AVL CONTROLLER EXPRESSED CONCERN REGARDING MANAGEMENT'S FAILURE TO PROVIDE TIMELY BRIEFINGS ON NEW MVA'S IMPLEMENTED AT ZTL.

Date: 2008-11

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

AVL CONTROLLER EXPRESSED CONCERN REGARDING MANAGEMENT'S FAILURE TO PROVIDE TIMELY BRIEFINGS ON NEW MVA'S IMPLEMENTED AT ZTL.

Narrative

UPON ARRIVING AT WORK; I LEARNED THAT ZTL HAD UNDERGONE CHANGES TO ITS MINIMUM ENRTE ALTS (MEA'S) EFFECTIVE THAT DAY. ASHEVILLE; NC TWR (AVL) CTLRS ONLY LEARNED THAT THE ALTS HAD INCREASED AFTER AN AVL CTLR TRIED TO HDOF AN ACFT TO THE CTR AT AN ALT THAT WAS NO LONGER VALID. THE CTR CTLR CAUGHT IT AND INSTRUCTED THE AVL CTLR TO CLB THE ACFT; NARROWLY AVOIDING AN OPERROR. NONE OF THE CTLRS AT ASHEVILLE TWR HAD BEEN BRIEFED AHEAD OF TIME THAT THESE CHANGES WOULD OCCUR. NO MEMBER OF MGMNT WAS AVAILABLE TO ADDRESS THE SITUATION. ASHEVILLE IS IN AN AREA DESIGNATED AS MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. THERE ARE NUMEROUS AREAS THROUGHOUT WHERE RADAR AND RADIO COVERAGE IS LIMITED OR NON-EXISTENT. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT CTLRS BE KEENLY AWARE OF ANY CHANGES TO AIRSPACE OR PROCS THAT COULD IN ANY WAY AFFECT FLT THROUGH THE AREA. IN MY OPINION; THIS SITUATION WAS CAUSED BY CARELESSNESS ON THE PART OF AVL MGMNT. ATTN TO DETAIL TO ENSURE THAT ALL CTLRS ARE PROPERLY BRIEFED AHEAD OF TIME OF ALL CHANGES IS THE ONLY WAY TO PREVENT A RECURRENCE OF THIS PROB AND AVOID AN UNFORTUNATE SITUATION.

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