C Area,
Hope everyone had a Happy New Year. I would like to take the time to thank everyone for the opportunity to represent you and the C Area again. Moving forward I wanted to give an update on where we’re at with some issues that have come up and what I’d like to look into. No guarantees on the stuff below, just an update on what’s being looked at. And, by all means if there’s anything I didn’t mention below that needs attention please let me know.
-AWS/Maxi Flex 40/Shift Swap request forms. I want to take a look at the schedule with CW to see what requests can be supported and work with management to get as many approved as we can. Unfortunately I don’t have a time frame when this will be addressed but wanted to let everyone know it hasn’t been forgotten.
-Route Channelization Order. We’ll need to clean up some of the language regarding what altitudes are assigned to aircraft on the Cranbrook transition. Also, consider having all Seattle terminal turbojet aircraft assigned pilot’s discretion to FL260 when not metering (instead of FL240 or FL250 when there’s turboprop traffic like today). This would streamline our operation and alleviate any DH8D conflicts, altitude readback issues, etc. I’d like to get opinions on this and can get into the finer details on what this would look like, so please let me know if you like or hate this idea.
-ZSE/ZLC LOA. Request to add control for speeds from Salt Lake Center to our LOA.
-See what can be done to fix the Roosevelt return route conflicting with Molson South at and above FL240 when a standard flight returns to base.
-PSC/YKM consolidation into GEG. Under Section 804 (basically the facility consolidation and realignment process) I’d like to see if we can get PSC/YKM to stay open later and open earlier. As of right now I don’t have an update on the exact time frame for when they will be consolidated, probably still well over a year out. But, if PSC/YKMs hours of operation can be extended it seems worth looking into. Again, if anyone has concerns with this idea please let me know.
-LAVAA departure off of PDX currently going over YKM is projected to be moved to SUNED in September of 2020. This should help reduce conflictions at YKM.
Please feel free to call/text/email me anytime if you have any questions, comments, concerns on the stuff above or about anything else. I’ll do my best to provide more updates as things develop and get addressed.
James Darlington
NATCA ZSE C Area Rep
904-347-3065