Wednesday, June 6, 2001
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Wednesday, June 6, 2001 |
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Atlanta's air traffic handled by new FAA operation in Peachtree City By JOHN
MUNFORD
The radar screen is full of moving blips. The job of the air traffic controller is to direct those aircraft safely to the ground and back up again. With one of the country's busiest airports in Hartsfield International, and sometimes crazy weather, that's not an easy task. But it's done day in and day out in Peachtree City at the new Atlanta TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) facility, which directs aircraft landing at Hartsfield and other nearby airports. The facility handles everything in the area below the 14,000-foot level. Last year, Atlanta TRACON handled more than 1.1 million operations. "It's kind of like a big chess game, but all the pieces are moving," said Stanley Zylowski, the facility's air traffic manager. Although nearby Falcon Field and other smaller airports are in the "satellite" mix, Hartsfield is responsible for most of the action at Atlanta TRACON, Zylowski said. Atlanta TRACON is the largest such facility in the country that covers just one major airport, Zylowski said. It features the Federal Aviation Administration's first all-digital radar system, which allows current weather conditions to be overlaid on the screen. Above the radar unit is a touch-screen control pad which can display a variety of information. The radar screen notifies the controllers of each aircraft's call number, speed, heading, altitude and other data. Based on that information, controllers use radio communications to guide the aircraft properly. The Atlanta TRACON is also designed to expand in the future, with room to absorb air traffic control operations currently performed for Macon and Columbus, as well as the proposed fifth runway at Hartsfield, Zylowski said. Also, the walls of the main control room are expandable just in case. The Atlanta TRACON responsibilities were transferred to the Peachtree City location April 10; previously the operation was housed at the traffic control tower at Hartsfield. The project cost $56.6 million, including $17.1 million for the 78,000-sq. ft. building and $38.8 million for equipment and telecommunications. The 100 certified professional controllers at the facility rotate through each position to improve efficiency, Zylowski said. Each controller covers a designated area, from the aircraft approaching Hartsfield to observing the landings on the four runways there ... and handling traffic at the satellite airports such as Falcon Field and Coweta County. At its busiest, Atlanta TRACON works with 80 to 90 aircraft at one time in the 40-mile radius around Hartsfield, Zylowski said. "Thursday afternoon from 5-9 p.m. is our typical peak," he said, adding that the peaks are mainly determined by Hartsfield traffic, where two runways handle arrivals and two handle departures, all at the same time. The air traffic controllers at Atlanta TRACON all have experience at other major TRACON facilities, Zylowski said. "We just don't hire people off the street," he said. "... The folks here are pretty special." In addition to guiding the airplanes safely into and out of Hartsfield and other smaller airports, the controllers must maintain a minimum distance between the planes, ranging from three miles and up depending on the size of the planes in question. The major factor causing delays in air travel is inclement weather, Zylowski said. Often in such cases aircraft take longer to land, and pilots rightfully refuse to enter patches of bad weather, he said. "That can reduce our landing and departure rates significantly," he said. In good weather, about 100 planes an hour can land at Hartsfield, he added. Inclement weather shouldn't affect Atlanta TRACON's operations at all, though, as multiple power backups and other fail-safe designs have been instituted at the facility to insure it operates constantly. Four diesel power generators are at the ready, able to start in less than 15 seconds, and an array of batteries would instantly take over until the generators came on-line, said facilities manager Gary D. Taber. Taber oversees a crew that includes security, grounds maintenance and electronics maintenance. If something breaks down, his crews are the ones who get things fixed. Taber calls them the "unsung heroes" of Atlanta TRACON. The facility's electronics nerve center features thousands upon thousands of cables, wires and other electronic gadgetry that also has plenty of backups, Taber said. But Delta Air Lines, the largest air carrier at Hartsfield, recently changed its flight schedule, spreading out flights throughout the day. That helps "smooth out" the work load at Atlanta TRACON, said Vince S. Polk II, president of the local union of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. "It helped us out tremendously," said Jim Allerdice, NATCA vice president. "I think that has had a very positive affect on reducing delays." Before that change, there were hectic periods of heavy air traffic that lasted from an hour to 90 minutes before breaking up into a more manageable flow, Polk said. Now, "the work load has levelled off," he added. The union helps deal with personnel problems and also serves as a voice for the controllers at Atlanta TRACON, Polk said.
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