Narrative:

The new STAR arrival procedures became usable months ago. Controllers were not required to learn the procedures. You can have controllers working positions without a clear understanding of what is expected from the pilot when flying the transitions. The only procedure that was keeping the controllers aware of the airplane path was our local SOP. Following the SOP; the center controller needed to verbally coordinate every aircraft that was assigned a STAR. Approach controllers do not have any means to pre-plan or prepare in advance for any aircraft flying the STAR. The SOP prohibits scratch pad area coordination (automated) between the center and approach. Years ago; the facility took this determination as a way to prevent operational errors occurring due to the use of automated coordination between the 2 different areas. Starting today; automated coordination is allowed between the areas to coordinate the use of stars. Why these procedures could prove dangerous? Approach controllers were not required to learn the stars. Approach controllers knew what the aft was supposed to fly because the SOP assigns specific routes for arrivals. Know you have aircraft flying one way; others will fly differently; no verbal coordination required. The facility once moved away from automated coordination to prevent errors. The scratch pad is not always present; it shares its space with other information. The information appears for a few seconds; another information appears; and then goes back to the previous. The SAALR1 arrival is in direct conflict with the JAAWS9 departure. You cannot have an aircraft on the SAALR1 descending and a JAAWS9 climbing because their flight path crosses each other. This is a dangerous situation that becomes even more unsafe if communications were lost momentarily or continuously. The new automated coordination procedures started today. No briefing was made about them. Nothing was required to read before assuming radar positions. When I asked why the sudden change; the answer was that they were having aircraft flying the stars; but nothing was communicated to the approach controllers. The approach controllers ended up turning aircraft to avoid close calls.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZSU Controller voiced concern regarding new STAR procedures; training of same and automated coordination.

Narrative: The new STAR arrival procedures became usable months ago. Controllers were not required to learn the procedures. You can have Controllers working positions without a clear understanding of what is expected from the pilot when flying the transitions. The only procedure that was keeping the Controllers aware of the airplane path was our local SOP. Following the SOP; the Center Controller needed to verbally coordinate every aircraft that was assigned a STAR. Approach controllers do not have any means to pre-plan or prepare in advance for any aircraft flying the STAR. The SOP prohibits scratch pad area coordination (automated) between the Center and Approach. Years ago; the facility took this determination as a way to prevent operational errors occurring due to the use of automated coordination between the 2 different areas. Starting today; automated coordination is allowed between the areas to coordinate the use of STARs. Why these procedures could prove dangerous? Approach controllers were not required to learn the STARs. Approach controllers knew what the aft was supposed to fly because the SOP assigns specific routes for arrivals. Know you have aircraft flying one way; others will fly differently; no verbal coordination required. The facility once moved away from automated coordination to prevent errors. The scratch pad is not always present; it shares its space with other information. The information appears for a few seconds; another information appears; and then goes back to the previous. The SAALR1 arrival is in direct conflict with the JAAWS9 departure. You cannot have an aircraft on the SAALR1 descending and a JAAWS9 climbing because their flight path crosses each other. This is a dangerous situation that becomes even more unsafe if communications were lost momentarily or continuously. The new automated coordination procedures started today. No briefing was made about them. Nothing was required to read before assuming radar positions. When I asked why the sudden change; the answer was that they were having aircraft flying the STARs; but nothing was communicated to the approach controllers. The approach controllers ended up turning aircraft to avoid close calls.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.