January 2010

NATCA ZDC

January 2010

NATCA ZDCCongratulations to our New E-Board!Tim Hardison Ken Burton Michael Iggy Irving Doug Picard Lia Keith Dan Glancey Jamie Makers Rex Jackson Jim Vitola Mike Skubon Chris Lloyd James Fazekas Brian Shallenberger Robin French Bill Blackmer President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Training Rep Area 1 Rep Area 2 Rep Area 3 Rep Area 4 Rep Area 5 Rep Area 6 Rep Area 7 Rep Area 8 Rep TMU Rep Staff Rep

January 2010

New BBSNot yet a signed up to the BBS? Go to www.zdcnatca.com and register today! At the very top of the home page is a link to create an account. To sign up you will need your NATCA ID #. To obtain your ID #, please see your Area Rep, President, Vice President or Webpage Administrator.

Facebook GroupWe have a members only Facebook group now called ZDC NATCA. Please join! We already have 70 members!

Message from the PresidentWow, its already January 2010, and time for our first newsletter of this year. I want to thank you for your vote of confidence in Ken and I, it is truly an honor to serve each and every one of you again! I want to thank Chrissy for all of her hard work in putting this newsletter together and also say thank you to all of our volunteers who are working hard in many different capacities to serve you and our Union every day! Ken and I have moved our offices into the area connected to the Representatives office in the NATCA trailer; and along with the newly elected Executive Board we are getting up to speed and settled in. We have much work to do and many challenges ahead. I am encouraged after having several meetings with Mr. Arrasmith. I believe we Continued on Next Page

NATCA ZDC

January 2010

Message from the PresidentContinued from Previous Pagewill be able to work together to accomplish many good things for you the controller. We will not agree on everything, but it is an encouraging and promising start to the New Year. We plan to offer as many training opportunities to you as possible throughout the year. By the time this letter is published, we will probably have already had our first major training session held at the Holiday Inn Carridoc Hall. Our National President, Paul Rinaldi, National Executive Officer, Barry Krasner, Regional Vice President, Phil Barbarello and Contract Team Member and FACREP of the New York TRACON, Dean Iacopelli agreed to come conduct a training session on our new Contract and speak on other NATCA issues. I am grateful to them for taking the time to come provide us this personal attention and training. Please try to take advantage of these opportunities when they become available. Our National and Regional Leadership have committed to working with us to provide training and include us on Regional and National work groups. If you have not signed up yet please sign up on the new ZDC NATCA website www.zdcnatca.com. Watch for information on our next meetings and NATCA events. I am looking forward to getting to know many of you better, and serving you over the next two years. Remember, you are NATCA! Be involved; let your voice be heard! Tim Hardison

Legislative Update: FAA ReauthorizationDoug PicardThe Fiscal Year 2010 Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act, Part II (HR 4217) was passed by The House on December 8th and then by The Senate on December 10th. The President signed on December 16th and became Public Law 111116. This extends the funding and expenditure authority of the FAA until March 31, 2010. This is part of the reason for some of the hiring freezes and lack of funds to spend on other items. There are still disagreements going on over fees. Hopefully after Health Care gets finished they will move forward on this legislation. I have not been following along as closely as before, but there have been no major changes that I am aware of, since the two different versions passed the House and Senate last year. We prefer the language of the House version. There have been a couple of hearings in the past two months. One with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, October 28th, NEXTGEN: A Review of the RTCA Mid-Term Implementation Task Force Report. Panel 2 had Dale Wright of NATCA testifying. There were also two hearings by The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, December 1st, on Pilot Fatigue and December 10th on Oversight of FAA Safety Initiatives. All of these hearings can be watched on the respective Congressional Committee websites. I am sure we will see more hearings in the year to come by both of these Committees.

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NATCA ZDC

January 2010

Torrey Reich, ZDC NATCA Safety RepWe have talked about the Unsatisfactory Condition Report (UCR) process in previous installments of Safety Matters, and we have discussed that process several times on our local BBS. The process has been broken for a long time, and we have been working around that broken process filing carbon packet UCRs the way we have since Eve had her first taste of apples. However, it has become such a cumbersome process; most controllers have been ignoring it all together. Last month, new strides were made in the way we will now file UCRs, and I hope these changes will encourage you to do so. NATCA has just settled a national grievance with the FAA concerning their failure to provide an Article 7 briefing on UCR Order 1600.6B, which was unilaterally implemented on September 26, 2008. For nearly two years, the reporting, sharing, processing, and tracking of UCR information has been done by the agency using their new Safety Management Information System (SMIS). Those of us who have perhaps the best viewpoint into the daily operation of the NAS, have essentially been shut out of this process. As part of our settlement with the agency, the agency agreed to distribute a jointly developed question and answer sheet concerning the filing of UCRs, procedures, supervisor responsibility, and the UCR policy to all NATCA bargaining unit employees. Until then, I want each of you to know how this process will work for us. First of all, it is not mandatory for employees to file a UCR via SMIS. The SMIS is set up to allow you to view the progress of your UCR filing; however, in order to use the system you must be on an FAA computer, and you must have an FAA email address. NATCA advises bargaining unit members not to use their personal email addresses for this purpose; therefore, if you wish to file a UCR in this manner, you will need to contact Tim Call in the training department to get set up with an FAA email account. Once you have done this, login to https://smis.faa.gov (only available on an FAA computer), and follow the instructions at the bottom right side of the page where it says, Use this UCR link to access the form for reporting unsatisfactory workplace conditions. Fill out the form, print it before you submit it, and forward a copy of it to me. 1. If you are reluctant to file by using an FAA email address, or you simply do not wish to obtain an FAA email account, this is what you need to do: Complete UCR Form OA 1800-1, located in Appendix A of UCR Order 1800.6B. You can get this form from me, your area rep, or online at:

Continued on Next Page

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NATCA ZDC

January 2010

Safety MattersContinued from Previous Page1. http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/me dia/Order/1800.6B.pdf. 2. Make a copy of the UCR, give it to me, or forward it to me through your area rep. I will then forward it to our Eastern Region Safety Rep. 3. Submit the UCR to your supervisor so he/she can enter it into the SMIS. Make sure the supervisor provides you with a UCR tracking number along with a copy of your report. 4. Keep a copy of the report for your records. NATCAs request for bargaining unit members to share their UCR filings are twofold; it is so we can: (1) monitor and track various trends occurring in our facilities; and (2) analyze how the FAA is or is not responding to various UCR events, particularly in areas relating to unsafe conditions created by staffing or personnel matters. I want to encourage each of you to file a UCR anytime you identify unsatisfactory conditions within the operation. We have the best perspective on these issues, and our concerns need to be voiced. It is important that we stay involved in the process, and it helps make our working conditions better.

ZDC NATCA Logo ContestHave any ideas for our new Local logo? Submit your entries via email to [email protected] by March 1st. If you win, not only will you have the bragging rights for creating our logo, you will also win a $250 gift certificate to the NATCA Store.

NATCA BenefitsNATCA Benefits Partner Steve Kippenberger will be at the Contract Training on January 20th and at ZDC on January 21st in the NATCA trailer. NATCA has partnered with American General to provide life insurance coverage to members.

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NATCA ZDC

January 2010

Whats Happening?Contract TrainingUpcoming events ss

Contract Training Wednesday, January 20th 9:00 am 7:00 pm at The Holiday Inn Leesburg at Carradoc Hall 1500 East Market Street Leesburg, VA 20176Open to all ZDC NATCA Members. Find out what weve been fighting so hard for over the past three years and learn what your rights are! Scheduled to attend are: Barry Krasner and Dean Iacopelli (contract team members), Phil Barbarello (Eastern Region Vice President), and Paul Rinaldi (National President). Training will take place on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 from 9:00 am 7:00 pm.

Solidarity MeetingSolidarity Meeting Monday, February 22nd @ 5:30 pm at The Holiday Inn Leesburg at Carradoc Hall 1500 East Market Street Leesburg, VA 20176Join your fellow NATCA members from the local area for a Solidarity Meeting on Monday, February 22, 2010. There will be a reception at 5:30 pm with the meeting starting at 6:00 pm. Scheduled to speak: National President, Paul Rinaldi; Executive Vice President, Trish Gilbert; Eastern Region Vice President, Phil Barbarello, and National Legislative Chairman, Steve Weidner.

Please Note: All members are invited to attend both events. It is requested that you sign up (in the NATCA trailer) so that the venue can have an accurate head count .5

NATCA ZDC

January 2010

Training UpdateWe have lots going on in training right now. One of the biggest issues is the Raytheon contract problems with the FAA. The training department upstairs has been told to cut everyones hours by 30%, they accomplished this by shutting down on Wednesdays and Fridays. This will impact everything from ERAM to Dside and Rside classes. Ray Mittan has said he intends to keep the classes running and on schedule. We have had several new CPCs since the last newsletter! Congratulations to all! Bay 1 - Christian Gonzales, Julie Wilson Bay 3 Marcel Fort Bay 4 David Downum, Adam Kelley, Akesha McGee Bay 6 Juan Quin Bay 7 Rob Dorn Bay 8 Joe Poloski

Lia Keith, Training Rep

We have 6 new people since the last newsletter! Make sure to welcome them when you see them! Bay 3 Zachary Payne, Jeff Peachey Bay 6 Nolan Cutler, Reggie Jackson Bay 7 Jaymi Steinberg, Thomas Sweeney

We have been having issues with skill enhancement. If you think your trainee needs skill enhancement, please write a request for it on your training sheet and follow up with a written letter to your supervisor. I will make a template and add it to the bbs to print out.

Area UpdatesTransition Area UpdateFirst I would like to congratulate our newest CPC Mr. Ben Dengler. Ben has done an outstanding job for us. His experience and professionalism have been a great addition to the Transition Area. Thank you Ben (applause!). I would also like to thank Alex Trzebiatowski, Dave Fort and Dave Smith for stepping up and coming to the Transition Area. I can assure you the area looks forward to you all certifying! Thanks guys. Mark Trent has been appointed as the areas ERAM Map Representative and has been working very hard on ensuring our maps are where they need to be. As most of you know by now, the maps offered in ERAM are not adequate. They lack many area specific details needed to do our jobs safely and efficiently. Mark has also set up shop on our new local BBS for not just the Transition Area, but for all areas. You can find these forums under ERAM. Now the Transition Area continues to be a fluid situation. What happens to us? Where will our sectors end up? When will this all happen? Nobody can really answer those questions yet. Rumors are running rampant.

Jamie Makers, Transition Area RepHeres what I can tell you. The Stabilization Plan was designed to stabilize what was left of Area 2 for approximately 18 months. A Long Term Team was to be assembled and tasked with redesigning ZDC airspace. During the redesign, the team would determine the fate of the Transition Area. So thats where were at, waiting. And depending on how far ERAM gets pushed back, it could take longer than expected. So for those of us in the Transition Area, well continue to wait until its time to move on. Kind of like, Groundhog Day.

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NATCA ZDC

January 2010

Area 5 Update

Mike Skubon, Area 5 Rep

Happy New Year ZDC and Bay 5, I am looking forward to a new year under an agreed upon collective bargaining agreement. So far there has not been much to do other than the Nonprime/wish lottery round bidding. We have to start looking at the ERAM issues and suggestions for each area. The area reps have forwarded names of members from each area to take on the task of working on area specific ERAM problems and modifications like mapping issues. The national ERAM MOU has been signed so we are fully cooperating with ERAM again The next issue will be TMA for JFK. This will be the first TMA airport that areas 5, 6, 7, and 8 will have to feed to another CENTER. The only other case in ZDC is the TMA feed of CLT traffic from areas 1 and 2. I can assure you that the TMA we do into approach controls like IAD, EWR, and PHL is a piece of cake compared to TMA into another center. The approach controls do not see times and dont really care as long as you give

reasonable in-trail spacing. As for other centers, they see times and their TMU controllers see times. We will likely be held to the (+1) (-1) times at the feeder fixes. I was the area rep in Bay 1 when they started the CLT TMA and it was a major distraction. The situation with the JFK traffic is potentially much worse due to the number of sectors involved and the restricted and warning areas that affect Bay 5 to the north. There are many problems with the system that results in having to provide TMA metering as well as in-trail spacing because the feeder center sectors and approach controls will not take stacks regardless of the TMA times. I have asked Steve Dorman (ZDC TMA NATCA lead) to set up meetings between areas 5-8, ZDC TMU and ZNY Dixie sector to work out the expectations and requirements. I will also contact the rep from ZBW to see how they deal with feeding ZNY the EWR TMA traffic from the north. The rep said that it was quite nasty initially until some kinks were

worked out with ground stops and other TMU initiatives. I also spoke with the NATCA safety rep and alternate area rep from the ZNY area that works the Dixie sector. She is bringing up our concerns at a ZNY E-board meeting this week. ZBW starts live TMA for JFK traffic into ZNY on February 8th. ZDC starts shadowing JFK TMA on the same date. I am not sure when we go live. I will have more information on this soon. As for Bay 5, please consider any needed changes to existing maps, procedures or anything else you come up with. I have asked Martha Rush to assist to compiling and preparing any needed changes that we might want to so that I can initiate the change through the appropriate ZDC office. Chris Northrupp is the Bay 5 ERAM person so feel free to pass on any ERAM concerns related to Bay 5 to him. Otherwise please forward any other Bay 5 ideas in writing to Martha ([email protected]) or myself at [email protected] .

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NATCA ZDC

January 2010

Aviation History: The Starting Point of the FAAMark Trent

Hello fellow ZDC coworkers. My name is Mark Trent, and I am a controller in Area 2. I will be attempting to write a recurring, but brief column about Aviation History, in which either human factors played a role in an accident or incident or an ATC procedure was implemented or changed in light of it. Many of the myriad of rules in the 7110.65 were created after-the-fact. Yet, the .65 never reveals what event caused it to become rule or procedure. The topic I will cover today is the starting point of the FAA: The Grand Canyon mid-air collision: On June 30, 1956, a mid-air collision occurred over the Grand Canyon between two commercial airliners (A TWA Lockheed Super Constellation and a United Airlines Douglas DC-7). Both were in radio contact with air traffic control, but not directly; they relayed through their airlines dispatch office. There was no Radar in that area of Arizona at the time. Both flights had departed LAX within 3 minutes of each other, bound for different Mid-West destinations. The TWA was originally flight planned to cruise at 19,000 feet, while the United would be at 21,000 feet. A build-up of clouds developed in front of the TWA, so the pilot radioed his dispatch to request a

climb to 21,000. The controller told the dispatcher unable due to the United being at 21,000. The TWA then asked for, and received, a clearance to fly 1,000 feet on top of the clouds (essentially VFR). An assumption here is that the tops must have been at 20,000 feet. That would have put the TWA at the same altitude as the United, and both of them off of the airway, as the United is thought to have deviated closer to the canyon to give the passengers a better view, while the TWA deviated around a build-up. Since there were no voice recordings, no CVRs, or Radar, much of what is known is speculation. It appears that the cloud build-ups played a big part in it, though. It is interesting to note, that up to this point, airspace had been jointly controlled by both the military and the pre-cursor to the FAA, the Civil Aeronautics Administration. Additionally, the airspace was mostly a mix of Federal Airways (using NDBs) and large, uncontrolled sections of airspace, including the airspace over the Grand Canyon in Arizona. In light of this accident, Congress allocated $250 million dollars (nearly two billion dollars in todays economy) for new radar systems, more control towers, and more personnel. Despite this, two more mid-air collisions occurred after the Grand Canyon accident, and so the FAA was created in 1958. US Aviation is full of historical events that have helped shape the ATC system we have today. It has however, not been without enormous cost both in lives and equipment. I have a short list of topics; however, if you have a suggestion or idea, Id like to hear it. Thanks for reading!

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NATCA ZDC

January 2010

Reloaded Sports Day

Our Sports Day is still on Tuesdays from 3:00 pm 5:00 pm at the Dulles Sports Plex in Sterling, VA. For info on the facility visit: www.dullessportsplex.com/main/default.asp or see Justin Beisel in Area 1.

Fun FactWashington Center opened its doors on April 1, 1937 at the Washington Hoover Airport which is now where the Pentagon currently resides. The Center then moved to Hanger 6 at Washington National Airport. On April 28, 1963, it then moved to its current site of which the land was donated by the citizens of Loudoun County.

Washington Hoover Airport

Hanger 6 at Washington National Airport

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NATCA ZDC

January 2010

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