Narrative:

ZHU center has now for years issued a tmu directive to have ZAB center have all san antonio and austin landing traffic cross the ZAB/ZHU center boundary at FL270 during periods of high traffic or weather. This causes ZAB sector 78 to issue descent clearances from as high as FL410 to aircraft more than 250 miles from their destination. This particular tmu restriction was for 4 hours. I nearly descended air carrier X through air carrier Y at FL360. This was during a period of high weather complexity and nonstop aircraft chatter. Sector 78 must descend these aircraft through sector 63 and down into the top altitude of sector 20. With all aircraft deviating; this becomes a difficult and dangerous task. I got 3 aircraft down within a 15 minute window. This problem persists because ZHU center flatly refuses to add an ultra-high sector on top of sector 97 which owns FL280 and above. Rsg low below them owns FL270 and below. Our sectors adjacent to these are SFL lo (FL270 and below); elp hi (FL280 to FL350) and fst uh (FL360 and above). Because of this ZHU 97 becomes easily saturated and refuses to work san antonio and austin landers which places the work on ZAB sectors. It is also egregious that we require air carriers to level at FL270 more than 210 miles from their destinations. In addition; these same ZHU sectors will have san antonio and austin departures westbound check on our frequencies level at FL260 screaming for higher! Both situations are grossly unfair to our customers; the flying public; and an embarrassment to ATC......we appear to be inept....which; I guess; we are....I believe they have sufficient staffing to build another sector. I am probably the only ZAB controller to write about this but because the other controllers don't believe anything can or will be done about this. Please act on this. Restore our faith that there are some highly paid managers somewhere that actually bring about meaningful change.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZAB Controller voiced concern regarding ZHU TMU initiatives that require early descents and restricted climb procedures to/from SAT and AUS airports; claiming both procedures are inadequate for the services they should be providing.

Narrative: ZHU Center has now for years issued a TMU directive to have ZAB Center have all San Antonio and Austin landing traffic cross the ZAB/ZHU Center boundary at FL270 during periods of high traffic or weather. This causes ZAB Sector 78 to issue descent clearances from as high as FL410 to aircraft more than 250 miles from their destination. This particular TMU restriction was for 4 hours. I nearly descended Air Carrier X through Air Carrier Y at FL360. This was during a period of high weather complexity and nonstop aircraft chatter. Sector 78 must descend these aircraft through Sector 63 and down into the top altitude of Sector 20. With all aircraft deviating; this becomes a difficult and dangerous task. I got 3 aircraft down within a 15 minute window. This problem persists because ZHU Center flatly refuses to add an ultra-high sector on top of Sector 97 which owns FL280 and above. RSG Low below them owns FL270 and below. Our sectors adjacent to these are SFL LO (FL270 and below); ELP Hi (FL280 to FL350) and FST UH (FL360 and above). Because of this ZHU 97 becomes easily saturated and refuses to work San Antonio and Austin landers which places the work on ZAB sectors. It is also egregious that we require air carriers to level at FL270 more than 210 miles from their destinations. In addition; these same ZHU Sectors will have San Antonio and Austin departures westbound check on our frequencies level at FL260 screaming for higher! Both situations are grossly unfair to our customers; the flying public; and an embarrassment to ATC......we appear to be inept....which; I guess; we are....I believe they have sufficient staffing to build another sector. I am probably the only ZAB Controller to write about this but because the other controllers don't believe anything can or will be done about this. Please act on this. Restore our faith that there are some highly paid managers somewhere that actually bring about meaningful change.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.