denverpilot
Tied Down
Last night's annual "Fireside Chat" with the Centennial, CO (KAPA) ATCT controllers and their acting manager was very educational and helpful to explain their new procedures.
To set the stage, they pointed out that KAPA is still the 4th busiest GA airport in the country, and somewhere around 27th for ALL airports. It's a busy place.
The old procedures went like this:
ATIS includes a message to NOT call Tower but to provide Ground with your direction of flight, and to call Ground when run-up complete, or ready for departure.
Here's what was happening... we'll focus on the Runways 35R/17L and 35L/17R environment.
The run-up pads like at most airports are right next to the ends of the runway 35R/17L on Taxiway Alpha. Pilots would get a clearance to taxi to the runway, and would pull into the run-up area, do a run-up, and then let the Ground controller would look at the sequence of jets, recips, etc... and you'd get this exact verbiage: "Proceed to the hold short line, monitor Tower."
Enter these facts at this point:
- Runway incursions are an FAA hot-item right now.
- KAPA's number of incursions apparently was high and going up.
- FAA showed up to do an audit and failed the facility on the phraseology for the taxi up to the hold line.
The reason "Proceed to the hold *line*, Monitor Tower" was a problem? The new "*Line* up and wait".
Note the same word in the phraseology. There's a chance for confusion there.
The ATCT folks knew they couldn't go back to "normal" airport ops where someone calls the Tower when ready to depart, they just don't have enough "air time" on the Local control frequency (or frequencies when they split Local control by runway). They had to come up with a better solution that both fixed the phraseology and also kept pilots from taxiing out onto the active runway.
They got a group of 35 pilots and controllers together and discussed, and what they realized was that there was another "cause" of these incidents. In almost all cases, the pilot taxied straight from the run-up area, right past the hold line, and out onto the runway. They thought... "How do you keep this from happening while still keeping standard phraseology?"
They realized they needed somewhere to send the pilots TO on the taxiway. The Taxi clearance would only be good to that spot, and it would not include the Runway number at all. Thus, the "run-up area" and the request on the ATIS to "Notify Ground if run-up required" was born.
If you need a run-up, you're going to get "Taxi to North/South Run-Up Area, via Alpha." After you call "Run-up complete", you'll THEN get "Taxi to Runway 17L/35R, via Alpha".
Pretty good idea. Here's the rub, right now...
The Run-Up areas painted with white dashed lines are temporary. Both the State of Colorado and the Feds agreed and like the plan, but run-up pads couldn't be installed before winter (concrete needs 55F and warmer or the construction companies don't want to bid on it).
There's also a "run-up area" near C1. That's uncontrolled ramp area, but it's a good place to find a spot out of the way and do it if the north/south run-up areas are full... which they will be, fairly regularly, since they can only hold about 3 aircraft.
There's a guy with a hangar that faces the "triangle" there at C1 and he'd already had the airport paint white dashed lines and a "no run-up" to keep people from blasting his hangar. The Airport isn't going to paint more white dashed lines in that area, for fear of confusion. Pilots have been running up there properly for a long time for Runway 10 departures, so folks will figure it out and be courteous. Plus *everything* on the airport East of Alpha is uncontrolled... there's spots all over the place where a run-up can be done safely, it's just not the usual "flow" for instructors and pilots, so folks will have to get used to it.
Once the $500K run-up pads are complete, they'll be big, well-marked, and hold a bunch of aircraft. They will NOT be aligned with the runway ends and they'll be far enough "back" from the corners at the end that jets turning the corners will not be blasting folks in the run-up areas (which is a possibility today and has been touchy for some time now).
The controllers shared that there's a "side effect" to having the run-up areas slightly away from the runway ends. When they say, "Monitor Tower" they've cleared a path for you or sequenced you behind someone else and your flight strip with direction of flight, requests (T&G's, etc), and all info is placed in the Local Controller's strip stack. That controller has a much longer period of time to be able to figure out how to "shoot the gaps" and get you off the ground faster because you're part of their "picture" a few minutes sooner. Even though you're still taxiing up to the hold line, they're already figuring out how to work you into the existing traffic.
Pretty neat story of a ATCT trying to be "progressive" and try new things, but who got a little caught in the wringer over phraseology when "Line up and wait" came on the scene.
I think (especially when the new run-up pads get built) that the system will work pretty well. Unfortunately, I can also now joke that "Line up and wait" cost taxpayers $500,000 at "my" home airport.
Here's the ironic part... the old phraseology...
"Proceed to the *hold*-short line, monitor tower."
"Position and *Hold*, Runway 35R"
Why the incursions went up with the use of the word "Line" vs. the word "Hold", I doubt they've had a chance to study yet.
To set the stage, they pointed out that KAPA is still the 4th busiest GA airport in the country, and somewhere around 27th for ALL airports. It's a busy place.
The old procedures went like this:
ATIS includes a message to NOT call Tower but to provide Ground with your direction of flight, and to call Ground when run-up complete, or ready for departure.
Here's what was happening... we'll focus on the Runways 35R/17L and 35L/17R environment.
The run-up pads like at most airports are right next to the ends of the runway 35R/17L on Taxiway Alpha. Pilots would get a clearance to taxi to the runway, and would pull into the run-up area, do a run-up, and then let the Ground controller would look at the sequence of jets, recips, etc... and you'd get this exact verbiage: "Proceed to the hold short line, monitor Tower."
Enter these facts at this point:
- Runway incursions are an FAA hot-item right now.
- KAPA's number of incursions apparently was high and going up.
- FAA showed up to do an audit and failed the facility on the phraseology for the taxi up to the hold line.
The reason "Proceed to the hold *line*, Monitor Tower" was a problem? The new "*Line* up and wait".
Note the same word in the phraseology. There's a chance for confusion there.
The ATCT folks knew they couldn't go back to "normal" airport ops where someone calls the Tower when ready to depart, they just don't have enough "air time" on the Local control frequency (or frequencies when they split Local control by runway). They had to come up with a better solution that both fixed the phraseology and also kept pilots from taxiing out onto the active runway.
They got a group of 35 pilots and controllers together and discussed, and what they realized was that there was another "cause" of these incidents. In almost all cases, the pilot taxied straight from the run-up area, right past the hold line, and out onto the runway. They thought... "How do you keep this from happening while still keeping standard phraseology?"
They realized they needed somewhere to send the pilots TO on the taxiway. The Taxi clearance would only be good to that spot, and it would not include the Runway number at all. Thus, the "run-up area" and the request on the ATIS to "Notify Ground if run-up required" was born.
If you need a run-up, you're going to get "Taxi to North/South Run-Up Area, via Alpha." After you call "Run-up complete", you'll THEN get "Taxi to Runway 17L/35R, via Alpha".
Pretty good idea. Here's the rub, right now...
The Run-Up areas painted with white dashed lines are temporary. Both the State of Colorado and the Feds agreed and like the plan, but run-up pads couldn't be installed before winter (concrete needs 55F and warmer or the construction companies don't want to bid on it).
There's also a "run-up area" near C1. That's uncontrolled ramp area, but it's a good place to find a spot out of the way and do it if the north/south run-up areas are full... which they will be, fairly regularly, since they can only hold about 3 aircraft.
There's a guy with a hangar that faces the "triangle" there at C1 and he'd already had the airport paint white dashed lines and a "no run-up" to keep people from blasting his hangar. The Airport isn't going to paint more white dashed lines in that area, for fear of confusion. Pilots have been running up there properly for a long time for Runway 10 departures, so folks will figure it out and be courteous. Plus *everything* on the airport East of Alpha is uncontrolled... there's spots all over the place where a run-up can be done safely, it's just not the usual "flow" for instructors and pilots, so folks will have to get used to it.
Once the $500K run-up pads are complete, they'll be big, well-marked, and hold a bunch of aircraft. They will NOT be aligned with the runway ends and they'll be far enough "back" from the corners at the end that jets turning the corners will not be blasting folks in the run-up areas (which is a possibility today and has been touchy for some time now).
The controllers shared that there's a "side effect" to having the run-up areas slightly away from the runway ends. When they say, "Monitor Tower" they've cleared a path for you or sequenced you behind someone else and your flight strip with direction of flight, requests (T&G's, etc), and all info is placed in the Local Controller's strip stack. That controller has a much longer period of time to be able to figure out how to "shoot the gaps" and get you off the ground faster because you're part of their "picture" a few minutes sooner. Even though you're still taxiing up to the hold line, they're already figuring out how to work you into the existing traffic.
Pretty neat story of a ATCT trying to be "progressive" and try new things, but who got a little caught in the wringer over phraseology when "Line up and wait" came on the scene.
I think (especially when the new run-up pads get built) that the system will work pretty well. Unfortunately, I can also now joke that "Line up and wait" cost taxpayers $500,000 at "my" home airport.
Here's the ironic part... the old phraseology...
"Proceed to the *hold*-short line, monitor tower."
"Position and *Hold*, Runway 35R"
Why the incursions went up with the use of the word "Line" vs. the word "Hold", I doubt they've had a chance to study yet.
