Crossing the finish line
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Another old post that I started shortly after I passed the PV in OKC...that was about 16 months ago now! Unfortunately I'm foggy on some of the exact details
To top things off, everyone in my class passed. We had one classmate fail his first run, but did his practice runs and retake throughout the other runs and passed. I suspect after he calmed down a bit more he was able to run a solid problem.
Generally, the PV is not a difficult problem. It is CHALLENGING, but anyone who has pushed themselves to do the best that they can should not have a problem with it. Compared to the problems we ran from about 30 onward, the PV was slow. Perhaps the biggest obstacle was shaking off the nerves and trying to relax as much as possible. I'll admit that I was still a bit tense, but not so much so that it kept me from keeping my head in the game.
Here's a brief rundown for any current or prospective ATC students, or anyone who is just wanting a glimpse into ATC training.
About 5 minutes before the problem starts, the evaluators come out to meet with the student they will be evaluating for the problem. Mine was Dave Blackwell, a front line supervisor at Memphis Center (Jan 2011 note: I got my first over the shoulder as a certified D-side from Dave last month, he now does most of the ongoing performance reviews controllers receive on a yearly basis). He gave me a brief run-down on his expectations and wished me luck before leading me into the lab.
My R-side for the PV was Tony Martini, a former Memphis Center controller from the South Area, the same area where the real Jackson Low sector is located (1/11 note, Tony is back in the training department at ZME after taking about a year off from the Academy). I settled into the D-side and got my briefing from Tony. One of the differences from the PV compared to most of the problems you run before is that there are very few strips posted on the sector when you sit down, maybe half a bay at most and only 2-3 proposals. I was probably done with my initial traffic scan in the first 2-3 minutes of the problem, which puts you at a huge advantage, because it lets you keep most of your attention focused towards the scope, instead of the strips. Like most problems, you'll get a GWO departure fairly early on. If you've got your traffic scan done, it isn't a big deal getting them off the ground quickly (best I can remember I didn't give a single EDC during the entire PV, I did a quick scan and issued a clearance right away). Shortly thereafter there is an emergency of sorts, an aircraft requests a landing at VKS with an ambulance standing by, but never formally declares an emergency. It still doesn't relive you of informing your supe and performing any other necessary coordination (in Academy land, calling VKS FSS, in the real world FSS doesn't exist at most airports any longer so your supe would just call the airport manager or local law enforcement for you).
Unlike most other problems, Columbus 3 MOA is cold when you start the problem, but shortly after your emergency, it goes hot, and of course someone is trying to fly right through it. To complicate things, in my problem there was crossing traffic at an altitude that would have allowed me to keep the aircraft right for direction and miss the MOA, while not making it difficult to get someone out of GWO. I apreq'd the wrong for direction, had my R-side move them 1000' to clear the MOA and traffic and moved on. Just remember to coordinate, then clear. In the lab you'll always hear "approved" but sometimes what you want to do may not fit someone else's traffic.
All this time, the strip printer seems to be running non-stop. Some of them are more over-flights and arrivals that you will work, but probably half of them are for aircraft that will never enter your airspace until well after the PV is over. If you take the time to see where the new aircraft fit into your traffic as soon as the strip comes off the printer you'll easily stay ahead of the problem. If you let them stack up in the printer, it is a sure-fire way of getting behind and getting into trouble. Make sure to keep up with your time and altitude updates as well because one of the conflicts over SQS is a result of 67 changing the altitude of an airplane, as well as it steadily speeding up. Other conflicts are not as complicated, it is just a matter of scanning the strips, and then scanning the scope to verify your traffic scan. Much of the remainder of the problem is scanning for more traffic, and coordination that needs to be performed. I don't recall anything being out of the ordinary as the problem progressed. If you are able to get all of the departures off (I think there are 2 GWO and 2 VKS, maybe one off of Byerly) there can be one off of VKS that requires some coordination with both ZHU and MLU approach in the climb, but it really depends on the timing of the problem.
As things are wrapping up, you'll get notified that you'll have to do manual hand-offs with ZHU, identify the aircraft that will require this. You will receive one manual hand-off, but if the problem is going well, your evaluator will probably stop the problem before you actually have to make a call yourself. If this is the case, after you get the handshake from the evaluator and r-side, you'll go back out into the hall for a minute before you get the official word from your lead and one of the Academy administrators. Take a few deep breaths and pat yourself on the back, you made it!
After all this my entire class converged at one of the local bar and grills for celebratory beers and burgers. Because our one initial failure was going to Guam, the powers that be actually allowed him to do his re-take during the last run of the day. He got over the jitters of his first run and actually ran a very good re-take.
15 months later, my class of 16 is still relatively in-tact. Two have already made CPC (both the guys going to Guam), just about all of us have finished, or are nearly finished with our D-sides and a few are in the midst of their radar training. Unfortunately one washed out at Oakland last April as we were starting our Stage 3 class here in Memphis.
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