It's like a traffic jam... only, at 10,000 feet.
I was going to take a picture showing how Ifrit's doing in the toasty
weather outside, but at some point this afternoon he was beheaded in
circumstances unknown. So instead you all get news.
Arriving
Planes to Line Up Closer Together Above City (NYTimes).
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 - Planes approaching airports in New York
will be permitted to fly closer together in a trial period beginning Monday,
according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which says it is trying to
fine-tune its standards to improve traffic flow without diminishing
safety.
But the 90-day trial comes amid an extended dispute between
the agency and the air traffic controllers' union about how
many employees are required to meet safety standards. Last year
the union pointed out scores of cases in which planes were too
close together, violations that the F.A.A. did not know
existed.
Okay so far -- the NYC TRACON is in the midst of conflict that's lasted well
over a year now. When the FAA "suggested" they could do with fewer
controllers, the controllers started reporting a substantial number of
operational errors. While nothing in this next snippet is new, the way it's
worded just inspires all sorts of confidence in the FAA (emphasis mine):
Last year the controllers, angry that the F.A.A. was reducing
staffing levels at the Tracon, anonymously reported dozens of operational
errors, mostly involving "compression" of planes lined up to land.
F.A.A. officials, reviewing tapes of radar displays, were surprised to
discover that it was apparently common practice for controllers to squeeze
planes slightly closer than three miles apart. The F.A.A. then began
random audits of the tapes, and discovered numerous other errors. The error
rate was found to be six times higher than previously
reported.
And this is the organization that oversees the people keeping planes in
the air...