Narrative:

I was working linden and casanova combined and as I took the sectors; the traffic was no more than moderate and the sector was relatively unaffected by the large line of weather (southwest to northeast) moving toward the dc metro area. I received a call from pct; manne sector advising that I may have to hold iad arrivals when the weather hit the airport. I relayed this information to my supervisor. I believe manne took one iad arrival after this conversation regarding a possible hold. I began to issue holding instructions to the iad arrivals that were in my sector; 3 or 4; at doccs. This is standard and there is published holding at doccs. The first aircraft in line soon let me know that this would not be possible due to weather. I tried to start holding them south of doccs on a random fix off of ldn. This soon became a problem as the weather had moved and the aircraft could no longer hold here. There were variations of where the aircraft held and each ended up holding at a different place. I ended up moving them west and northwest in order to find an area where the weather would allow holding. During this time one dca and one bwi arrival had joined the others holding in my sector. There was a lack of information regarding the length of time of holding and little communication from pct regarding the acceptance of iad arrivals. At first this was understandable but then it became clear that aircraft were in fact landing at iad. The result was that all of my holding aircraft diverted to other airports with the exception of one going to iad. The approach control began departing aircraft while I was still holding and handing them off to me. I have two concerns regarding this situation. First; there is a very high probability that during all of this non standard holding I may have violated someone else's airspace. I made point outs but I'm not sure if I got them all. There was also one instance where I used visual separation during this situation and I think I got the phraseology correct. Second; the lack of communication between facilities resulted in a number of aircraft diverting. I could see that iad was landing aircraft and accepting arrivals from sector 15 well before they took any arrivals from sector 5. I am not sure of exactly how this system of resuming traffic inside of pct works but I believe they were departing aircraft and did not want accept arrivals due to the congestion they would bring to their departure sectors/airspace. This scenario seems like an issue where aircraft on the ground waiting to depart were given priority over aircraft holding and running low on fuel. The entire situation seemed to be mishandled. I could have done a better job with the holding instructions; efc times; and finding something a little more uniform. The major issue was a breakdown in communication between sectors; my own and pct; the tmu's; ZDC and pct's; and my supervisor. I was unable to get any information regarding the situation from my supervisor regarding the tmu or pct's ability to accept traffic. I feel as though these aircraft did not have to divert. I accept some responsibility for this situation but would also really like to see someone look into the breakdown in communication to see where improvements in the system could be made. There where other factors at play in this scenario in which I am unaware. I know pct had an emergency during this time but I am unsure of the impact it had on their ability to take arriving traffic. Recommendation; my supervisors changed shifts in the middle of this event. The oncoming supervisor was unable to communicate or relay information in a valuable manner. He is new and may not have been familiar with the airspace; communication procedures; or may have just not known what to do. Holding aircraft should be given priority over departing aircraft in order to avoid planes diverting when this might not be necessary.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZDC Controller described a complex and confusion holding event involving traffic landing IAD. The session complicated because of weather deviations leaving the reporter to question landing approvals and the release of departure while holding was in progress.

Narrative: I was working Linden and Casanova combined and as I took the sectors; the traffic was no more than moderate and the sector was relatively unaffected by the large line of weather (southwest to northeast) moving toward the DC metro area. I received a call from PCT; MANNE Sector advising that I may have to hold IAD arrivals when the weather hit the airport. I relayed this information to my supervisor. I believe MANNE took one IAD arrival after this conversation regarding a possible hold. I began to issue holding instructions to the IAD arrivals that were in my Sector; 3 or 4; at DOCCS. This is standard and there is published holding at DOCCS. The first aircraft in line soon let me know that this would not be possible due to weather. I tried to start holding them south of DOCCS on a random fix off of LDN. This soon became a problem as the weather had moved and the aircraft could no longer hold here. There were variations of where the aircraft held and each ended up holding at a different place. I ended up moving them west and northwest in order to find an area where the weather would allow holding. During this time one DCA and one BWI arrival had joined the others holding in my sector. There was a lack of information regarding the length of time of holding and little communication from PCT regarding the acceptance of IAD arrivals. At first this was understandable but then it became clear that aircraft were in fact landing at IAD. The result was that all of my holding aircraft diverted to other airports with the exception of one going to IAD. The Approach Control began departing aircraft while I was still holding and handing them off to me. I have two concerns regarding this situation. First; there is a very high probability that during all of this non standard holding I may have violated someone else's airspace. I made point outs but I'm not sure if I got them all. There was also one instance where I used visual separation during this situation and I think I got the phraseology correct. Second; the lack of communication between facilities resulted in a number of aircraft diverting. I could see that IAD was landing aircraft and accepting arrivals from Sector 15 well before they took any arrivals from Sector 5. I am not sure of exactly how this system of resuming traffic inside of PCT works but I believe they were departing aircraft and did not want accept arrivals due to the congestion they would bring to their departure sectors/airspace. This scenario seems like an issue where aircraft on the ground waiting to depart were given priority over aircraft holding and running low on fuel. The entire situation seemed to be mishandled. I could have done a better job with the holding instructions; EFC times; and finding something a little more uniform. The major issue was a breakdown in communication between sectors; my own and PCT; the TMU's; ZDC and PCT's; and my supervisor. I was unable to get any information regarding the situation from my supervisor regarding the TMU or PCT's ability to accept traffic. I feel as though these aircraft did not have to divert. I accept some responsibility for this situation but would also really like to see someone look into the breakdown in communication to see where improvements in the system could be made. There where other factors at play in this scenario in which I am unaware. I know PCT had an emergency during this time but I am unsure of the impact it had on their ability to take arriving traffic. Recommendation; my supervisors changed shifts in the middle of this event. The oncoming supervisor was unable to communicate or relay information in a valuable manner. He is new and may not have been familiar with the airspace; communication procedures; or may have just not known what to do. Holding aircraft should be given priority over departing aircraft in order to avoid planes diverting when this might not be necessary.

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.