Ground Stops- Who issues them?

RyanB

RyanB

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For a Class C as an example. Does the local ATC facility issue and end ground stops at their discretion or is it something that Center is in control of?
 
The command center issues the ground stop nationwide (can add Canada or different parameters). A center can only issue an internal ground stop (departures from facilities in their airspace).

It is usually done after the TRACON, center, command center and users have a conference to try to reach an agreement. We usually get close but ultimately the command center issues it and for how long. Same process for a ground delay program (reduced rate with EDCT).
 
Ryanb said:
For a Class C as an example. Does the local ATC facility issue and end ground stops at their discretion or is it something that Center is in control of?
Click to expand...

The local facility can do it on their own, at the snap of a finger. Approach can call the Tower and say 'Hold Departures.' The Center can call and shut off traffic from Approach for awhile which results in them shutting off the Tower. This is usually the result of an emergency or some other event like everyone is dodging weather and a sector becomes 'saturated.' This usually doesn't last to long. But like @Radar Contact says, the more 'formal' ground stops that cover traffic over multiple facilities are done as he describes.
 
arnoha said:
Christ. It's 2018 and that webpage looks like someone put together some HTML from the '90's to wrap some terminal output. Who writes crap like that anymore? The page is mostly opaque.
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It’s the FAA, what do you expect?

Almost as bad as the hold music that Jeppesen hasn’t changed in over 15 years....
 
One time, we were in Denver waiting on an AA flight to DFW. Flights were disrupted because of severe WX in north Texas (totally legit, a vicious line of storms passing west to east, as is the norm here).

The AA rep announced that the flight (along with two others) was canceled, "because the FAA has issued a ground-stop, and no flights are allowed to depart for DFW."

Those damned Feds!

So, as we trudged down the concourse, scrambling to figure out (1) how we'd get home, and (2) where we'd stay the night, we couldn't help but notice the flights to DFW on Frontier and Spirit departing (and they arrived without issue, as the storms were long gone). How so, with an FAA-issued ground stop?

I looked up the ground stop, and it was definitely there. It was applicable only to AA flights, and in the notes, it said, "AAL Request."
 
SCCutler said:
Those damned Feds!

So, as we trudged down the concourse, scrambling to figure out (1) how we'd get home, and (2) where we'd stay the night, we couldn't help but notice the flights to DFW on Frontier and Spirit departing (and they arrived without issue, as the storms were long gone). How so, with an FAA-issued ground stop?

I looked up the ground stop, and it was definitely there. It was applicable only to AA flights, and in the notes, it said, "AAL Request."
Click to expand...

Happens all the time. It always irks me when they make those announcements. The airlines may feel if they blame it on ATC instead of themselves then it's less bad publicity for them. Especially when DFW is an AAL hub and all the other airlines are making the trip. The command center usually does a good job of adding to the notes when it's at the users request. Of course there are very few people that know where to look to see that.
 
SCCutler said:
One time, we were in Denver waiting on an AA flight to DFW. Flights were disrupted because of severe WX in north Texas (totally legit, a vicious line of storms passing west to east, as is the norm here).

The AA rep announced that the flight (along with two others) was canceled, "because the FAA has issued a ground-stop, and no flights are allowed to depart for DFW."

Those damned Feds!

So, as we trudged down the concourse, scrambling to figure out (1) how we'd get home, and (2) where we'd stay the night, we couldn't help but notice the flights to DFW on Frontier and Spirit departing (and they arrived without issue, as the storms were long gone). How so, with an FAA-issued ground stop?

I looked up the ground stop, and it was definitely there. It was applicable only to AA flights, and in the notes, it said, "AAL Request."
Click to expand...

The airlines will often sacrifice certain flights to leave slots open for other flights. Other times the smaller regional jets will get ground stopped first, so the larger mainline aircraft can get in. A 50 seat RJ occupies the same amount of airspace as a 160 seat 737, so they try to accommodate the most people they can. Also shorter regional flights may get held because long distance and international flights are already airborne and need to land. Weather can change a lot during a 14 hour international flight.
 
The FAA can call AA ops and say "hey, you can land 20 planes at DFW today, you choose", and the ones they choose to ground stop are shown as "AAL request".

But the answer to the question.
The devil. The devil himself issues ground stops. Especially at KTEB.
 
Ryanb said:
For a Class C as an example. Does the local ATC facility issue and end ground stops at their discretion or is it something that Center is in control of?
Click to expand...

The traffic management unit of the centers which is propagated to ATCCC in Virginia. ARTCC will also originate broad impacting delays or stops on their own.

In general most ground stops originate with center and the ATCCC handles that impact with its TMU which handles the resulting effects nationwide.

For example, ZFW May have weather and their TMU must stop traffic. They coordinate with Virginia and a ground stop is issued.


That’s the simple version.

tex
 
arnoha said:
Christ. It's 2018 and that webpage looks like someone put together some HTML from the '90's to wrap some terminal output. Who writes crap like that anymore? The page is mostly opaque.
Click to expand...

Yes it is simple html codes, which is what's nice about it. It loads fast, and will work on any browser, including text-based browsers like lynx. No need to bloat it up with bells and whistles, when what we are really after is the data. I still write "crap like that".
 
luvflyin said:
The local facility can do it on their own, at the snap of a finger. Approach can call the Tower and say 'Hold Departures.' The Center can call and shut off traffic from Approach for awhile which results in them shutting off the Tower. This is usually the result of an emergency or some other event like everyone is dodging weather and a sector becomes 'saturated.' This usually doesn't last to long. But like @Radar Contact says, the more 'formal' ground stops that cover traffic over multiple facilities are done as he describes.
Click to expand...
The Airlines themselves can issue groundstops as well, for example, ramp issues and no space, DAL may request a full company ground stop, or just for regionals, or just for mainline. There seems to have been a lot of that this summer.
 
sarangan said:
Yes it is simple html codes, which is what's nice about it. It loads fast, and will work on any browser, including text-based browsers like lynx. No need to bloat it up with bells and whistles, when what we are really after is the data. I still write "crap like that".
Click to expand...

I wish more sites were simple without all the noise. Keep up the crappy work! :D
 
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