Narrative:

The military desk at the traffic management area took a call from the mru (military radar unit) and release W174 in its entirety without consulting with the area controllers working the airspace. This happens very frequently and on this day in particular it was very unsafe. There was weather impacting the sectors R5 and R6. I was training my developmental when I was advised that the warning area would go hot. I called the mru and told them that they could only have sfc to FL240 so that we could transition some jets that were already heading through the area without an incident. Then I was told that the warning area was active FL300 and below. We were working departures off of mia and fll going through the area across the gulf and the arrivals going through the warning areas landing fll and mia. The landers were supposed to stay above FL300 while the departures were supposed to climb above FL300 into the same airspace. The only way to get them on course across the sector was through the warning area due to weather all around the area. The only way to cross the traffic was to have them level and separated before going through the warning area. We did not have much airspace to work with due to the complexity of the sector and the saturation of weather. There were approximately 6 to 7 airplanes involved and the only thing that we were able to do was have them squawk emergency to get to their point of arrival. There should be measures in place to effectively work this situation without safety being compromised. We have individuals working at the traffic management unit that should be retired and also some that have no ATC experience because they came from flight service. None of them have any military experience. I have seen this facility just go to pieces in the past 5 years. The front line manager's don't care about the operation at all. Too busy surfing the internet and looking for promotions on-line and flow control does not use common sense at all anymore. We need professionalism back into this facility as soon as possible. I recommend having a system where if the controller at the sector says; please don't give away the airspace until the aircraft have transitioned through it; they are heard and that's it. We need to be heard and we also need to have a say in what gets done when weather is in the area. We have people in place that have no idea what is going on at the sectors; nor do they care. We need to have people trained properly as far as military warning areas and their potential impact to the sector if released with no warning whatsoever. We should not have to transition aircraft through a warning area squawking emergency. Safety should not be compromised and it was and it is. Traffic should have been stopped until the military was done with the warning area or just tell them they could have some portions of it and we need the rest for our operation. That's the way it has always been done in the past. We just do not have knowledgeable people assigned to the traffic management unit. We need the 'can do' attitude people and the ones that will do a good job all the time; not just whenever they feel like it.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZMA Controller described an unexpected and untimely closure of military airspace that resulted in the declaration of an emergency for several aircraft by ATC already in the airspace. The reporter claims the TMU failed in their coordination and approval responsibilities.

Narrative: The Military desk at the Traffic Management area took a call from the MRU (Military Radar Unit) and release W174 in its entirety without consulting with the area controllers working the airspace. This happens very frequently and on this day in particular it was very unsafe. There was weather impacting the Sectors R5 and R6. I was training my Developmental when I was advised that the Warning Area would go hot. I called the MRU and told them that they could only have SFC to FL240 so that we could transition some jets that were already heading through the area without an incident. Then I was told that the Warning Area was active FL300 and below. We were working departures off of MIA and FLL going through the area across the Gulf and the arrivals going through the warning areas landing FLL and MIA. The landers were supposed to stay above FL300 while the departures were supposed to climb above FL300 into the same airspace. The only way to get them on course across the sector was through the warning area due to weather all around the area. The only way to cross the traffic was to have them level and separated before going through the warning area. We did not have much airspace to work with due to the complexity of the sector and the saturation of weather. There were approximately 6 to 7 airplanes involved and the only thing that we were able to do was have them squawk emergency to get to their point of arrival. There should be measures in place to effectively work this situation without safety being compromised. We have individuals working at the Traffic Management Unit that should be retired and also some that have no ATC experience because they came from Flight Service. None of them have any military experience. I have seen this facility just go to pieces in the past 5 years. The Front Line Manager's don't care about the operation at all. Too busy surfing the Internet and looking for promotions on-line and Flow Control does not use common sense at all anymore. We need professionalism back into this facility ASAP. I recommend having a system where if the Controller at the sector says; please don't give away the airspace until the aircraft have transitioned through it; they are heard and that's it. We need to be heard and we also need to have a say in what gets done when weather is in the area. We have people in place that have no idea what is going on at the sectors; nor do they care. We need to have people trained properly as far as military warning areas and their potential impact to the sector if released with no warning whatsoever. We should not have to transition aircraft through a warning area squawking emergency. Safety should not be compromised and it was and it is. Traffic should have been stopped until the Military was done with the warning area or just tell them they could have some portions of it and we need the rest for our operation. That's the way it has always been done in the past. We just do not have knowledgeable people assigned to the Traffic Management Unit. We need the 'can do' attitude people and the ones that will do a good job all the time; not just whenever they feel like it.

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.