Potomac TRACON Tour
I was finally able to tour the Potomac Consolidated TRACON (PCT) facility today.
The event started with parking on the street, showing a photo ID to the young man validating names against the guest list, then walking the 50 yards or so to the facility itself. Once inside, we were asked to fill out a name tag. Yes, it was the same asinine self-adhesive "Hi, I'm John!" badges all event organizers seem to love to decorate guests with, but at least it's a secure facility where employees where their own badge so I played along this time. Then we passed through the metal detector (guarded by an armed security officer) and lounged in the lobby watching a PBS/NOVA documentary on aviation safety while waiting for the appointed time of 10am.
I have to detour a bit here to comment on the Oblivions among us. No, I didn't coin the term, Mike Straka did, but it fits. There was one man (a pilot, judging by the name tag) who constantly kept stepping up to the front of the crowd and in front of the TV to watch segments of the show. Not once did he turn around to see who else might be trying to view the show through him. It made me wonder if he's one of those pilots who just blasts into the pattern without care or concern for the other dozen planes in the area. .jpg)
Anyway, 10am rolled around and we all filed into the conference room where a slide show was displaying various aviation photos and clips - many of them humorous, some of them quite serious. Soon enough Randy Horner, a controller in the Mount Vernon sector, began the real presentation describing the history of PCT and DC ADIZ operations. This presentation was about half an hour after which about 1/3rd of the crowd was culled out for the first set of tours while the rest of us were treated to a Q&A with a couple controllers (particularly Chris Sullivan), FAA safety reps (primarily Karen Arendt of the Dulles FSDO) and FSS (Bill Lukens of Leesburg AFSS).
The Q&A was a rather interesting dialogue between controllers and pilots and Chris (handling most of the questions) provided some very good insight with a refreshing sense of humor. It helped that he's a pilot himself with commercial and instrument ratings. There were some good questions posed by the pilots. For example, one pilot wanted to know the three most aggravating things we pilots do. First, tying up the frequency. He asked us to keep transmissions short and very much to the point - especially on busy flying days. Second, altitude and speed excursions. Surprisingly, he said we GA pilots are better on this point than airline pilots. Third, ADIZ violations. It means paperwork for him.
On this last point, both Randy and Chris stressed the point that the PCT airspace is under more scrutiny than any other in the country and their hands are absolutely tied regarding pilot deviations. If we squawk VFR in the ADIZ, it will be written up and prosecuted. They reiterated what we've heard many times in pilot briefings and safety discussions around the area: Wait until you're 5 miles or so outside the ADIZ before squawking 1200 - even if the controller releases you.
Another point they raised was folks making a beeline for downtown DC right up to the point of the ADIZ, then making a 90-degree turn to skirt the ADIZ. Chris made the point that "other agencies" are constantly running "time/distance problems" on aircraft near the ADIZ and activities like the one described may elicit an unwanted response from government agencies. If you are transiting the DC area, be sure to turn away from the ADIZ early to make your intentions clear to all watching (and they are watching).
One of the slides in the initial presentation caught my attention. It was in the section describing the ADIZ procedures used by controllers and they are being trained to say "transponder observed, proceed on course [remain clear of Bravo]". This is not required by the ADIZ NOTAM and I asked whether we pilots are required to hear that phrase before entering the ADIZ. My point was this was an inconsistency between what the controllers are being trained to do and what we pilots are being briefed (flight plan, 2-way ATC comms, discrete beacon code). Chris wasn't sure and referred me to Karen Arendt (who conveniently wasn't in the room at the time). I followed up with Karen later and she suggested it was a good idea to get the controller to confirm the beacon code, but stopped short of saying it was required.
Bottom line: More ADIZ confusion. Just be aware the controllers are being trained to say "transponder observed" and consider this an additional "CYA check" before entering the ADIZ.
The other question I asked was about radar coverage near the Casanova VOR (CSN). When flying IFR into the area from points south, we are invariably routed over CSN and we GA pilots are often put at 4000 feet or lower. Almost as invariably, we hear "radar contact lost" nearing CSN until we are just about directly over it. Chris confirmed this is a blind spot in the coverage provided by the Dulles radar, but that the Charlottesville radar "sees" that area much better. As a result, they are in the process of redesigning the airspace in the area. What that means for us is we'll end up talking to a controller who can actually see us all the way to the VOR.
Soon enough it was my turn for the tour. We were presented to Rebecca, a trainer at the facility, and she promptly began by taking us to the training room. This is a room with six controller positions, two pilot positions and several trainer monitors/positions. This setup allows the staff to arrange any number of training scenarios, simulations, and recreations. All the controller positions can also be tied into the main feeds to become live positions, if needed.
She then took us to a large briefing room with a wall-sized whiteboard used by training and other staff to discuss various incidents or scenarios. She described how it's sometimes used by staff as a break room, but that each sector has its own break rooms and she then took us down the hall to show them to us. The first such break room had a couple controllers "de-stressing" by playing Quake. I just found that interesting. The hall we were in circumnavigated the large circular operations room with openings to the ops room at various intervals. Each of these openings were double-curtained to minimize light entering the room from the hall without needing doors.
After showing us all the break rooms (one of them apparently belonging to NATCA which had a sign announcing "Days worked without a contract: 18"), Rebecca took us into the ops room. This was like walking onto the bridge of the starship Enterprise. As you can see from the photo above, the room is a large circular room. The outer wall is lined with 48 (with room for another 8) controller positions. The middle of the floor is double-ringed with flight-data ("D"-side?) stations and supervisor stations. The room is darkened to allow easier viewing of the radar scopes which makes it look quite a bit like a combat information center or darkened warship bridge (kinda like the Enterprise on "red alert" - only without the red lights).
Spaced evenly around the room on the walls above the positions are large (4-feet squared?) monitors configured by the supervisors for each sector. It was a light day (being a Saturday and all) and the room appeared staffed with a skeleton crew for each sector. I was hoping to be able to put a face to some of the voices I regularly hear on the radio, but didn't get the chance.
Rebecca did a great job of letting us plug in to listen to a station and answered all our questions patiently and professionally. Soon enough we ran out of questions and she led us back to the conference room and bid us farewell.
All the folks at PCT did a great job setting up and running this Operation Raincheck event and I, for one, definitely appreciate the time they all took to let us get a peek on the "other side".