 |
37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
D01 TRACON had to evacuate their facility and declared 'ATC zero' due to an emergency situation. There are procedures in place in which the ARTCC takes over the airspace of the TRACON. The ARTCC personnel did not know how to implement the procedure for this situation.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1286996 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201508 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZDV.ARTCC |
| State Reference | CO |
| Environment | |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Enroute |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Experience | Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2.8 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
On [one] evening; TRACON had to exit the control room to take shelter due to an [emergency situation]. Nobody seemed to know exactly how to handle the situation. TRACON departure called me to give me their airspace. Other departures called other sectors airspace. Then management said nobody really had the airspace and that the TRACON was ATC zero. So we weren't allowed to provide IFR services in the TRACON's airspace. I have yet to receive contingency training for such situations as required in the 3120.4. My understanding is that [ARTCC sector] should have taken the entire TRACON's airspace but nobody on either side really seemed to know what to do. Just seems like something we should train for and be prepared for annually.I would recommend that management actually put effort in areas that matter such as emergency training rather than worrying about water bottles in the area. We have annual mandatory meetings on ski country; weather and things like that but it would be nice to have annual contingency training as well.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: D01 TRACON had to evacuate their facility and declared 'ATC Zero' due to an emergency situation. There are procedures in place in which the ARTCC takes over the airspace of the TRACON. The ARTCC personnel did not know how to implement the procedure for this situation.
Narrative: On [one] evening; TRACON had to exit the control room to take shelter due to an [emergency situation]. Nobody seemed to know exactly how to handle the situation. TRACON departure called me to give me their airspace. Other departures called other sectors airspace. Then management said nobody really had the airspace and that the TRACON was ATC Zero. So we weren't allowed to provide IFR services in the TRACON's airspace. I have yet to receive contingency training for such situations as required in the 3120.4. My understanding is that [ARTCC Sector] should have taken the entire TRACON's airspace but nobody on either side really seemed to know what to do. Just seems like something we should train for and be prepared for annually.I would recommend that management actually put effort in areas that matter such as emergency training rather than worrying about water bottles in the area. We have annual mandatory meetings on ski country; weather and things like that but it would be nice to have annual contingency training as well.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.