NATCA Position Statement on TIPH
 

NATCA POSITION STATEMENT
TAXI INTO POSITION AND HOLD (TIPH)


February 22, 2007

Taxi into Position and Hold (TIPH) is a procedure used by air traffic controllers working in towers to facilitate the safe and efficient movement of air traffic on airport surfaces. By positioning an aircraft on a runway for an imminent departure, a controller is able to reduce the amount of time it would otherwise take to clear an aircraft onto the runway, have it initiate its takeoff roll and then clear the runway surface. TIPH is a critical tool in the pursuit of maximum efficiency runway utilization.

After reviewing the Federal Aviation Administration's TIPH Safety Risk Management Document (SRMD), it is the position of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association to support initiatives to continue developing site-specific TIPH procedures while ensuring FAA regulations do not become so burdensome as to reduce the safe and efficient movement of aircraft at our nation's airports.

Unique airport configurations dictate flexibility in procedures concerning TIPH. One size does not fit all in this case. Applying standard TIPH procedures at every airport will reduce capacity, create additional workload concerning phraseology and impact pilots in this critical stage of flight.

FAA Order 7110.65R, the official air traffic control handbook, specifically addresses same runway and intersecting runway separation requirements. These rules, when applied correctly, work well with every possible runway configuration and scenario. Limiting the use of TIPH or adding cumbersome phraseology as a condition to allow the use of this procedure will not in any way increase safety at any airport. On the contrary, with an increase in phraseology, safety is compromised by additional frequency congestion, creating a higher workload for controllers and confusion for pilots during a high-workload phase of flight.

The required TIPH phraseology already changes based on the time of day, weather conditions and location of arrival aircraft. By adding yet another layer of "conditions" in order to use TIPH, efficiency will be reduced, pilots will have a greater chance of being confused and controller phraseology will be increased to the point where it becomes distracting.

Pilots do not need and do not want to know about traffic that is not a factor. By issuing "non-traffic" to pilots during a busy phase of flight, you are forcing them to mentally process another piece of information for no reason. Traffic calls should be used only for pertinent traffic and not to reinforce a controller's awareness of his/her own traffic.

In a survey conducted by NATCA, tower controllers nationwide responded by a margin of over 50-to-1 that the loss of the use of TIPH would reduce efficiency and safety and increase controller workload. From the same survey, pilot response was over 3-to-1 in favor of keeping TIPH for the same reasons. The FAA should rely on its own workforce and users for input on improving the National Airspace System (NAS).

In order to keep TIPH a safe procedure for air traffic controllers and pilots, NATCA calls for industry and government to work together within the auspices of the Air Traffic Procedures Advisory Committee (ATPAC) to examine the relevant issues pertaining to TIPH and generate jointly established industry/government recommendations. To be effective, such a review must include a thorough review, analysis, and understanding of the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) recommendations and the FAA’s Safety Risk Management Document concerning TIPH. NATCA believes for this effort to be successful, FAA must allow the inclusion and participation of FAA, DOD, and Federal Contract Tower air traffic controllers from several towers with varying levels of traffic complexity and different runway configurations.

Air traffic controllers have made an absolute pledge to uphold safety above all. We are very concerned about the recent actions of the FAA and the changing of procedures without consulting the men and women who do the job of separating aircraft and ensuring safety every day. The FAA must start working together with controllers to keep the NAS the world's safest and most efficient.