The Federal Aviation Administration held a virtual event to provide a travel and weather outlook for the summer.
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NewsTranscript
00:00And Walter Williams, he's a national operations manager.
00:06So we're here just to discuss some things with you all today about this big travel day we have
00:12coming up. And we're going to have to watch video. But before all that, we're ready to
00:20have discussions. We're going to go over some myths. We just want you to know what air traffic
00:27controllers do, what the weather system does, what tech ops does. This is a whole motor,
00:36one band, one sound. It's right. So, you know, it takes more than one,
00:40but we're going to go ahead and get to this video. So we just go to some general things
00:44right now with you all. This is the FAA's air traffic control system command center.
00:54It's a 24-7 operation that conducts the symphony of all air traffic movement across the entire
01:00country. On any given day, we ensure that over 45,000 flights move safely and efficiently through
01:07U.S. domestic and oceanic airspace, working to minimize delays and congestion caused by severe
01:13weather, heavy flight volume, and even space launches. At the command center, we keep the
01:20national aerospace system safe, secure, and moving.
01:37If you have just joined us, welcome to the FAA's summer travel live event. And I'm Jamal
01:43Laughton, JTAG traffic specialist. Beside me, I have Wes Atkins, national aviation meteorologist
01:50with the national weather service. And beside him, I have Walter Williams. He is a national
01:56operations manager here at the FAA command center. And again, what we're doing today is going over
02:03this live event where we're getting the flying public ready for the business travel day this
02:09year on Thursday. And we just want you to know what the FAA does to prepare for these busy days.
02:16We have them all throughout the year. We have Super Bowls. We have World Series. We have the
02:22NBA championship. But Thursday is going to be the biggest day of the year, the busiest. So,
02:28we want you to know what we do behind the scenes so you can get to your point A to point B safely.
02:39All right. So, we're going to be taking questions. But before we take questions,
02:44I'm going to go over some myths. So, prior to me having this job, I had no idea what an air
02:50traffic controller is, was, period. And I'm quite sure a lot of you guys are like, why is this guy
02:55going over the weather and he's an air traffic controller? He's outside doing this. False.
03:01That's not an air traffic controller. I don't know what he does. I don't know his job title,
03:05but it's not air traffic control. But I do. I like him guiding my plane from point A to point B
03:10once we land. So, air traffic controllers, another myth about it, I have a list of them right here.
03:17So, another myth about air traffic control, the people that do know about air traffic controllers,
03:21they typically think that air traffic control are only tower controllers. False. It's a myth.
03:28Air traffic controllers have an enroute environment, they have a terminal environment,
03:32and they have the tower. Terminal and tower, pretty much the same thing, but we have three
03:37different phases of air traffic control, the tracons, enroute, as well as the towers.
03:42Something else I just got sent in. Airplanes can fly above thunderstorms and hurricanes.
03:48Not really. You see his face?
03:57You know what? Let me go back to my introduction. I forgot somebody who's very important,
04:02and I forgot him. Clint Henderson, he's not in the room with us. That's Clint. Clint Henderson
04:09is the managing editor and the points guy. He's a big deal. He's a big deal.
04:15We're going to get back to these myths.
04:21So, it's about flying public. We're all here so everyone can know what's going on
04:25and what we're doing. Airplanes can fly above thunderstorms and hurricanes.
04:29Airplanes cannot safely fly above storms or hurricanes, always. Storms can reach up to
04:3645,000 feet. Even higher. Even higher than that, yeah. And most commercial planes can only fly up
04:42to 30 to 40,000 feet. So, if you have a storm that's reaching up to 45,000, we're not going
04:47to let you go over that storm or through it. Weather stops all air traffic. False. So,
04:55in the military back in my heyday, when I was in the military, the planes are not equipped
05:01with weather radar. So, when they have storms, all the military planes are on the ground.
05:07My first day in the FAA seeing a storm, I was working at Albuquerque Center. I learned that's
05:11not the case for the FAA. At that day, that was the most challenging day in my career up to that
05:17point with weather because we are jumping through hoops trying to make it happen for you all to get
05:23to your point A to point B safety. Weather is a big deal and the show keeps going because you
05:30still want to get home. You still want to get home from vacation. You still want to get home
05:34from work to see your family or go on vacation. Rockets launch straight up into space. False.
05:44Rockets launch at an angle. So, a launch path or trajectory is usually at an angle.
05:50So, that's false as well. Also, another myth, only the FAA has input about ground stops based
05:57on weather. False. Airlines can request a ground stop based on volume or other factors.
06:05Recent example, we had an airline in San Francisco that had a power outage. They said, hey,
06:10we're not able to get these aircraft off the ground. We're not able to take any more. They
06:14have a power outage. We need a ground stop. And we're going to discuss that and we're going to do
06:20what's best for everybody. So, at times, airlines can say, hey, we have weather going on in Dallas.
06:26All these aircraft are in Houston and we don't have the terminals for them. We cannot absorb
06:31any more. We need a ground stop until this weather clears out. That happens. All right. So,
06:36now we're going to get into these questions. Yeah. So, for those of you who didn't hear,
06:43I'm Clint Henderson from The Points Guy. I cover all things airlines, aviation,
06:49ground transportation, and we do a lot of coverage of the FAA. I think you guys are doing a remarkable
06:54job considering all the plane traffic that's up in the sky. And so, I'm just going to take you
07:02guys through a few questions from the average traveler's point of view. So, first, I want to
07:08start with, and anyone of you can take this, what's the general weather outlook for this summer?
07:16Well, I'm going to take that. My name is Wes. You know, I'm a meteorologist at the National
07:23Weather Service. Summer is typically a big convective season. Convection is just another
07:29word for thunderstorms. You get lightning, you get updress, you get turbulence. All of that is
07:35bad for planes. So, we typically look at the areas in the east. That's where mainly the convection
07:42happens. We could be looking at convection across the northern tier, like from the midwest on into
07:49the east coast. Florida. Florida is always a big center for convection. You know, Walt's shaking
07:56his head. He knows. So, any place next to the Gulf of Mexico, you're going to get a lot of that
08:03moisture, a lot of instability. It's ripe. You know, here in the next week, we're probably going
08:09to be pretty busy in Florida. Not unexpected, right? And periodically, we'll have some
08:15thunderstorms from the midwest into the east coast. Won't be all the time. Florida, probably
08:22every day. Texas, especially south Texas. So, Houston might be more prevalent. Dallas, it looks
08:31to be sheltered in the next few, maybe week or so. So, that's good news for them. Atlanta, Charlotte
08:40looks to be relatively sheltered. But we're going to study that northern tier, the east coast, and
08:47the deep south along the Gulf of Mexico. That's kind of be our problem areas. And incidentally, the
08:53last few days, it's been the desert southwest. We've had a lot of thunderstorms in the desert
08:57southwest where they don't typically get it. So, Vegas, Phoenix, Arizona, that kind of area. So,
09:05that's where we're going to worry about thunderstorms the most. We've got ceilings on
09:10the west coast occasionally. But that's generally a morning thing. And of course, we're going to be
09:15looking at hurricanes. And this is expected to be a really heavy hurricane season for the Atlantic.
09:23Now, the good news is the Pacific's going to be really good. So, plans to Hawaii are good.
09:29But going down to Florida, the Gulf Coast, probably later when the hurricane season ramps up in August,
09:36September, travel up and down the east coast, we'll have to watch. It's another reason for people to
09:41pay close attention to the weather forecasts, both at their local airport and wherever they're going,
09:46their destination. So, good stuff. That's a great point. Yeah. Good stuff there. How does the FAA
09:53work with the National Weather Service? So, I guess I'll take that question. Walter Williams,
10:00National Operations Manager. We basically work with Wes and the rest of the team, the weather team
10:06that we have here at Command Center. We also have weather team members out in the field facilities
10:13all across the country. We're continuously getting updates about the weather forecasts
10:17and projections. And that's when we go into talking with the field facilities and going to
10:23where we need to implement any type of traffic management initiatives to keep your flight moving
10:30from point A to point B safely and efficiently. And how does the weather impact your flight? So,
10:37sometimes you'll see at an airport, the skies can be perfectly clear. It can be nice and
10:44beautiful outside. And yet the airline says, sorry, your flight's delayed because of weather.
10:50Explain a little bit about that back and forth and why that might be.
10:55Sure. I can take this one again, Clint. I actually have a video that I can cue up
10:59that shows a weather day in South Florida.
11:13Roll that beautiful. All right. So, this weather video right here shows the whole country.
11:19As you can see in the center of the country, we do have thunderstorms that started to develop
11:24from the Gulf of Mexico up to the central Mississippi Valley. So, if you're flying
11:30from Atlanta to Los Angeles, well, aircraft are not going to want to go through those
11:35thunderstorms. And we don't want them to go through the thunderstorms because that would
11:38provide an unsafe operation. That's not what the FAA is about. We're about safety and efficiency,
11:43first and foremost. So, we will reroute those aircraft. So, just imagine if you're on a highway
11:50or interstate. So, we have a bunch of imaginary highway interstates in the sky. And we will
11:57take those aircraft from Atlanta, reroute them north of that thunderstorms, and then back
12:03southwest going to L.A. So, that's how we, that's one of the tools that we use, reroutes, route
12:09structures to keep the planes moving and keep them safe. And what else does the FAA do to keep
12:16passengers safe? So, other things we use, as far as especially in congested areas like the northeast
12:23or Florida, we use capping and tunneling. We also use escape routes. I also have a video
12:29to show and I can explain as well with that. So, this is a video of capping. So, we use this
12:38when we have thunderstorms that make aircraft detour because we have arrival and departure gates
12:45into major airports. So, sometimes the thunderstorms can impact the arrival gates, which makes the
12:51departures have to go off, go out, should I say depart, through the arrivals going to the
12:56departure gate, should I say. So, we would cap the departures below the arrivals at least 1,000 feet
13:04because that's the policy that we set forth and it's safe. With the 7110.65, that's one of the FAA
13:10policies that air traffic controllers use. And then once they get five miles laterally separated
13:16after passing each other, we would climb them. And how does the FAA prepare for storms and special
13:22weather events? So, once again, with Wes and his team, we're already having ongoing discussions
13:30every day. We already are planning for tomorrow's weather impacts today. So, we have a planning
13:36telecom where all of the FAA facilities join, as well as the airlines, and we put in possible
13:43initiatives that we may have to use, whether it's ground stops, ground delay programs.
13:53No, I think we just lost your mic.
13:54I'm not hearing you guys anymore.
14:04Let's see. I'm not sure how to solve that.
14:24I'm not hearing you, but I'm hoping the audience is. So, I'm going to move on.
14:34Okay. They're giving me a one minute. So,
14:39we have lots of good questions to ask you guys still. So, hopefully, we can get the audio resolved.
14:45We're working on a resolution, folks. Just bear with us. Technical difficulties,
14:58stand by, please. Let's see.
15:05Still not hearing you. All right. So, I can tell you a little bit about how we cover
15:21storms at the points, guys. So, I am a huge fan of online weather tracking apps and flight
15:29apps. Flight aware. But you can even just Google if you're ever curious about your particular
15:39flight and the situation that you're going to find yourself in when you get to the airport.
15:44You can literally just Google the airline and the flight number, and Google will tell you
15:49if your flight's on time, and it will also show you where your plane is coming from. So,
15:54I like to use those tools, flight radar 24, Google flights, and even one called flighty
16:00that I've written about that I really like to track incoming flights. And I'm hearing some
16:06audio now. So, I wonder if I can hear you now. Can you hear me? All right. We're back. All right.
16:14We're back. This is live. This is live. So, hey. Thank you for your patience.
16:18Thank you. We apologize for the technical difficulties. Everything's back.
16:24Let's talk a little bit about delays and cancellations. So, I was just talking about
16:27some of the flight tracking programs that I use personally to check. I like to track where my
16:34plane is coming from. So, I think that's a big trick and hack for folks out there.
16:39But what do you do to prepare for and solve for delays and cancellations once they start happening?
16:46So, once again, going back, talking about whatever the airport can handle at that time. Like you
16:52mentioned a great point. As a passenger, I'm guilty of it myself. Before I got into the FAA,
16:57I'd be looking at this clear out sky. Why is my flight delayed? But like you said, looking at
17:02their aircraft, because it could be your inbound flight, wherever it's coming from, if it's impacted
17:07by thunderstorms, weather, any type of weather phenomenon, sometimes maintenance comes involved
17:13or anything like that. But we prepare by putting route structure as well as terminal initiatives,
17:21which basically focus around the airport, directly around the airport. So, we'll look at
17:27if an airport can only handle a certain amount of aircraft per hour versus their normal rate.
17:34That's where we have to implement what we call a ground delay program, which basically allows
17:39aircraft to arrive to come in as well as they can still depart aircraft in a safe manner. It doesn't
17:45cause surface congestion. Because we don't want you to be just sitting out on the tarmac of a
17:50taxiway, waiting until you get to your gate. So, we want you to be able to come in, land safely.
17:55And the only thing we want you to be worried about, okay, what am I going to do as soon as I get to my
17:59destination? So, let me go in further to what Walter was saying, talking about the weather
18:07impacts. Earlier, he touched on highways and interstates in the air. Weather shuts down highways
18:13and interstates. So, when weather shuts them down, you have to go on an alternate route.
18:18Typically, when you go on an alternate route, it's going to take you longer. So, when it's taking you
18:23longer, you're getting to your airport later than expected. And there could be a storm that's
18:30three, four, five, six hundred miles away from you that's impacting your flight. So, now everything
18:35slowed down because of these highways and interstates and the sky being closed off. So, now
18:40when those are closed off, what we're doing here, we're having conversations with the airlines as
18:46soon as we know that these highways and interstates are going to be closed off. And we're going to have
18:50those conversations every other hour and in between, if needed be, to let them know, hey, these
18:56are the constraints that we're facing today because of the weather. So, we're trying to get everybody
19:00on board as soon as we can so everyone can have a good picture of what needs to happen so we can
19:05get everyone safely. Because number one goal is safety. Yes. Safely to their destination. Yes, it is.
19:12Go ahead, Wes. Sorry. Oh, yeah. I wanted to piggyback off the question because
19:18your question to Walt about how does the weather service in the FAA work with the weather. I wanted
19:25to give you the weather behind the scenes. So, one thing about working with these two professionals
19:30and everywhere behind me, as well as everyone out in the field, there's a lot of communication for
19:37this job. FAA is constantly in communication with the weather people saying, you've given me this
19:44weather. I want to know what's going on here. Jamal spoke about alternative routes. They're
19:50constantly looking at alternatives in the face of whatever I'm throwing at them or the weather
19:55people are throwing at them. So, it's all about communication. And it doesn't stop with the weather
20:01people. We're talking to the stakeholder meteorologists. The meteorologists at United, the
20:06meteorologists at Delta, Alaska, Americans, so forth. All of these airlines and all the weather
20:14people out in the regions, the centers out there. Like the folks who look at Florida on a day-in,
20:20day-out basis. So, we're getting and kind of co-locating and somewhat debating what's going
20:26to happen because there's like 80 different opinions and we're trying to get the consensus
20:31opinion to drive it to Jamal so that they can have the best consensus weather information
20:39possible for your safety, for the efficiency, to try to get these people to where they want to go.
20:45And so, that's the name of the game. Sometimes it's wrong. Sometimes we get it wrong,
20:52but they've had the best information possible. So, sometimes they'll get, hey, Wes, this isn't
20:57working out. What do we do now? I'll tell them what we think now and then they will make that
21:03decision based on what we do. I have a couple questions. Sorry, go ahead. I would say like Wes
21:09was saying, like, yeah, sometimes the weather forecast can be wrong and we pivot to another
21:16traffic management initiative or anything that we need to do to help aircraft that have to go on
21:21detour or like you say, a roadblock. We may go into a roadblock and we have to have those aircraft
21:26tactically reroute around the thunderstorms. And Wes, who gets the final say? So, if, and maybe you
21:34can explain a little bit about how the airlines all have their own weather departments. If there's
21:38disagreement, do you get the final say in making a decision about whether a storm is navigable or
21:45not? Sure. We put out something called the TCF. It's a convective forecast. It comes out every
21:55two hours. The public can actually access that on aviationweather.gov if they want to. But it's
22:02essentially a thunderstorm density forecast for an area. So, I know today out there they're looking
22:10at thunderstorms over the Mississippi Valley that might impact Chicago later on. So, that might
22:16impact routing out of the southwest gate. So, if you're coming from Texas to Chicago, there might
22:21be some delays based on that thunderstorm forecast. The airlines are part of this. Sorry, I should
22:27say the airline meteorologists are part of this. The weather service meteorologists are part of this,
22:32both in the centers, in the field, as well as here. I'm part of this when I'm working. And so, we give
22:40that best forecast possible. There's a lot of different debates that go into this. And I'm allowed
22:48to say, Walt, this is the TCF. We're expecting these medium thunderstorms over Illinois. But in my
22:56opinion, it might be less than that. And Walt can take that. Well, it's on the board. A lot of people
23:03disagreed with Wes, but he kind of knows how I operate. There's a lot of communication in this room.
23:09Personalities, we all communicate differently. So, they can. And if there's a difference of opinion,
23:16you know, Walt may say, I'm going to wait and see how this weather develops, because we don't
23:21really know. There's differences of opinion out there. But on the other hand, if I'm saying this
23:26conductive forecast is right, believe me, then he can say, okay, we're going to take that to the bank,
23:33and we're going to deviate around it and plan for it. And the conversation with the weather service
23:39is continuous. It's not a hey when you walk in the door and goodbye at the end of the day.
23:44It's throughout the day, we're having continuous conversation, not only in the command center, but
23:48in the individual facilities as well. So, the different in-route facilities that we have
23:54worked in and things of that nature, you're having weather briefings. You're talking to the weather
23:58unit. You're asking them, hey, how does this look for the arrivals in this bank? So, like, not only
24:04here at the FAA command center are you having these conversations, but in the field at different
24:08facilities, they're having that same conversation. Yes. And each airline also has their own weather
24:13department, right? For sure. Yes. And they're not beholden to what we drive, but they participate
24:21in it. And sometimes I will call on them and say, hey, you're forecasting something slightly
24:27different. What is your reasoning? So, we kind of learn from each other. It's very communication
24:32oriented. We got one drive, and that's to get you there safely and efficiently. Yes.
24:40Just a personal question. I've noticed sometimes at airports, the skies are cloudy. Say there's
24:48thunderstorms predicted. Planes are landing and taking off normally. But then all of a sudden,
24:52there's one lightning strike, and the airport just shuts down. I wondered if you guys could
24:57explain why that happens and what happens next in that situation.
25:01In that situation, Clint, basically what's going on, it's not only just on the air traffic control
25:08side with the FAA, but even at the airport itself. The ramp agents, which that's what we were talking
25:13about earlier, those are ramp agents. They are told by their bosses or whoever, they have actual
25:20alarms and signals that tell the ramp agents and the baggage handlers to go inside. It's the same
25:26thing here. Once we see that lightning strike or we hear about it, we get a phone call immediately
25:32from the field facilities, like Jamal was mentioning. They call me or call my specialists
25:38and call my team members. That's when we implement a ground stop, which means we stop all arrivals
25:44and departures into the airport. Once we gauge on how long, I'll talk with Wes. We'll talk and find
25:51out how long is this thunderstorm going to be there because we want to maintain a safe operation.
25:56We don't want anybody to get affected by it. Do you extend those in 15-minute increments
26:01or half-hour increments, or how does that work usually? We extend it hourly. We'll do an hour
26:06ground stop. Once we gauge, okay, this weather system is going to be gone in 30 minutes,
26:14we may even cancel that ground stop earlier. We extend as much as possible. If need be,
26:20if this thunderstorm is going to stick around for a while and it's going to affect arrivals,
26:25say just if a visual, if that thunderstorm is directly over the airport but it's moving east
26:31and it's affecting the arrivals coming in from the east, that's when we, as an after ground stop,
26:36cancel it and go into a ground delay program because now one of the arrival gates from the
26:42east or both of the arrival gates have been shut off because of the thunderstorm. That's when we
26:47have to reroute the aircraft around to the west gates to help out. The airport can only handle so
26:54much. Yeah. I certainly appreciate all you all are doing. I think it's interesting from a consumer
27:00point of view too. We talked about sometimes when there's delays and cancellations, you get a
27:04traffic jam at the airport and you get planes stacked up, but there is a rule from the federal
27:09government that passengers have to be let off a plane after three hours. It's interesting to see
27:15how that rule went into effect. A lot of airlines said that it was not doable, but it seems to be
27:21working pretty well. Another interesting little consumer's perspective there. Yes. Let's talk a
27:27little. I'd love to hear from each of you just really quickly. What is your general message
27:33right now for this summer's travel? Jamal, you want to start? All right. I'll start. Safety first.
27:42Use sunscreen. It's abnormally hot everywhere it seems like.
27:49Just be safe. Take your time. Leave for the airport and plenty of time for you to get there.
27:54Domestic travel is usually two hours. International travel is usually three. I've
27:58taken a couple trips this summer. Hopefully everyone else gets to take a couple trips as
28:03well, but safety first. Just look at the weather, plan your trips. I got a trip planned for
28:10the end of August. There's no way possible for me to know what the weather's going to look for
28:14end of August, but I can continuously look at the weather and try to stay updated and be prepared
28:20for my trip. That's all you can do as well. How about you, Wes? Sure. As a weather person,
28:29if you have the ability, which not everyone does and not everyone has this proclivity,
28:35but if you want to leave early in the day, that might be good because the weather happens in the
28:40afternoon and it's a compounding effect. If you're leaving at three o'clock in the afternoon,
28:47the thunderstorms are getting ready to pop up, then there's a risk. What your parents said,
28:53get out of bed early, to rise early to work, whatever, that's good advice. I don't follow it
29:01all the time, but I depend on these guys to get me safe, so it works. That's what I can say as
29:08an advice. So I think we're going to go to the viewer Q&As now, and we'll start with a question
29:24around delays. I think we'll probably end up getting a lot of questions around that. Someone
29:30asked, can you explain why I've experienced a flight delay when there are no storms or other
29:34bad weather at the airport? So flight delays happen for many reasons. It doesn't have to be
29:41because of weather. There could be construction going on at the airport. There could be power
29:46outages. There could be other technical issues that's going on that's causing delays at the
29:53airport. And it could be many other various reasons for delays besides, you know, I mean,
29:59it could be equipment issues with the airplanes, you know what I mean? So it doesn't always have
30:04to be about weather. There's numerous ways why there could be a delay. And sometimes I know that
30:11the airlines, it might not be weather where you are, it might be weather where the plane is coming
30:15from. So you can have a serious fog situation in San Francisco where there's a ground stop and the
30:22planes can't take off. Well, your flight to Albuquerque is on a plane that's now stuck in
30:26San Francisco. So if you're in New York, just because the weather's clear in New York doesn't
30:30mean that the weather is clear where your plane is starting from. Right. And it's a domino effect
30:35because it might not be that plane. It could be like two planes down the road. Right. Especially
30:40if you have an evening flight. Which is another good reason to take the first flight of the day
30:46because you're right. Right. You have crew risk issues with the pilots as well. They have so much
30:53time they have to have off. And sometimes weather impacts that that spills into the next day.
30:58Exactly. We have another question. Does a thunderstorm automatically mean that a plane
31:04can no longer fly? Or is there a way pilots can navigate around storms so flights aren't disrupted?
31:10So, yes, there is a way that planes can navigate around thunderstorms real time when a thunderstorm
31:17is developing. The air traffic controller may get a message from the pilot saying that they see this
31:22thunderstorm developing within 20 miles while they're in flight. So they ask the air traffic
31:27controller, can they deviate around a thunderstorm? And the air traffic controller will make sure
31:32after scanning their scope, making sure that everything is safe. They will allow the aircraft
31:37to deviate. But once we see that and once the field facility reach out to us here at Command
31:43Center and they're like, hey, this thunderstorm is going to continue to build, grow, and going to
31:47cause multiple flights to deviate. That's when we implement initiatives like re-routes and route
31:53structure to get all these planes in a line away from the highway that's being blocked by the
31:59thunderstorm. Yeah, Clint, and I'm going to piggyback off of that. So one thunderstorm
32:07isn't super important. It is important if it forms right over Newark. We'll let that be. But
32:14at the same time, if it's over, I don't know, Indiana, yeah, pilots can deviate around. FAA
32:22has systems that they can deviate around. It's multiple thunderstorms. It's density of thunderstorms.
32:28So if you get a cluster of thunderstorms that forms over, I don't know, western Pennsylvania in
32:34the middle of the afternoon, then chances are your routes to New York from California are probably
32:40going to be impacted. So that's when they get worried and concerned and more initiatives.
32:47Right, and the one thing I was going to say earlier, I know you mentioned, Clint, about
32:51what's the message. The message that I will give to travelers for the summer, patience. Just be
32:57patient. Be patient from when you arrive at the airport with the baggage claim, the ticketing
33:03agent, TSA, the gate agent, once you get on the plane, the pilot, the flight attendants. We are all
33:09working in a symphony. The national airspace system is a challenging, dynamic, ever-changing
33:18airspace. I mean, we're dealing with all type of complexities and we work together constantly
33:24to make sure that you get to your destination safely and efficiently. One band, one sound.
33:29Safety, safety, safety, safety. Be patient. It really is, when you zoom out a little bit,
33:37the fact that we can get on a metal tube and fly across the country in all sorts of weather and
33:43situations with crowded skies, it really is miraculous and it's a testament to how hard
33:48you all are working. So it is noticed and we tell people all the time at The Point Sky,
33:53pack your patience. You got to be nice to people because they're all trying to get you to your
33:57destination. Nobody wants you to miss a meeting or miss time with your family.
34:00That's right. Put on that smile, it may help out.
34:04It might get first class.
34:07So we have another question. Are there times, and we've touched on this a little bit, but are there
34:12any times during the day or night when flights are less likely or more likely to be affected by
34:16weather? The morning, morning, the morning. Yes, morning. You're saying to travel in the morning?
34:26The red-eye flights, because that's when the heating, and Wes can definitely explain that a
34:31lot more with the weather and the heating and everything. But yes, definitely like you said,
34:35the morning and I would say overnight with the red-eye flights. If you're flying from LA to
34:41the East Coast or the West Coast to the East Coast overnight, your flight is probably not
34:46going to get delayed. Yeah, most thunderstorms start in the afternoon and they continue
34:52through the evening. They'll diminish. So they're least prevalent overnight and in the morning. So
34:59that's when you want to fly if you can. And another reason is flying overnight and early
35:05in the morning, the volume is lighter. There's not as many airplanes in the sky during those
35:10time frames. Yeah, but then you have to take a red-eye. That's the problem.
35:22We have another question. How do you determine how long ground stops or delays last?
35:29So that's where I'm talking with my team members. We talk with the field facilities. We talk with
35:34the tower at the airport and then the TRACON, which is directly overlying the tower airspace.
35:40And then of course the center, which is the in-route facility that overlies the TRACON and
35:45helps you out when you're at your cruise altitude. So we have discussions and we talk with them and
35:51they feel once, talk with Wes, as well as they have meteorologists at the centers. So if you're
35:58affected in Washington DC, for example, at DCA with thunderstorms, we'll talk with Potomac TRACON.
36:04We'll talk with Washington National Tower, as well as Washington Center. And then they will help
36:10let us know because they're right there in the midst of it. The tower and the TRACON is right
36:15there. They have the radar systems as well. We know what's going on and the tower can provide us
36:20an update of how long this ground stop needs to last. And we go off the facility because
36:26they're right there in the midst of the fire with the thunderstorms and everything.
36:34Someone else says, I've heard of hurricane season, but are there other times of the year
36:39when certain weather conditions are more prevalent? It depends on the region of the country.
36:46So in certain regions, you can expect thunderstorms. You can expect north winds.
36:53Different regions of the country, you can expect strong winds, hundred knot winds, so on and so forth.
36:58Which, say for instance, I used to work at Albuquerque Center and there were
37:04thunderstorms during the storm season daily. They were sparse and we were able to maneuver
37:10the aircraft through it. There were sparse thunderstorms, so there were holes that were not full
37:15where you were able to help airplanes pick their way through it. But to most of the traveling public,
37:21it was not rainy in Albuquerque. So they had no idea what we were facing when we went to work
37:26every day. So there's a lot of things that you deal with as an aircraft controller per se
37:33that the flying public has no idea. Because when you have 100 knot winds coming from the north,
37:38when you have to turn an aircraft, that aircraft is going to be faster than anybody else in the sky.
37:44And you have to make up for that. So there's a lot of adverse things that happen
37:51across the country that different pockets have different things.
37:55Yeah, I was going to say that once we go into the winter, the colder months,
38:01we start to worry about the strong winds in the atmosphere. So it takes longer to go from
38:08the east coast to the west coast. There's also the potential that all those winds kind of, I don't know,
38:15build up some turbulence over the Rocky Mountains there. So we have to worry about turbulence a lot
38:20more. And of course snowstorms, which I will say everything that I've seen in this place,
38:26the whole airplay system are built now to accommodate these snowstorms. I mean,
38:31airlines are canceling flights. They know that we're not going to be able to take off.
38:36So you'd rather be delayed rather than risk all these icy conditions. So everything works good for
38:42the weather. Convection is a different beast. It's harder to predict. I mean, I'm losing my hair.
38:56So yeah, this is the really tough season for us. It deals with, I mean, you hear the expression,
39:09well, if a butterfly flaps its wings in Texas, then you get a thunderstorm over South Carolina
39:13somewhere. I mean, we're kind of studying that minutiae to kind of pinpoint where they are.
39:19And a lot of times, even among this consensus of the enterprise of weather, we get it wrong.
39:24Yeah. It's kind of like what Wes was saying, Clint, just basically with snowstorms,
39:29they're easy to predict. And that's why the airlines can adjust their schedule.
39:33And like I say, even in the winter months, we're also concerned with the wind as well as the low
39:39ceilings, which is low clouds at the airport, visibility conditions, which can affect pilot's
39:45ability and the controller's ability to land the normal amount of aircraft that they would normally
39:51do. So we're looking at all of that. And like how you mentioned turbulence,
39:55you know, one of the things, analogies I use with, and that's why not only the flight attendants and
39:59the pilot, and we also say, keep your seat belt fast for unexpected turbulence. If you think about
40:05turbulence, it's like, you know, if you, if it's consistent, it's kind of like driving down a
40:10gravel road, but every once in a while, if you hit that pocket of air, it's like hitting a pothole
40:15in the sky. So we just want you to keep that seat belt fast.
40:21Yeah. And we've all seen the videos of people who've been hit by clear air turbulence, but
40:26I want to touch on something you mentioned, Wes, which is the jet stream, which I've been the
40:31victim of flying to California and on a seven hour flight from New York. But I've also been
40:36the beneficiary going across the Atlantic to London where the flight can be five, six hours,
40:42pretty remarkable. It sometimes can take me less time to get to London than it can to San
40:46Francisco. So pretty remarkable there. Pretty remarkable. I used to live in Alaska,
40:51so I totally get it. I was flying to the East a lot. So sometimes it took you
40:58much more than you bargained for. And other times like, wow, I'm already here.
41:02Yeah. Pretty amazing. Well, I think that's...
41:06Well, go ahead, Wes. One other point about this whole synthesis
41:10of operation. I remember working a particular... I know Jamal mentioned strong winds. It's not just
41:18about the winds, but it's how they evolve and shift directions, because then there requires
41:23a runway change at certain airports. And that requires holding and just juggling all that
41:30timing and knowing when to do it, not knowing when to prematurely do it and all that stuff.
41:37And then we've got a whole staff in Kansas City, the Aviation Weather Center. They're constant
41:42looking at areas of turbulence in these storms, volcanic ash. God forbid if we have something from
41:50St. Helens or somewhere in Alaska, Rainier. And we've got people looking at clouds and
41:57ceilings and so forth, all of these people. And they're constantly looking at 24 hours.
42:02And I remember briefing, there was a certain time when Chicago needed a runway change,
42:07wanted to know where to hold these flights, but were concerned because East of Chicago,
42:12we were forecasting a lot of turbulence. They didn't want to hold those planes in that area
42:17of turbulence. And that was a good thing. So I don't remember what you did, but you didn't do that.
42:22No, we didn't do it. And that's when we reached out to the facility once again,
42:29Clint, and re-reached those aircraft. West gives me the update and like how you're speaking of
42:33with the winds changing the runway configurations that happened yesterday. If you was flying into
42:38LaGuardia or Newark, you've got a delay because of the gusty winds impacting the runway configuration
42:46at LaGuardia and Newark. They couldn't operate at their optimal performance because of the winds.
42:50And so that's why we got them here on site so they can keep us up to date and we can keep you
42:55guys moving. Yeah. One last question from the audience. What are the differences between
43:00summer and winter for you all and what you do? I think we lose our hair more in summer. Yes,
43:09we do. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. For me, from my perspective as a national operations man,
43:16like West mentioned, thunderstorms, the unpredictability with it. He tries to
43:23predict as much as accurately as he possibly can, but sometimes it's tough. And that's the
43:30thing with summertime, those pop-up thunderstorms because of the heating, the atmosphere, everything.
43:36But in the winter, I know they don't have ski country volume. People want to travel out and
43:42go skiing. I know that's going to happen. So a lot of the stuff that we implement in the
43:45wintertime is because of volume. In the northeast, they want to travel to Florida because it's
43:51nice and warm. It's not too hot. And so they want to fly that. So I know those are going to happen
43:57every winter. I know that every day I come in, unless it's something like an anomaly,
44:01anomaly should I say, that I normally have to put some roof stretcher out to help
44:05keep the arrivals going from the northeast into the Florida market because people want
44:10a vacation or down to the Caribbean. They want to go to those nice, warm areas while it's cold
44:15in the northeast. And then of course, I know at the airports in the northeast, the Midwest, the
44:21ski country and all the colder areas, we're going to have de-icing, which is going to make
44:26your plane, you know, delayed because they got to de-ice those planes because as you climb,
44:29it gets colder. Yeah. Yeah. Florida has a dry season in the winter, so that's good for flying.
44:37Yeah. All right, Jamal, we'll take us home, please.
44:41All right. We just want to say thank you all so much for your time. Again, that's Clint. I'm Jamal.
44:47This is Wes. This is Walter. And what we want you all to know is that it's about safety.
44:53So if you, like Walter said, pack a smile. That's right. So what we're trying to do is make sure
44:59you're getting to your destination and from your destination safely. So bear with us. As we say,
45:05we don't always get it right. You know, sometimes the weather goes left instead of right. You know
45:10what I mean? All the projections can show you. We all look at the hurricanes. We all look at them
45:15and we see all these predictions going left and then they go right. Yeah. Thunderstorms are the
45:19same way. Yes. Thunderstorms are going to happen. You know, just pay attention to the weather.
45:24Pack your patience. Pack your smiles. You know, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for
45:30being involved in this event. Thank you all for listening to us. And just give us some feedback,
45:36what we can do. Any questions you all have. Maybe we can do another one of these live events.
45:41Let us know how Thursday goes for you. Keep up the good work, guys.
45:54All right. Everybody have a good one.