Here's a letter posted on an ATC blog site. The Potomac Current and Undertow



November 13, 2008

If you fly into Washington-National Airport (DCA) then you need to read this letter. I am an air traffic controller at the Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) in Warrenton, Virginia and I write to you anonymously in fear of retribution from my employer, the Federal Aviation Administration, for disclosing a serious safety issue that FAA management is knowingly turning a blind eye to.

On December 20, 2007, the FAA implemented a new procedure for aircraft approaching Washington-National Airport from the west. This procedure, called the ELDEE Arrival, directs aircraft, by way of their onboard flight computer, to fly a predetermined route and descend at set points from 65 miles west of DCA all the way to the airport, with minimal controller input. Conceivably, the concept of this procedure reduces workload for air traffic controllers and pilots while improving fuel efficiency for the airlines.

However, as soon as the ELDEE Arrival procedure was implemented airline pilots began complaining over the radio to air traffic controllers that they could not maneuver their aircraft to comply with the altitude crossing restrictions dictated by the procedure. On February 26, 2008, the FAA tried to address the problem by publishing a Notice To Airmen[1] (NOTAM) directing pilots to override their onboard flight computer by manually reprogramming several altitude crossing restrictions on the ELDEE Arrival. This “reprogramming” is done a couple hundred times every day by many flight crews trying to navigate by the ELDEE Arrival.

Here is the problem: The increase in flight crew workload created by the NOTAM requirements are causing airplanes to descend lower than the altitudes prescribed in the ELDEE Arrival procedure. And what is lower? Other airplanes! Airplanes that air traffic controllers are supposed to keep separated from one another. The FAA’s answer to this defective procedure—created by the FAA—is to take action against the pilot by filing a ‘pilot deviation report.’

Evidence to substantiate my claim is found in the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System database. This program, called ASRS for short, is used by pilots and air traffic controllers, to report—anonymously—deficiencies and discrepancies in the National Aviation System. The reports are forwarded to the FAA. Between March and June, 2008, there have been 10 ASRS reports from flight crews about being confused by the NOTAM and consequently flying their airplanes lower—hundreds of feet lower—than they are supposed to be on the ELDEE3 Arrival. Read the reports at this website: ASRS ELDEE3

Ten ASRS reports are but a small fraction of how many times EVERY DAY pilots make this mistake. (In other words, the majority of the occurrences are not even reported by pilots or air traffic controllers as required by existing rules.)

FAA management has tried to lay the blame on pilots for this flawed procedure and the NOTAM that has compounded the problem. FAA management can fix what they broke and they can do it TODAY by canceling the NOTAM that modifies the ELDEE Arrival and direct air traffic controllers to stop issuing “descend via” clearances on the ELDEE Arrival.

FAA management does not listen to air traffic controllers who raise safety concerns. FAA management ignores pilots who report safety concerns. Will the FAA listen to the people that fly on the airplanes into DCA? Airplanes, people, pilots, air traffic controllers: All set up for failure by the FAA. Why does the FAA make air traffic control a game of chance? Maybe they’ll answer the question to someone other than pilots or air traffic controllers.

The longer this safety issue is ignored the clearer it is to me that safety is not priority number one with the FAA at Potomac TRACON.

[1] A notice containing information (not known sufficiently in advance to publicize by other means) concerning the establishment, condition, or change in any component (facility, service, or procedure of, or hazard in the National Airspace System) the timely knowledge of which is essential to personnel concerned with flight operations.