BECAUSE OF SEVERE WX MANY ACFT WERE REROUTED THROUGH ZFW. RPTR ALLEGES CENTRAL FLOW AND ZFW TMU FAILED TO IMPLEMENT IN-TRAIL AND GND STOP FLOW CTL INTO ZFW CAUSING SECTORS TO SATURATE.
Synopsis
BECAUSE OF SEVERE WX MANY ACFT WERE REROUTED THROUGH ZFW. RPTR ALLEGES CENTRAL FLOW AND ZFW TMU FAILED TO IMPLEMENT IN-TRAIL AND GND STOP FLOW CTL INTO ZFW CAUSING SECTORS TO SATURATE.
Narrative
THERE WAS SEVERE WX THAT IMPACTED KANSAS CITY ARTCC RESULTING IN ACFT BEING REROUTED THROUGH ZFW. CENTRAL FLOW AND FTW TFC MGMNT FAILED TO REACH OUT AND ESTABLISH IN-TRAIL SPACING; GND STOP ACFT OR ANY OTHER MEANS NECESSARY TO CTL THE VOLUME AND ORDER OF AIR TFC THAT ENTERED ZFW. THE TFC WAS UNMANAGEABLE AND POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS AND UNSAFE WITH SECTORS PAST SATURATION LEVELS. THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH STAFFING TO PROVIDE BREAKS; CTLRS WERE SPENDING OVER 3 HRS ON POS UNDER EXTREME TFC CONDITIONS. MORE STAFFING NEEDS TO BE ADDED AND CENTRAL FLOW; FT WORTH TMU; AND SUPVRS HAVE TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR SITS THAT ARE CONTROLLABLE. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 406165: I ENDURED 4 HRS AND 25 MINS ON POS WITHOUT A BREAK; MANY TIMES RUBBING MY EYES IN AN ATTEMPT TO MOISTEN THEM. TRAINING WAS TAKING PLACE ON MLC-LOW RADAR DURING THIS PERIOD; AND WAS NEVER BROKEN THE ENTIRE TIME. THIS COULD HAVE FREED UP AT LEAST 1 CTLR. (OTHER CTLRS WERE ALSO FORCED TO WORK 3+ HRS WITHOUT A BREAK.) DURING THIS PERIOD; NUMEROUS AIRSPACE VIOLATIONS OCCURRED; AND AT TIMES; THE SECTOR(S) WERE OUT OF CTL. SOME ACFT WERE PUT ON OUR FREQ WHILE STILL IN A HDOF STATUS. SOME WERE 30 OR MORE MI OFF COURSE; AND WE WERE WORKING THEM WITHOUT FLT PLAN INFO; BECAUSE PREVIOUS CTLRS WERE TOO BUSY TO AMEND THE FLT PLAN.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.