FAA Provides Summer Travel And Weather Outlook At Virtual Event

2 months ago

The Federal Aviation Administration held a virtual event to provide a travel and weather outlook for the summer.

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Transcript

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.

FAA Provides Summer Travel And Weather Outlook At Virtual Event

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