ZSU CTLR VOICED CONCERN REGARDING FACILITY TRAINING PLAN FOR NEW PROC; ADDING; PROPOSED SIMILAR SOUNDING FIX NAMES THAT COULD BE PROBLEMATIC.

Date: 2008-04

Anomalies: other-training-of-new-proc

Synopsis

ZSU CTLR VOICED CONCERN REGARDING FACILITY TRAINING PLAN FOR NEW PROC; ADDING; PROPOSED SIMILAR SOUNDING FIX NAMES THAT COULD BE PROBLEMATIC.

Narrative

'WATRS PLUS' BECOMES OPERATIONAL IN JUN/08. THE TRAINING THAT THEY ARE PROVIDING TO THE ATC CTLRS; IN MY OPINION; IS NOT ENOUGH. MY CONCERNS ARE: TRAINING PLAN -- 2 HRS TO LEARN THE NEW MAP AND 2 HRS TO DRAW IT. THERE ARE 14 NEW RTES WITH 73 FIXES. IN 2 HRS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN ALL OF THEM. TRAINING PLAN -- 1 MONTH BEFORE THE IMPLEMENTATION; THE CTLRS WILL HAVE FROM 3-4 HRS TO REDRAW THE MAP; LEARN ALL ABOUT FIX POSTING; THE RNP REQUIREMENTS; SEPARATION STANDARDS; LEARN ABOUT WX DEVS; LOSS OF RNP WHILE ON FLT; MICRO-EARTS MAP CHANGES AND THE TRANSITION PLAN. TRAINING PLAN -- 2 WKS BEFORE THE IMPLEMENTATION; ENRTE CTLRS WILL TRAIN WITH 2 RADAR AND 2 NON-RADAR EXERCISE PROBS. NO PART OF THE TRAINING PLAN WILL BE PASS OR FAIL. ANOTHER CONCERN THAT I HAVE IS THAT MANY OF THE NEW FIXES ARE RELATED TO SPANISH WORDS AND THE PRONUNCIATION FROM CTLR TO PLT OR PLT TO CTLR WILL LEAD TO CONFUSION. MOST OF THEM WILL HAVE TO BE SPELLED OUT. FOR EXAMPLES; FIXES LIKE: ZABOR; QNEPA; YIYYO; PRCHA; ETEEE; RAFEE; AND MNOLO. THERE IS ALSO 2 FIXES LOCATED NEXT TO EACH OTHER ON DIFFERENT AIRWAYS THAT CAN LEAD TO CONFUSION SINCE THE FIRST 3 LETTERS ARE EQUAL AND THE FOURTH ARE SIMILAR: HARDY ON A555 (MIA TO SJU) AND HARBG ON L452 (MIA TO SJU).

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