Good evening everyone,

 

A couple of weeks ago I wrote and said that the FAA, in its infinite wisdom, was doing away with the Taxi into Position and Hold Procedure.  Many of you actually enjoyed the experience, because we actually stopped using it.  

 

Well, a brief explanation of events and the net result.  Actually, let me start with the net result.  TIPH will continue for the foreseeable future.

 

Now what happened?

It seems that a couple of large airports were reported to have lost separation when one aircraft was put into position while another was on final approach.  The story isn’t quite right, but the news people, in their infinite wisdom (somewhat below that of the FAA) made a big story about it.  This in conjunction with the NTSB wants and desires, for they have infinite wisdom as well, was enough for a new branch of the FAA to issue the GENOT (maybe GENOT should be renamed GEEWHYNOT).  This branch, code named AVO, is responsible for rules and regulations (including those of FSDO).  AVO, of course, doesn’t really understand the real world of moving aircraft, but…if a procedure is less than safe (after all we are never unsafe) it should be eliminated.   As you can imagine, this did not sit well most users, most notably the Air Carriers.  I wouldn’t venture a guess as to the hundreds of hours of delays they would experience every hour of every day at every airport.  And for the general aviation pilot it would be even worse.  So, after examining all the factors that led to the errors, AVO put caveats into the GENOT.  These included: having all positions open, no combining of positions,  a supervisor or dedicated Controller in charge and the like.   

 

For Falcon that would be having 4 controllers/supervisor in the cab at all times.  As we said, we just don’t have the staffing to meet the requirements and had decided not to submit a waiver.  Why ask if you already know the answer is no!  Last weekend, our manager received a call…”you shall put in for a waiver!”  Seems that the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) realizing the potential for a shut down of the system told every facility…”put in for the waiver”.   Guess what?  Yep, they were all approved.  AMAZING!  If this were a prizefight (yes I showing my age), rounds one and two would go to AVO, with the ATO scoring a technical knock-out in the third.  I believe more of this FAA infighting is in all our futures.

 

So, again, the Taxi into Position and Hold (TIPH) is still in place.  While we had nothing to do with it, we must apologize to you for those with infinite wisdom. 

 

By the way, rumor has it that Taxi into Position and Hold will be renamed “Line up and wait” which is the current ICAO phraseology….more of course to come.  As we said….these are the same people who want to charge you user fees!

 

Beamer