A area update: Schedule survey

Schedule survey

Patrick has presented several ideas to me about how we could potentially change our basic watch schedule. To that end, he created a survey to gauge your interest in potential changes.

The survey isn’t any kind of a binding vote. Nothing will be determined definitively one way or the other based on what the results are. These ideas would have to be negotiated with management, and before we present them to management I’d want to ensure that our interests are protected individually and collectively.

That being said, I’m intrigued by some of the ideas that Patrick has and I’m very interested in what your feelings are.

With anything that we do, my goal is to try and advocate for things that the majority of our members want. So please take a moment to fill out this survey when you have time.

Click here to access it.

Certifications

Congrats to Katrina Linder and Kevin Wegner for completing our training program and becoming CPCs of the A area at ZSE!

Also, congrats to Mike Draper for becoming certified on R31 and R01, as well as Zach Nelson on R02 and R32.

And it’s been a while, but I wanted to recognize Jessie Dias for completing D03/D12/D02/D32. 

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

A Area update: Article 5 volunteers

We need two Article 5 volunteers to instruct students in upcoming A area labs.

The first one will be for two D-side students Aug. 1-Sept. 16. The second one will be for one R-side student Sept. 19-Oct. 28.

Please let me know if you’re interested in volunteering for either of these.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

A Area update: New area airspace and training reps

Hello, everyone. It’s been awhile since my last update, and there are several items to fill you in on:

Airspace/procedures rep and training rep

Chatty is our new A Area airspace/procedures rep, and Kevin Thomson is our new A Area training rep.

I really appreciate everyone who volunteered for those positions.

DataComm volunteers

As you all know, DataComm implementation got delayed until next year. We need two volunteers to be part of the cadre for teaching it to the workforce.

The dates seem to change all of the time (quoth Gene Kranz in Apollo 13: “Tell me this isn’t a government operation.”). According to the most recent information I received, the cadre course will be 10-31 to 11-09, with the workforce training taking place between 1-5 to 3-23.

If you are interested in volunteering, please let me know.

S46 LOA CWG

A CWG to go through the ZSE-S46 LOA is scheduled to meet in the near future. Derek Adams will be our designated NATCA representative in this CWG, and Chatty, as our airspace rep, will be one of the SMEs.

If you have ideas/thoughts/suggestions about anything related to our S46 LOA, now is your chance. Please let me or Derek or Chatty know.

New academy graduates

We have two new graduates from the academy. Their names are Tucker Enzien and Zack Reeves (yep, our area faces another duplicate first-name situation 🤷‍♂️). I’m very excited to have them in our area. Please go upstairs and introduce yourselves when you’re able.

Gary Cozad

Gary Cozad advised me last week that he decided to resign from the FAA. He wanted me to let you all know he made that decision. Gary told me to tell the area that he is very grateful to everyone who’s reached out to him to offer help and kindness over the past year.

Solidarity event

Our local Eboard has been trying to broadcast information to the membership about our upcoming solidarity event, which will be held July 13 in Seattle.

Food and drinks will be provided aboard an Argosy Cruise and will include controllers from facilities throughout the area, as well as members of the national executive board.

If you have concerns that you want to be heard by the national officers of our union, this event will be an amazing opportunity to do so.

Click here to RSVP. You must RSVP by June 25.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

May 14, 2022 A Area update: Todd's going-away party

Laura will be hosting a going-away party for Todd Shibata tonight at her house, beginning at 4 p.m.

This is obviously not a union-sanctioned event, but Todd has been an enormous part of our area and will be sorely missed. (The only silver lining is that he will be returning to the bargaining unit.) Zimmy is in town from L.A. to be part of the festivities.

If you’re attending, please wear a Hawaiian shirt (if you have one) in honor of Todd’s island roots.

Trainees and spouses are both welcome to join.

Laura and Byron’s address:

34024 53rd AVE S

Auburn, WA

In Solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

April 23, 2022 A Area update: Summer staffing

I felt super proud to be an A area controller on Thursday and Friday as we handled all of the craziness associated with the president’s visit to Seattle. Thanks for all of your professionalism and skill over those two days.

Summer guides

I have been having a number of conversations among the E-board and management about our summer guides.

When Derek, Russ, and I negotiated our 2022 guides last summer (and by “negotiated” I mean that I sat in the room as a brand-new rep while Derek expertly took care of things), we collaboratively agreed that we would leave our guides the same as the previous year, which means that Monday-Friday between Memorial Day and the end of August we would staff one additional controller for the day shift and one additional controller for the swing shift. We then agreed to not initially staff to those guides because traffic levels hadn’t yet returned to pre-pandemic levels and our staffing is so low. We collaboratively agreed that we would revisit the guides when traffic levels got busier.

As you all know, traffic is getting busier.

The agency is projecting that ZSE will be back to 2019 traffic levels by mid-July.

We are obviously still ridiculously short in the area. On one hand, I’m cognizant that if we increase our guides, that means that many of you will be assigned even more unwanted overtime and it will be even harder for all of us to get leave that’s not titled “sick leave”.

I don’t like either of those things. We need to get to a place where we have less unwanted OT and a place where it’s easier for us to get leave.

Having said that, the safety of the operation is obviously paramount, and I want to make sure that we’re protected as traffic levels continue to increase. And we also need to have more staffing so that we have a chance to keep training during the busy time of the year.

I don’t think that we need to increase guides starting at Memorial Day, but I think they need to be higher before we hit the busiest time of the year.

Therefore, I am advocating that we increase our guides M-F (to 11 for day shifts and 10 for swing shifts) beginning on June 19 and continuing through the end of August. The agency seems to be on the same page about this, and I hope to finalize an agreement with Russ about it in the next week.

National Training Initiative

I recently participated in a briefing about the NTI, which was presented by members of the national CWG who created it.

On the floor, I’ve heard various members of management say a whole bunch of confusing and inaccurate things about the NTI.

In an effort to alleviate confusion and provide you all with the information that I have, here are some takeaways from that briefing:

• Both the agency and NATCA want to get people certified as quickly as possible, which is the whole point of this. We all agree – and nowhere is it more obvious than in our area with the number of OT shifts we’re being assigned – that the sooner we can get more people certified, the better.

• The CWG, composed of both NATCA and management, did a lot of research and determined that they expect trainees to receive 12-15 hours of OJT per week if they have certifications and 15-18 hours if they don’t. This is not a requirement. The word that the agency and NATCA agreed upon is “expectation.”

• The agency tracks every day whether trainees receive OJT for that day. I’ve heard management say numerous times on the floor that trainees “need” to get three hours of OJT per day, but that’s not a thing. They do track OJT on a daily basis, but there’s no daily expectation.

• The NTI recognizes that situations will arise that prevent students from achieving the expected hours of OJT. The point of tracking it every day is so that they can go back and identify impediments to training in an effort to ensure that trainees get their time in subsequent weeks.

• The CWG said that nothing in the NTI is intended to be punitive. I’ve heard the agency talking locally about how so-and-so needs to get blank-number-of-minutes training, or else they’re going to “have” to go back and look at the entire week to figure out why so-and-so didn’t get their time. To that I say, “OK, have at it.” It’s great for them to figure out how we can do better. However, should anyone ever come to you and say something like, “Hey you were on CIC and didn’t get so-and-so their training time. That’s unacceptable,” please let me know.

TAV Cadre

We need two volunteers to assist with administering our area-specific training for the new terrain maps, which are scheduled to go into effect this August.

The two volunteers will work day shifts on June 13-14 off the control floor to help finalize a PowerPoint presentation that the airspace office has been building. Then they’d work day shifts M-F between July 11-22 to administer the training to the area.

If you’re interested let me know as soon as possible.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

March 10, 2022 A Area update: All-members meeting next week

All-members meeting

As a reminder, the E-board will be holding a ZSE all-members meeting on Wednesday, March 16 from  11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the East-West conference room. Lunch will be provided. If you have agenda items that you would like to see included, please let me or another member of the E-board know. Hearing your voices is incredibly important to us, and we want to know what you’d like to have discussed as a membership.

Topics on the agenda thus far include:

• New WiFi protocols

• 2023 bidding

• Your vision for our local

• Article 18 of the contract (CICs)

If you aren't scheduled to work during that time but have input on any of those topics — or anything else not listed — please let me know ahead of time so your voice can be heard.

Volunteer for flight strip-CWG group

ZSE will be having a CWG in the near future to address ways that we can reduce flight strips in our facility. The goal is to have at least one participant from each area, and I want to make sure that ours gets represented.

Let me know if you’re interested in volunteering for this.

Volunteer for IST cadre

Even though we just completed IST, it’s already time to solicit volunteers to be in the cadre for next year’s training. If you are interested in volunteering as a member of the IST cadre, please let me know.

Sector names

Other areas at ZSE have expressed interest in using sector names instead of numbers to avoid confusion over the shout lines. Please advise me if you feedback one way or the other about whether you’d like to see our area sectors named.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

Feb. 11, 2022 A area update: Working with S46

I went over to Seattle Approach this week to sit down with their rep. I visited with him pretty extensively, and I also briefly met with some of their controllers and their ATM.

Some takeaways from my visit:

- They recognize that they’ve struggled with departure spacing and want to get better. They’ve been discussing a lot of ideas and are open to ideas that we have.

In particular, they’re very interested in adding speed control to departing aircraft. They are working on an agreement with Seattle Tower where the tower would give them 230 KTS on all jet departures, and they’re proposing that they assign a faster speed before they ship them to us (the discussions have been surrounding either 250 KTS or 270 KTS). All aircraft would be our control for speeds on contact. I indicated to them that I want feedback from our membership before agreeing to anything, but I do think that it makes sense and would help both us and them. Instead of getting overtakes, all airplanes would come over going the same speed. We would get a much more consistent product. SEA is one of only three Core 30 FAA airports that doesn’t have assigned speeds on departure, and I think it makes sense to fall in line with what almost all of the busier airports across the NAS are doing.

I’m very interested in your feedback on this subject, so please let me know what thoughts you have.

- Our friends in TMU will randomly ask us to assign all A/C on the MARNR arrival 250 KTS at MARNR in a south flow, which is really a pain for us because of the extra phraseology. I’m not a fan of doing this. Having said that, their rep wanted me to convey that it is very helpful to them, and that if they’re asking for it they need it. I pointed out that BOANE is literally six miles from MARNR and that the restriction is 250KTS there. The problem is that they take the majority of airplanes on the MARNR arrival off it for sequencing, and since they can’t slow them until they’re inside of their airspace, they’re stuck with an airplane doing 270 KTS that they’re trying to sequence with a plane on the HAWKZ that’s doing 210 KTS.

We agreed to work on changing the arrival restriction to 250 KTS so that we don’t have to give the extra verbiage (and they can speed aircraft back up if they want), but in the meantime know that if S46 asks for 250 KTS at MARNR, it’s because they really need it.

- Over the years, whenever a supe comes up to me and says, “I just talked to TMU, and they need you to spin this heavy,” I’ve almost always rolled my eyes. However, their rep showed me the spacing requirements they have between SEA heavy aircraft and BFI landers. The more heavies that they have, the more complex their operation becomes. If the supe asks you to spin a heavy, it’s probably because an S46 controller has gotten tubed and needs help. So help them.

- From our perspective, the HAWKZ arrival “works” in a north flow in the sense that it allows us to give S46 airplanes 5 miles in trail. However, the arrival works really, really poorly for approach. They only have a tiny bit of time before airplanes turn onto final. Over the years, many things have been done to try and address this, including having us provide 10 miles-in-trail on the HAWKZ. Our friends in TMU raised that idea to me when I was a brand-new rep … and I promptly told them no. I’m all for us helping, but 10 miles in trail when it’s north flow is so much work for us to do to basically compensate for the arrival being broken.

To me, the solution is that we need to fix the arrival for north flow.

I proposed to S46 that we reinvestigate moving the arrival inside of S46’s airspace so that it goes to the west side of R6703 during a north operation. This has been considered before and then dropped. I am all in favor of trying to make it happen, and so is S46. The attitude of a lot of people has been, “It takes years to change an arrival.” OK, so let’s get going. Let’s try and fix the arrival so that it works better for everyone. I don’t know whether it will get off the ground — I would anticipate there being environmental concerns and pushback from airlines — but I want to at least try.

- Because of COVID, we haven’t been able to visit S46 over the past two years. However, I am very interested in getting our controllers over there to talk to their controllers as we’re able and our staffing allows. And our friends at S46 expressed interest in getting their controllers over to ZSE to talk to us. I think the more conversations that we have controller-to-controller, the better. They’re our NATCA brothers and sisters over there. When you don’t see someone besides the landline lighting up and answering, it can be easy to forget that. But they are human beings who want to do a good job, and I want us to have more interactions as it’s safe to do so.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

Feb. 3, 2022 A area update: We need an Article 5 volunteer

Article 5 solicitation

We need an Article 5 volunteer to train an R-side student in the lab between April 11-May 27. If you are interested, please let me know as soon as possible.

A couple of things to note: This lab has been shifted because of COVID, and the dates are subject to revision. However, with COVID cases currently falling, my best guess — for whatever that’s worth — is that the lab will happen during that period of time. If you pull out your calendar, you’ll see that the first week of the lab is slated to be during spring break. If this is a dealbreaker and you’d otherwise be interested, please let me know.

Published OT notification

Our local MOU on OT states:

“All overtime shall be assigned/cancelled using one of the following methods: in person, in writing, via telephone conversation, or CEDAR.”

When new schedules are published, management has accomplished this requirement by creating an MOU and placing it in each of our mail boxes.

Considering the ridiculous amount of OT assignments that we have in the area, this has become a colossal waste of ink and paper. Going forward, I advised management that it’s acceptable for them to place a copy of the published OT list by the headset cabinet in lieu of printing off individual copies.

They should still advise you of non-published OT assignments as they previously have — i.e., via any of the methods mentioned above.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

Jan. 21, 2022 A Area update: Downrigger delight

Downrigger

Downrigger made its return to our operation on Thursday. I think that it will overall be a really helpful change, but there will certainly be growing pains in the interim. (If you worked on Thursday or Friday, you already know this.)

The biggest thing I would like to communicate about Downrigger: If you have questions, please let me or a supe know so that we can get you answers.

Some answers to issues that have arisen so far:

• In STARS, WWF is the Downrigger West sector and WWH is the Downrigger East sector. The handoff should forward to the appropriate sector if they’re combined. If you address the handoff to W it should automatically flash to the appropriate Downrigger sector if NUW is configured correctly.

• NUW Approach has been asked to call five minutes or less from activation, and they agreed to do this. (On the first two days, they often called 30 minutes ahead of time. It may take a little time for that info to get disseminated on their side, but they should be calling five minutes or less from when they’ll take the airspace.)

• NUW Approach needs to ask for a reason if they want the Forks Corridor at higher than 130 (and they agreed they would start giving a reason if they ask for higher). If there is weather, I am all for letting them have higher, but in general the intent of this operation is for them to have 090-130, and then we control the airspace below and above. (Someone suggested we have them work the airspace from the surface to the top altitude, which I love. However, NUW only agreed to work it starting at 090. In future conversations, I would like to discuss having them assume the airspace to the surface because all of that low-level airspace is dead space, and it would be great to not have them call us for point outs on CLM arrivals.)

• I was told we had multiple aircraft on Day 1 returning to NUW that had flown past the confines of the Forks corridor and were above 090 enter our airspace without a point out. I had Paul remind them that they’re responsible for pointing out any of those aircraft.

• When the airspace times out, we reassume the airspace whether they call us or not.

• Aircraft outbound to Downrigger must be routed over the appropriate fixes for you to be able to hand them off. I placed a copy of those fixes at Sector 3. All of the aircraft departing NUW for the airspace should have the necessary fix in their stereo routes. If you have an aircraft that you’re trying to hand off to Downrigger but you can’t get it to flash, check that the necessary fix is in the route. If it is, have the supe/CIC verify that flight data has run the appropriate script. I would then recommend doing a manual handoff and please let me or a supe know after the fact so that the issue gets fixed.

• There have been instances of aircraft autopopping our scopes while they’re in the Olympic MOA (with Downrigger active). Airspace is working on a solution to this problem, but it may take a while because they have to do a lot of stuff under the ERAM hood to pin down the problem.

For now, you can pull up the line for the Forks corridor by selecting the Darrington button, which is less than ideal. I welcome feedback about the best way to display this going forward. I anticipate the corridor being in use often. Some have suggested we light up the corridor like we do SUA. Some have suggested we create a separate tearoff button for it (so you don’t have to see Darrington all of the time). Some have suggested adding it to the SAA page. All of those are possibilities.

Please let me know if you have a preference or a different idea for displaying the corridor on our maps.

Alternate rep

Derek Adams has been confirmed by the E-board as my alternate rep for the 2022-23 cycle. I really appreciate him being willing to help me.

Training rep and airspace rep

I would like to add an area rep for training and airspace/procedures in the near future.

The duties for the training rep would entail routinely reviewing our training paperwork and ensuring that required things — i.e., skills checks and training-team meetings — get completed. You would receive official time to do that. There was an effort made a few years ago to establish area-level training reps, but it fell away. However, we recently discussed this as an E-board and I love the idea of having someone in this role to help make sure that our training is in compliance.

The duties of the airspace rep would entail working with myself and airspace on developing new procedures for our area. This would include participating in CWGs — ie, when we redo our LOA with S46.

Please let me know if you’re interested in either of these positions.

CA-1

You didn’t think I’d get through an entire update without talking about COVID, did you? Well here we are.

This has been mentioned by myself and others, but to reiterate: In the event that you test positive for COVID, I recommend filing a CA-1 as soon as possible. To do so, you’ll need a positive test result (which obviously has been taking some people a lot of time to obtain right now). As soon as your CA-1 has been accepted, you will begin a continuation of pay — ie, you don’t have to use any of your own leave — that will backdate from the date of your positive test and continue for up to 45 days.

If you do test positive and need help with your CA-1, let me know and I will email you a step-by-step list by Stephanie Winder, who is the NATCA NNM guru for CA-1s.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

Jan. 12 A Area update: COVID and lots of other things

OK, this is going to be a long one.

To start (and it’s a shocker!): COVID-19 and Omicron have obviously been dominating our lives.

Amy sent out an update last weekend that covered a variety of topics, and I highly recommend you read through it if you haven’t already.

Of the many things she touched on, I want to emphasize one thing: Please don’t come into work if you’re sick.

I have been joking for the seven years I’ve been an FAA employee that “if you’re not feeling well, you’re not feeling well,” and you should take sick leave. It’s no longer a joke. With the transmissibility of this variant, please do not come into work if you have any COVID symptoms. For those of us who are vaccinated and boosted and are lucky enough to be in good health, actually getting COVID doesn’t seem like a big deal. But there are people inside of this building who live with family members who are immunocompromised. I understand that it can feel futile and that we’re all tired of dealing with COVID, but please help protect these people by not coming into work if you’re sick.

And also protect yourself. When you step inside the building every day, you are saying that you have completed the wellness check and are symptom-free. If this changes at some point during your shift, advise a supervisor so that you can go home. If you are at work, you have said via the wellness check that you’re symptom-free, so if you get asked during work to fill out a close-contact form, I highly recommend that you provide an answer that’s consistent with your original answer.

S46 meeting

We recently had a Zoom meeting between the LSCs of S46 and the A area, which I sat in on. We discussed many things. There were a few things I wanted to pass along:

• If you are sequencing on the long legs and your sequence is very tight, S46’s LSC said that APREQing the front A/C going fast typically is not a problem for them. I obviously don’t recommend calling them and doing this on a regular basis, but I thought it was good information to pass along if you get in a pinch.

• If you’re about to be given a stack of departures by S46 and you have a solution to the traffic situation in mind, please call them and offer the solution. Some of our controllers have the mentality of, “Well, these four airplanes headed my way are all in approach’s airspace and this is their traffic.” Yes, it is currently their traffic. But it’s going to be your traffic. So if you have a solution in mind that will help you and them, they asked for us to be proactive in reaching out and offering it.

• Both sides expressed interest in having our controllers visit each others’ facilities. This is obviously not currently happening due to COVID. However, when the opportunity presents itself, I would love to get as many people as possible over there to have conversations between us and them.

Speed control

The major topic we discussed with S46 was speed control on the arrivals. The common scenario (which is applicable to all of the arrivals) that we reviewed: We’ve sped up an aircraft on the HAWKZ to 290kts or greater to accomplish our sequencing, and we then tell the aircraft, “Resume published speed at PIKEZ.” According to the way I have interpreted the AIM, I expect the airplane to slow to cross PIKEZ at 250kts, and then comply with the slower published speeds. However, S46 has had several airplanes come over doing 290kts overhead PIKEZ, with the intent to begin their speed reduction at that point. Those aircraft had all been assigned, “Resume published speed at PIKEZ.”

In my opinion, this is a pilot deviation. However, I’ve since had several conversations with our airspace office about this, and they were provided with an unofficial interpretation from the region saying that “resume published speed at PIKEZ” is not approved because pilots could remain fast until they reach the fix. They suggested you say, “Resume published speed” when you want them to slow (which doesn’t work if you’re busy and can’t advise the airplane at the exact moment you want them to slow), or “cross PIKEZ at 250kts, then resume published speed.”

I don’t believe the unofficial interpretation is sufficient and that we need more concrete information. Therefore, I have requested we get an official interpretation from national. I’m told this will take a few months to get back.

In the meantime, just be aware that there is confusion among pilots about what “resume published speed at (fix)” means and that if you tell them, “Resume published speeds at PIKEZ,” they may or may not do what you want them to do. I have begun adapting my phraseology with pilots to ensure that they do what I want them to do — I say “cross PIKEZ at 270kts, then resume published speeds,” or “comply with the published speeds beginning at PIKEZ.”

S46 LOA update

We will be putting together a CWG in the near future to look at updating the S46 LOA. If you’re interested in participating, please let me know. And also let me know if there are any S46-related procedures you would like to see changed or modified in the new LOA. (And please let me know if you have any requests for any changes to any of the other LOAs and procedures that we have in the area.)

Downrigger

Downrigger is scheduled to return in the near future. Our airspace office won’t be giving in-person briefings due to COVID, but they told me they’ll be placing an update into CEDAR this week. If you have questions about any of the new procedures, please let me know and I will get answers for you.

“1330B” instead of “1330NF”

The dreaded 1330NF shift returned to our facility this year at the behest of management, which said it intended to use that shift to help facilitate crew breakouts. I agreed to this as a brand-new rep, and I intend to push for us to abolish it next year if management doesn’t actually utilize it for breakouts.

In the meantime, it’s here for this year.

Per our BWS MOU, the “core” shift that we agreed upon was “1330B.” The MOU states that “any B designation on any shift indicates that the shift shall have up to a 10-minute flex time prior to the start time.”

An OM in another area recently objected to the schedulers using the coding “1330NF” because it isn’t in line with the MOU. Accordingly, starting with PP5, you’ll start seeing “1330B” if you have a 1330NF shift. You still can flex in up to 10 minutes ahead of the start time. The only thing changing is the coding in Web Scheduler.

Certifications

Training obviously became paused this week, but we’ve had several certifications since my last area update. They are: Jessi Dias (D1/31), Angelina Jacobson (D2/32), Mike Draper (R2/32), Katrina Linder (R1/31), and Kevin Wegner (R1/31). I appreciate all of our trainees, who have been enduring so much insanity during COVID.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

Nov. 18 A Area update: All-members meeting tomorrow morning

ZSE all-members meeting on Friday

This is a reminder that we will be holding a ZSE all-members meeting tomorrow morning (Friday) at 10 a.m. online and in-person (in the East-West conference room). Regional VP Alex Navarro III, formerly of this beautiful facility, will be on hand to answer questions, address concerns, and receive feedback.

There will be coffee and pastries available for those of you who are able to attend in-person.

If you will be attending virtually, here is the information to join:

TELCON INFO:

Friday, November 19th @1000 PST

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer or mobile app

Click here to join the meeting

Or call in (audio only)

+1 253-240-0613,,335054440# United States, Tacoma

Phone Conference ID: 335 054 440#

Nov. 9, 2021 A Area update: Bid book opening Saturday

Bid book opening on Saturday

With CPC bidding complete, you can submit spot-leave requests for the 2022 year on Web Scheduler beginning at 12:00 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 13 (i.e., at midnight between Friday and Saturday)

2022 OT preference

We are in the process of finalizing the OT preference list for 2022. In an effort to make sure that we get everyone’s preference correct, Damien posted a sheet asking you to note your OT preference by our headset boxes in the area. OT preferences completed via the link on bidATC were added to this list today. Please check it when you’re at work to make sure that it has your desired choice.

If you didn’t use the bidATC link and don’t mark your preference on the posted list, your 2022 OT preference will remain the same as it currently is.

As a reminder, the 2022 OT preference goes into effect on Jan. 2, 2022. Given our current staffing, OT shifts will be assigned between now and then using our current OT list. If you would like to change your OT preference for the rest of this year, please advise me, Damien or a member of management and it will get updated when you make the request.

Article 5 solicitation

The training department will be conducting a D-side lab between Jan. 18 and March 11, and they need an Article 5 volunteer to help administer it. Please advise me if you are interested.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

Oct. 22, 2021 A Area update

AWS requests

With Round 1 of bidding for CPCs finished, the window to complete requests for alternate-work schedules — the so-called “dream sheets” — is now open. Forms to make your requests have been placed on the table in the area that’s next to the aisle. If these run out, please let me know and I’ll make additional copies. You have until Sunday, Oct. 31 at 12 p.m. — aka High Noon — to return these requests to me. You can place them in my mailbox or scan and email them to me at zse.natca.a.area@gmail.com.

The more submissions that we receive, the more likely it is that they’ll be able to be accommodated (i.e., if someone with a day shift requests a 7-hour day, and someone separately requests a 9-hour day, we can argue to management that the two requests balance the schedule for that day). Accordingly, if having an AWS is something you’re interested in, please fill out a sheet so you can potentially help yourself and someone else.

If you want to swap a particular shift with another person and they agree to swap the shift, have both parties put a star by that shift and note somewhere on the form who you’re requesting to swap with.

In terms of writing 7- and 9-hour requests on the sheet, make sure that you put the time of the shift first, then AWS, then the number of hours. For example, if you want a seven-hour day on Friday that begins at 8 a.m., put 8AWS7.

Damien and I will meet with Todd and Russ on Tuesday, Nov. 2 to review the requests.

If you have any questions about AWS, please let me or Damien know.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

Oct. 15, 2021 A Area update

Bidding

As Amy noted in her facility update this afternoon, bidding for CPCs will commence on Monday, Oct. 18. We will again be using the bidATC website . In preparation for bidding, please visit bidATC and verify that you’re able to log in. Please also verify that your notification method is up-to-date, depending on whether you want to be emailed or texted when it’s your turn to bid.  Let me know if you encounter any problems.

As a reminder: During Round 1 of annual-leave bidding, you get to bid one or two consecutive or non-consecutive weeks of leave. On bidATC, make sure you select “add another week” between your first week and second week. (The common mistake that people have made in the past is that they’ve clicked on the button to finalize their bid after selecting their first week, which will only give you the single week while simultaneously moving on to the next person. Don’t let that happen to you!)

Trainee bidding

Once the CPC bidding is complete I will sit down with our OM and negotiate the lines that the trainees will be bidding. Trainees will bid once that has happened. If you’re a trainee, I’ll keep you apprised of the specific dates for bidding as we get closer. 

Area refresher volunteers

I need two volunteers to help with our 2022 area refresher training. (If you’re thinking, “I thought we just had our area refresher training,” your reaction is the same as mine was.) This gets scheduled on a yearly basis, and they’ve scheduled our 2022 edition for Jan. 10-14. Let me know if you’re interested.

TR-2

The remaining TR-2 scopes are scheduled to be installed in the area over a week-and-a-half period starting on Nov. 5. Please continue to advise me of any issues that you run into with the new scopes or if you see anything in the horse-collar area that needs to be corrected (the YYJ approach frequency, for example, has been updated).

Certifications

Congratulations to Kevin Brothers for getting certified on R01 and R31, as well as Jared Fenton on D3 and D12.

New controllers

We recently added two new academy graduates to the A Area. Their names are Luke Bradley and Kyle Moore.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

Sept. 23, 2021 A Area update

IST volunteers

I need two volunteers from our area to teach the upcoming IST class. The two-day cadre class will be Dec. 7-8 or Dec. 9-10 (you get to choose which one you want to attend), and the actual IST class will happen Feb. 6-19. Please let me know as soon as possible if you’re interested.

D-side training

After an almost month-long delay, D-side training resumed yesterday.

TR-2 scopes

The first new scope in the area will be installed tonight on Sector 81, followed by Sector 3 on Sept. 28. If you run into any issues with the new scopes — i.e., you notice any incorrect information on the horse collars — please let me know.

MO-ment of achievement

Congratulations to Mike Morrow for becoming the A Area’s newest CPC! Mike got certified on 3/12 yesterday to complete the training process.

DA

As you have almost certainly heard, Derek Adams recently stepped down as our facility rep. I want to publicly thank him for everything he’s done for our area and facility. I wasn’t involved in the union last year at the height of COVID, but I know that he put in an absurd amount of work for all of us. He’s been a rock in the A Area since I’ve been in it, and has earned a well-earned break from union duties.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

Sept. 2, 2021 A Area update

The primary purpose of this update is to let you all know that I am now officially your area rep.

When I first showed up at this facility as an unpaid intern nine years ago, I didn’t know anything about any of the areas. However, the more that I talked to people in the facility, the more strongly I felt about wanting to go to the A area should the stars ever align for me to become an air traffic controller at ZSE.

The crazy thing is that they did align. I somehow got to ZSE as my first facility, and I got to come to our area.

I’ve loved being in it ever since. I love the people that we have. I like the kind of traffic that we work. I love living in the Pacific Northwest. This is where I want to be — in the A Area at Seattle Center — and I feel excited and proud and humbled and a whole bunch of other emotions to now get to represent you all.

People in our area have been incredible to me since I showed up as a trainee. I have received so much from other people in the A area. I have received so much from people in NATCA. My main goal in volunteering to be rep is to try and give back a little bit of what has been given to me.

Our area faces a lot of challenges right now — staffing being the most obvious one. You all have felt the crush of the staffing shortage we are experiencing. In the short time I’ve been rep, I have already had several conversations with Russ Brier, our new OM, about staffing and how we get from where we are to a better place. What we’re doing is unsustainable.

Training

As you have seen, training has been paused over the past week. As of this writing, the latest plan is to have R-side training resume shortly. I don’t yet know when D-side training will resume. The expectation is that the D-side pause will also be short-lived.

2022 BWS

With Derek’s assistance, Russ and I agreed on our 2022 basic watch schedule, which is the same schedule as this year’s. The only change is that our 1400 shifts will revert to the old 1330NF shifts (with a 10-minute flex). Management wanted this change to accommodate potential crew breakouts. Otherwise, the lines that we bid on for this year will be the same lines we will bid on for next year.

Our summer guides for Monday through Friday — 11 CPCs on the day shifts and 10 CPCs on the swing shifts — remain the same. We haven’t been staffing to these levels because we literally can’t. We agreed that starting next summer we’ll begin at 10 and 9 until that is unsustainable due to traffic, at which point in time it will be readdressed. I sure hope that we will have the staffing to accommodate the increased guides when we need to. COVID has obviously created uncertainty about training and about what future traffic levels will look like.

We’ll again bid using the BIDatc website. I’ll have more info for you about the specifics of when we’ll bid as we get closer and I receive them.

Alternate rep

Matt Beckman will continue to serve as our alternate rep for the remainder of the year until Derek Adams leaves his current position of facility rep. When that happens, Derek will take over as the alternate.

Local Safety Council

I want to give as much to this new position as possible, so I decided to leave the LSC. Josh Palmer is replacing me and joining Kelly Shielke as our two A area controller representatives on the LSC.

Feedback

I welcome all feedback, suggestions and concerns you have. I’m here for you and for our area. Settling into this new role, I’ve felt like a trainee in terms of my mind going a million miles-per-hour and thinking, “I’ve got to be missing something.” (And like a trainee, I probably am missing something.) If something is going on, please let me know what it is so that I can address it.

As your rep, I feel certain that I will make mistakes. But I pledge to do my best to represent you all individually and collectively.

I have taken over Zimmy’s A area email, and you can reach me there. It’s zse.natca.a.area@gmail.com. You can also call or text me on my phone. It’s 801-860-3821.

In solidarity,

Dan Rasmussen

801-860-3821

July 27, 2021 Update

Hello Everyone,

Sadly this will be my last update as the area representative.  As you all know, I am going to ZLA in August and August 5th will be my last day at ZSE.  Derek will be taking over area rep duties after I leave until a new rep is elected/appointed.  Here are a few things that I am currently working on:

TRAINING: I would like to congratulate Michael Morrow for getting certified on R01/31, Katrina Linder and Kevin Brothers for getting certified on R02/32, and Mike Sampson and Zachary Nelson for completing all of their D-Sides. They will be attending Stage Four class in mid September.  We will need an Article 5 volunteer for that class.  Labs that will run from November 1st to December 17. If you are interested in that, let the current area rep know. 

SCHEDULE: I have started looking at the schedule for next year and, surprisingly, the A area will be bidding one more controller than last year. Unfortunately that still doesn’t offer much in the way of flexibility to the schedule, but it will help to fill a void that we currently have. 

S46: S46 has been looking at possible ways to mitigate the increasing SEA traffic volume and they have thrown out a few ideas such as assigning 250 kts to everyone and/or alter departure routes. Assigning speeds to everyone seems to me to be overly restrictive and inefficient. We are hoping to collaborate with them to come up with something that will benefit all parties and maximize safety and efficiency. Please share your thoughts and ideas with the rep. More information will be provided as the process develops. 

NUW: The Forks Corridor (090-130) is still being sorted out with NUW. The corridor will be tied to the activation/deactivation of DOWNRIGGER and will be used for military aircraft returning from SUA. There is currently no estimated date for when that will start. 

Scott Vick is retiring! I’m sure everyone knows this, but I’d like to take a moment to wish Scott and EJ good luck on their new adventure. I think everyone in the area has learned something from Scott. He has been a tremendous asset to the area and will be sorely missed. His influence will continue to have a positive impact on the area for many years. Happy Retirement!

I transferred here a little over seven years ago to gain some life experience outside of the Utah bubble in which I had lived my whole life. I feel like it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. All of your influences have made me a better person and a better controller.  The friendships I have made are an invaluable part of my life and I intend to keep in contact as best I can. Thank you. I will truly miss all of you.  Laura was kind enough to throw a going away event for me and I hope to see you all there before I go!

In Solidarity,

Jared Zimmerman

April 5, 2021 Update

Hello Everyone,

It’s been a little while since my last update so here are some of the latest developments that will affect the area.

BWS

We have been on BWS for a few weeks now and we have been operating with the guidelines set as two less than normal, per shift, since the traffic has not completely returned to pre-COVID levels.  Even with all of the training, I feel like it has been sufficient.  That being said, we are expected to have more OJTs ready to hit the floor in May, and traffic levels are projected to increase.  With that knowledge, Candi and I have agreed that beginning PP10, our staffing will move to one below normal guides.  The staffing levels will be revisited prior to PP12 and I am guessing they will probably go back to normal around Memorial Day. 

Downrigger

Downrigger operations have again been postponed.  This time until May 25th.  One of the main reasons for postponement is due to their request for a corridor that will allow them to work a/c from OLY to NUW APCH without the need for ZSE to work them.  I am all for this idea and I have spoken to several of you who are in agreement.  We are still negotiating what this will look like so I wouldn’t be surprised to see things delayed even further.  

S46

Recently, there have been some complaints from a few S46 regarding spacing on the arrivals, specifically on the HAWKZ.  Their claim is that pilots are being told to “resume published speed after PIKEZ/FOOTT” which means they are going too fast and are not complying with the letter.  I explained that 3 increasing to 5 in sector 32 is supposed to be insured by speed assignment and they are rarely if ever doing it correctly.  Ultimately, if the letter is being followed, then there shouldn’t be a problem for either side.  We agreed that currently, there is no need to reopen the letter, but we might need to revisit that if problems persist. 

SGET

As mentioned by Amy in her last email, the facility has been gathering a list of people interested in learning the SGET (Scenario Generation Editing Tool).  If you would like to be added to that list or would like any other information, please let me or anyone else from the Eboard know.

That is all I have for now.  Please reach out to me if you would like to know any more information about the topics above  or if you would like to add your input.

In Solidarity,

Jared Zimmerman

zse.natca.a.area@gmail.com

(801) 635-9184

February 9, 2021 Update

Hello Everyone,

There are two big issues I needed to address so here it goes…

BWS

After a year of being on COVID schedules, we are going to be returning to BWS on March 14th.  It was not a decision that was made lightly.  There were many different factors considered, i.e. increased traffic projections and increased bid leave. Ultimately, the 14th was determined the best option to make the transition back as smooth as possible. 

With the understanding that traffic is going to ramp up slowly over the next few weeks, Candi and I have agreed to temporarily reduced guidelines.  The guides will be reduced by two for the day and the swing.  This reduction is subject to a review every 30 days until we are back to normal.  

With the reduction of guidelines, there will be opportunities for spot-leave requests and/or EA.  EA requests will automatically be put into the Web Schedule based on eligibility for that shift and a tracker that Damien and I have created.  EA requests can be approved up to a day in advance. The tracker tracks EA opportunities and not actual EA opportunities granted.  Management is not tracking EA and there is nothing in the contract specifying the manner in which it is to be divided.  Spot-leave will be considered before approving EA.

Downrigger

Saying that the opening of Downrigger went poorly would be an understatement.  That being said, I had a meeting with NUW, TMU, and Airspace regarding the operation.  We came to an agreement that we needed to simplify things in order to reduce the possibility of confusion.  What we ended up with was basically the same as we were prior to Downrigger with one big difference: between the hours of 0800L to 2200L, M-F,  instead of clearing aircraft into the airspace,  we will hand them off to Downrigger and they will clear them into the active airspace. When they are finished, they will issue a clearance back to NUW and hand the aircraft off to us.  There will not be Olympic or Kraken Sectors.  

The restart date for Downrigger operations is scheduled for March 25th.  You should expect to see more regarding this change in CEDAR prior to that date.

In Solidarity,

Jared Zimmerman

zse.natca.a.area@gmail.com

(801) 635-9184

January 4, 2021 Update

Hello Everyone,

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great holiday season. Looking ahead to the new year, there are going to be a few changes I would like to make sure everyone is aware of.

Spot EA and no more 10-minute OT for swing shifts

In an effort to reduce overtime usage, we have agreed to eliminate the 10-minute overtime at the beginning of the swing shifts and you can expect to see 1350 shifts assigned in its place. The 1350 shifts should be rotated within each crew. The new shift assignments will start on January 10th. 

The trade-off is the ability to assign spot EA to send people home when they are no longer needed for the day. Management is not going to track the EA so it will be up to us to try to distribute it as evenly as possible. 

I have created a sheet that I put up by the headset bins to track EA given. It will be up to each crew to keep it up to date and determine who should be the next person to receive it. Attached to the tracking sheet is a copy of the memo from CEDAR that describes the circumstances in which spot EA might be approved.

Chart changes 

The recent chart change has been printed and available in the area for the past few weeks and most of it is now in effect. I wanted to highlight the few things that will have the most impact on our operation.

CHINS STAR: All RNT landers, regardless of SEA flow, cross RADDY at 110 and 250 knots or less.

GLASR STAR A/B: On the STAR or direct WOODI north of FLAAK.  Aircraft direct WOODI landing KSEA in a south flow must enter S46 airspace at 120 and 250 kts or less. Aircraft direct WOODI landing KSEA in a north flow must enter S46 airspace at 270 kts or less and comply with STAR restrictions.

NUW Downrigger will be in effect January 14, 2021, unless they postpone it again.

BWS

There is still no word on when we might be returning to BWS. Looking at the schedule, the amount of bid leave drastically increases at the beginning of April, and traffic levels do seem to be trending upward. If we cannot sustain minimum staffing and training, I could see the possibility of returning to BWS around that time. For now, this is just conjecture until we see what the next month or so brings.

Training

I haven’t heard of anyone not able to get their minimum training time in. Thank you all for making training a priority. We are going to see a few more trainees on the floor. Two supervisors and one TMU controller. 

Please remember to wear your mask, especially when social distancing cannot be maintained (i.e. training, relief briefings, working a D-side). There have been some  instances where proper mask usage was not being done and a few supervisors have brought it to my attention. I told them that I would reach out to the workforce and remind them to do so.  We have done what we can to keep management accountable with their mask wearing and we expect they will be doing the same.

I would like to thank all of you for making this area the best place to be at ZSE. Keep up the good work!

In Solidarity,

Jared Zimmerman

zse.natca.a.area@gmail.com

(801) 635-9184