Hold West
JAFO
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2006
- Posts
- 222
This is clipped out of John Carr's blog. I'm copying it here because it's going to be an issue this summer, and because it goes a long way to tell you the mindset of the FAA drones in charge of air traffic these days:
“A nasty little problem appeared here at Kalamazoo, Michigan yesterday (5/10/06) as our tower cab, at the time, didn't have the required staffing in place for TIPH (taxi in position and hold) to be permitted as per the latest GENOT from FAA HQ.
"BAD weather just off the departure end of RWY35, very dark, low clouds SW-NE within one (1) mile of the airport. Lightning cloud-to-cloud, cloud-to-ground, lots of wind gusts, tornado later reported SW of AZO. Two successive departures each asked the Local Controller (LC) if they can proceed out onto the runway to "take a look" with their onboard weather radar prior to departing. The LC approves each request. The manager is in the tower cab, but not certified on any positions.
"The manager sees what the LC is doing...goes back down to his office. Five minutes or so later, the watch sup (in TRACON) tells me to relieve the LC and have him report to the manager where the LC proceeds to get his *** chewed out (watch sup as witness) for permitting TIPH without "the required staffing" in place.
"Well now...while all that is happening downstairs, I'm in the same boat with more departures and the same WX. I do the same thing for the next two departures that ask me for time on the runway prior to rolling to see if they can find a hole to go through. Inbound traffic was never a factor during all four of these departures since we didn't have any inbounds at the time.
"To sum it up; Management says that no matter what kind of WX is in a departure's face, if staffing is such that TIPH is prohibited, we are to clear them for take-off and NOTHING ELSE! If they want to go...they go. If they don't want to go, they don't. There will be no "taking a look" and no subterfuge by using creative phraseology to accomplish TIPH without exactly saying it. I tried to emphasize to my management (sup & manager) that I do not launch departures into what appears to be severe WX without them getting an opportunity to have a look at it prior to rolling. It's bad enough that we use DTW's old ASR-8 that dates back to c.1967. It's an old analog presentation with very little to offer for severe WX days.
"Management, both here and elsewhere, seems to be lock-stepped into this mindset whereby FAA HQ dictates NO TIPH unless you have the bodies to split-off GC and someone else is CIC/Sup other than LC, PERIOD! No exceptions. And, nobody questions it! Facilities like mine daily and routinely are staffed so as to prohibit TIPH under the current staffing edict. Asinine? You bet! Foolish and unsafe? You’re two for two! When a tool, as simple as letting a departure (traffic permitting) utilize their own radar for a very short time on the runway in order to make a plan for which way to safely depart, is now unilaterally prohibited...something is VERY wrong. Safety just got thrown out with the bathwater.
"I was so upset about this yesterday that I had a tough time sleeping last night. I have 28 years with a CTO in my pocket and I've got to say that I've never seen FAA management so screwed-up as to have to operationally endure what we were *directly ordered* to do yesterday. My own feeling is that NTSB needs to be made aware of what happened here and that it will occur again and soon. The Nuremburg Defense is no excuse to launch a departure, possibly a low-time, recently qualified IFR driver, into severe WX while denying him/her the chance to take a good look at it first, on the runway, traffic permitting. We have done it that way for decades since the advent of on-board WX radar. Now, because of management edict, this is no longer allowed!”
Y'all be careful out there.
“A nasty little problem appeared here at Kalamazoo, Michigan yesterday (5/10/06) as our tower cab, at the time, didn't have the required staffing in place for TIPH (taxi in position and hold) to be permitted as per the latest GENOT from FAA HQ.
"BAD weather just off the departure end of RWY35, very dark, low clouds SW-NE within one (1) mile of the airport. Lightning cloud-to-cloud, cloud-to-ground, lots of wind gusts, tornado later reported SW of AZO. Two successive departures each asked the Local Controller (LC) if they can proceed out onto the runway to "take a look" with their onboard weather radar prior to departing. The LC approves each request. The manager is in the tower cab, but not certified on any positions.
"The manager sees what the LC is doing...goes back down to his office. Five minutes or so later, the watch sup (in TRACON) tells me to relieve the LC and have him report to the manager where the LC proceeds to get his *** chewed out (watch sup as witness) for permitting TIPH without "the required staffing" in place.
"Well now...while all that is happening downstairs, I'm in the same boat with more departures and the same WX. I do the same thing for the next two departures that ask me for time on the runway prior to rolling to see if they can find a hole to go through. Inbound traffic was never a factor during all four of these departures since we didn't have any inbounds at the time.
"To sum it up; Management says that no matter what kind of WX is in a departure's face, if staffing is such that TIPH is prohibited, we are to clear them for take-off and NOTHING ELSE! If they want to go...they go. If they don't want to go, they don't. There will be no "taking a look" and no subterfuge by using creative phraseology to accomplish TIPH without exactly saying it. I tried to emphasize to my management (sup & manager) that I do not launch departures into what appears to be severe WX without them getting an opportunity to have a look at it prior to rolling. It's bad enough that we use DTW's old ASR-8 that dates back to c.1967. It's an old analog presentation with very little to offer for severe WX days.
"Management, both here and elsewhere, seems to be lock-stepped into this mindset whereby FAA HQ dictates NO TIPH unless you have the bodies to split-off GC and someone else is CIC/Sup other than LC, PERIOD! No exceptions. And, nobody questions it! Facilities like mine daily and routinely are staffed so as to prohibit TIPH under the current staffing edict. Asinine? You bet! Foolish and unsafe? You’re two for two! When a tool, as simple as letting a departure (traffic permitting) utilize their own radar for a very short time on the runway in order to make a plan for which way to safely depart, is now unilaterally prohibited...something is VERY wrong. Safety just got thrown out with the bathwater.
"I was so upset about this yesterday that I had a tough time sleeping last night. I have 28 years with a CTO in my pocket and I've got to say that I've never seen FAA management so screwed-up as to have to operationally endure what we were *directly ordered* to do yesterday. My own feeling is that NTSB needs to be made aware of what happened here and that it will occur again and soon. The Nuremburg Defense is no excuse to launch a departure, possibly a low-time, recently qualified IFR driver, into severe WX while denying him/her the chance to take a good look at it first, on the runway, traffic permitting. We have done it that way for decades since the advent of on-board WX radar. Now, because of management edict, this is no longer allowed!”
Y'all be careful out there.
