TRACON 2012 - Random observations from a newbie...

[Japhus]

I'm still new to this sim and I thought I'd share a few random thoughts and observations.

 

First off, I started a thread not so long ago asking how people played and showed I handled traffic in LAX.  Well, things have changed...

 

I've gone and edited the STARS quite a lot to more closely match the STAR charts found on Flight Aware.  I've even changed the sector altitude up 1,000.  Now I can only handoff flights at 10,000 and Center gives most flights to me at 16,000.  Now we are both handing off within 3,000 of the theoretical 13,000 foot boundary between LAX and Center.  I don't know if that's "real life" but it's equal now for both sides.

 

I rarely vector incoming flights anymore at all.  If anything I vector for sequencing but I'm going to start trying to sequence more with speed adjustments.  Taking a flight off of a STAR is just a recipe for trouble I find.  Usually I don't even have talk to them after "Radar Contact" now, I just turn them to the airport after they exit the STAR in a lot of cases and wait for them to come within visual range.  My workload is down a lot now that I'm not baby sitting flights from start to finish.  I was guilty of over controlling...oops.

 

SADDE 6 arrivals I vector to EMT and down to 4,000 after they pass SMO and between MERCE and BASET I'll turn them to 180 degrees and clear for visual approach.  KIMMO 2 arrivals same thing.  However I'm thinking of not even dropping them to 4,000 in the future or giving the vector to EMT.  The flights naturally exit SMO heading 070 and that seems to be what I've heard on Live ATC although from time to time I hear the controllers say exit SMO heading 065.

 

RIIVR 2 arrivals exit the STAR heading 250, I'll drop them to 7000 and give them clearance once they are in visual range.  SEAVU 2 and OLDEE 1 arrivals need to be turned to 250 and have their altitude reduced but that's all.  They are where I have the most trouble in a session though.  Sequencing the flights from all three of those STARS is a headache.

 

LEENA 4 and BUFIE 1 are just as simple as SADDE 6 now.  They both exit the STAR at 7,000 and I just send them to BASET.  At some point I'll turn them to DOWNE and drop them to 5,000.  I chopped the LEENA 4 STAR a little short as it causes an unhandled plane error if you let it go all the way to the original corner.  I adjusted it to goto CWARD instead and even with a No Communication error the flight will fly the STAR without losing you points.  BUFIE 1 used to dump flights out towards the North East, now they are turned right back towards SLI like that STAR chart shows.  Much less hassle with those flights now.

 

I also changed STARS like MOORPARK so they only come up for runways 6/7.  Same with the BASET STAR. according to the charts at Flight Aware it's only for runways 6/7.  I might have changed a few others but I'm going by memory at this point although I am keeping a log of the changes.

 

 

Here's a snippet from my change log...

 

Base Sector

 

Removed navigation aid OS (Romen) from map as it overlaps outer marker waypoint JETSA.  Changed Custom param SHOW:TRUE to FALSE.

Removed waypoint NATHN as it overlaps waypoint NAANC, SHOW: T/F.

Removed navigation aid SB (Petis) as it overlaps waypoint PETIS, SHOW: T/F.

Added FUELR, PURMS & SADDE waypoints, SHOW: T/F.

 

 

Small notes...

 

Sometimes I like to speak in a Scottish accent...for some reason MS speech recognition understands that better sometimes.  Yoo knighted tree fife tree raid are kon tact!  (UA353 radar contact).  MS speech recognition seems to have issues with my normal Canadian accent sometimes.

 

Vectoring flights towards each other when you already have a sequencing problem is not a good idea!  I've gotten more conflicts that way than anything else.

 

I like to keep flights at 7,000 until I clear them to land.  Why?  If I get distracted and they overfly the runways they are above the arrival streams and don't cause a seperation error.  If it were real life I'd still get chewed out I'm sure but at least nobody has to evade.

 

I'll probably be making more changes in the future, there are so many details in the STARS and SIDS it's kind of daunting.  Anyone else have some favourite edits or tips they'd like to share?

 

Fly safe!

[gel]

I've added a few more waypoints to my scenario to help with vectoring for the final...

I choose to have everything coming in from the east (se,ne) come down the "chute" ..

so.. RIIVR 2 I treat as a straight in arrival and I will feed the oldee and seavu arrivals into that..

those last two arrivals are flying on an intercept route that's nice to take advantage of...I'll turn them in (250deg)

just as they are approaching the line between RIIVR and LUVYN...

I do keep them higher though..@ 10,000...then I'll clear them for an ILS approach around FUELR...

the extra altitude allows for easier handling of the north and west arrivals destined for 24R ...IOW, I can bring them in a bit tighter

knowing I have vertical separation.

Similar to you, anything coming in from SLI  I'll clear them for BASET  but give a "..turn left heading 250"

well before BASET to intercept GAATE at 7000...maybe lower...

With the SADDE arrivals..I'll usually clear them direct to SMO and resume the arrival ... that seems to be a help

when overseas flights from Asia are making their way in... 

[Japhus]

Hi Gel,

 

Yeah, I know what you mean about needing the vertical seperation between SADDE 6 flights and those from RIIVER/SEAVU/OLDEE.  Since my SADDE 6's are automatically at 7k and the RIIVR arrivals are at 12k I have no issues.

 

I'm still working out sequencing the SEAVU arrivals with RIIVR at peak times.  OLDEE's aren't that common it seems.  But as you suggested before, I'm working with speed more now rather than vectoring.

 

 

 

Anyone else want to share their strategies or tips?