2 ACFT IN JUMP ZONE COME IN CLOSE PROX. CTLR COMPLAINS ABOUT FACILITY PROCS.

1991-09 · NASA ASRS report 189704

Date: 1991-09 · Aircraft: Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer

Anomalies: conflict-airborne-conflict|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence

Synopsis

2 ACFT IN JUMP ZONE COME IN CLOSE PROX. CTLR COMPLAINS ABOUT FACILITY PROCS.

Narrative

AT THE NEW YORK ARTCC; AREA D; SECTOR 92; THERE EXISTS AN UNSAFE SITUATION OVER THE PTW VOR. THIS FIX IS A PRIMARY TRANSITION FIX FOR DEP FROM THE PHILADELPHIA ARPT; AND THEIR SATELLITE ARPTS. LESS THAN 5 MI N OF THE PTW VOR IS A VFR PARACHUTE JUMPING AREA AT THE NEW HANOVER ARPT; PA. THIS PARACHUTE JUMPING AREA IS SITUATED RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PRIMARY DEP RTE. THERE WAS A UCR FILED ON THIS SITUATION IN THE MID 1970'S WHEN A JUMBO JET RPTED A SKY DIVER PASS RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS #2 ENG AT 10000 FT. WHILE PROVIDING ATC SVCS AT THIS SECTOR; WE HAVE HAD SO MANY UNSAFE SITUATIONS ARISE IN THE PAST; THAT THE FACILITY HAS INSCRIBED THE SKYDIVING AREA ON OUR VIDEO MAP. THE AIRPLANES CARRYING THE SKYDIVERS CONTACT US AND REQUEST VFR ADVISORIES. WE TRY TO PROVIDE THIS SVC AS IT FITS WITH OUR DUTY PRIORITIES AT THE SECTOR. THESE ACFT ARE VFR AND ARE CLBING TO AND LEVELING OFF AT IFR ALTS SO THE SKYDIVING CAN COMMENCE. THE ACFT SOMETIMES HAVE TO FLY AROUND IN CIRCLES OR FLY ON ABRUPT HDGS IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN VFR; CLB TO THE PROPER ALTS FOR THE SKYDIVING MISSION; AND/OR TO MANEUVER OVER THE PROPER DROP ZONE AREA. AT THE SAME TIME; WE ARE CTLING NUMEROUS DEPS FROM THE PHILADELPHIA AREA ALONG WITH OUR REGULAR IFR TFC THROUGH THESE ACTIVITIES. I; AS WELL AS MANY OTHER CTLRS AND SUPVRS IN MY AREA; FEEL THIS SITUATION IS VERY UNSAFE. JUST THIS PAST SAT; I WAS CTLING THIS SECTOR. I HAD ON MY FREQ 5 VFR PARAJUMPING ACFT GOING TO DIFFERENT IFR ALTS. I HAD NUMEROUS IFR DEPS FROM THE PHILADELPHIA AREA HDG OVER PTW. 2 OF THE VFR AIRPLANES CAME WITHIN 1 MI OF EACH OTHER AT THE SAME ALT. AFTER I ISSUED NUMEROUS TA'S; THEY ADVISED THAT THEY NEVER SAW EACH OTHER DUE TO RESTR VISIBILITY IN HAZE. A FLT OF 2 HAD TO ABORT THE JUMPING TWICE; DUE TO THE HOLES IN THE OVCST MOVING TOO RAPIDLY IN ORDER FOR THE DIVERS TO JUMP THROUGH. THE FLT FINALLY HAD TO SPLIT UP THEIR FORMATION; DSND TO A LOWER IFR ALT; AND LET THE JUMPERS OUT. ATTACHED IS A COPY OF A LCL NOTICE; ZNY N 7110.63 GOVERNING THE CTL PROCS FOR THE SKYDIVING ACTIVITIES. PROCS OUTLINED IN THE NOTICE ARE IN DIRECT CONTRADICTION TO THE NATIONAL ATC MANUAL 7110.65 PERTAINING TO THE FOLLOWING: DUTY PRIORITIES; VFR ACFT REQUESTING RADAR FLT FOLLOWING AND TA'S; AND AVOIDANCE OF PROHIBITED AND RESTR AIRSPACE. THIS LCL NOTICE IS MANDATING THE CTLR TO ACCEPT HDOFS ON THIS VFR TFC AND PROVIDE ALL THE ESSENTIAL SVCS REGARDLESS OF HIS/HER OTHER DUTY PRIORITIES. THIS LCL NOTICE IS ALSO MANDATING THE CTLR TO PROVIDE RADAR VECTORS FOR NON PARTICIPATING ACFT AROUND AN AREA DEPICTED ON THE RADAR SCOPE WHICH IS NEITHER A PROHIBITED NOR RESTR AREA. IT IS MERELY KNOWN AS THE JUMP AREA. ALTHOUGH THIS AREA IS INDICATED ON THE RADAR SCOPE AS A SQUARE (APPROX 4.5 X 4.5 MI); IN ACTUALITY THE JUMP AREA CAN BE AS LARGE OR SMALL AS THE PARTICIPATING ACFT NEED IT TO BE. IN ORDER FOR A CTLR TO AVOID THESE AIRPLANES IT REQUIRES A LOT OF RADAR VECTORING AND RADAR MONITORING. 5 MI TO THE W OF THE PTW VOR IS THE ADJACENT SECTOR'S BOUNDARY AND A PRIMARY ARR FIX FOR PHILADELPHIA INBOUND TFC. IN ORDER TO TURN ACFT TO THE W AROUND THE PARTICIPATING ACFT; IT WOULD REQUIRE AN EXTENSIVE AMOUNT OF COORD. IF YOU NEED TO TURN THE NON PARTICIPATING ACFT TO THE E; OR IF YOU TRY TO TOP THE PARTICIPATING ACFT WITH ALTS; DUE TO THE LEVELS OF STRATIFICATION THIS WOULD ALSO INVOLVE EXTENSIVE COORD WITH OTHER CTLRS. I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THERE IS NOTHING THE FACILITY CAN DO TO MOVE THE PARACHUTE JUMPING AREA. IF THIS IS THE CASE; WHY CAN'T THE DEP TFC BE MOVED DURING THE KNOWN TIMES OF THIS INTENSIVE SKYDIVING. THERE IS ALSO A DEP RTE WHICH WOULD TAKE TFC OUT OVER THE MXE VOR (MODENA); COMPLETELY S OF THE PARAJUMPERS.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.