None of us want to be "that guy" that sounds like a rookie or cant fly a SID. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Hey do you guys let pilots in over there at the Tracon in Westbury? to take a look...

 

I saw a tour on the floor a week ago with some GA pilots, so I believe they're still doing it. Call ahead the operations manager at 516-683-2968 to get a clearance or directions on how to get one.

 

"Intercept the COL350 to COL"

"Ahhhhh, we dont have that in our flight plan....."

 

I've never asked for that, good to know from your side of the desk though. At CommutAir when going from EWR to PHL, I'll ask sometimes for ARD direct at 4,000'. I usually only do it during non-peak times, but I'm assuming that's something that cannot be accommodated during higher volume times. What's your take on asking for that?

Another question if you don't mind. When taking off on the EWR8, sometimes the tower asks us to wait and turn after passing the end of the runway on departure instead of 420' or whatever the chart says. Is this so we don't turn too soon from our slow speed/rapid climb rate to not incur with arrivals on the parallel?

One more if I can.... All the time we are given 2,500 instead of the 3,000 or 5,000 from the SID (EWR8), however, most of the time when contacting departure they give us higher right away. Just curious what the reason for that is.

Thanks for coming on here and talking with us. There are a lot of things we can learn from getting the controller's perspective. Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions too, better understanding on both sides can help everything run smoother.

 

Most of us getting hired right now are furloughed from other carriers and/or have thousands of hours flying part 135/instructing, etc. The overall quality of new hires are much higher right now than what we saw from 06-08.

 

1) the Ard @4000 shortcut can only be done during off peak hours for similar reasons. We get fed TEB/MMU/CDW traffic incoming from the PHL area @4000 opposite direction. Avoid asking for that during peak hours.

2)That's correct. They're protecting from a go around on the parallel.

3)The initial climbout off 22R will be either 5000 or 2500 depending on what LGA is doing. We have an imaginary boundary line dividing our airspace called "special use line". Depending on what flow LGA is on they will have arrivals coming up to the line descending no lower than 6000 if "we have the line" or they'll be coming down to 3500 if "they have the line". This is mainly to protect against any potential radio failure, since the initial departure heading on the EWR8 off 22R takes you towards the line opposite direction to their descending arrivals. Once you check in with us...radio failure procedure is obviously no longer needed, and we can climb on contact as long as we are turning you away from the line.

4) Expanding on 3 above. This is the same reason why departing 4L you're issued 3000, except on that side of the airport LGA always owns the line above 4000 (used to be 3500). You have TEB ILS6 arrivals flying exactly 3 miles west off the departure end, and its the reason why you turn to a 060' heading immediately after takeoff, so as to parallel TEB arrivals. They'll be out of 2000 for 1500, and we normally don't turn you westbound until you're above them, and can't climb you higher than 3000 until you're diverging from the LGA line, which is why on peak times you'll be left at 3000 until you start your turn to the 290 heading.

 

Wow. I've always had a lot of respect for you controllers over here. It's a fuster cluck of airspace. I don't know how you do it but thank you.

 

Ajax

If you had your way in fixing things, what would it be? New equipment? Complete redo of all SIDs/STARs? Runway closures? Just curious how the fluster cuck should be handled from your seat.

 

if I had my way I close TEB, and move EWR to where MMU is, with an extra set of parallels that are far appart to run simultaneously....hehe

Just dreaming. Realistically there is not much that can be done. We just have too many busy airports too close to each other. I always laugh when we get other controllers from places like ORD, DFW, ATL, or LAX to visit here. They run higher volume, but nowhere near the mess we got here. They usually go "you guys are nuts".

New equipment would be nice.