people need to be held accountable.

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.