Day 11 of RTF

Today the scenarios picked up speed a little bit, but things still weren't too difficult. There's not much to say about the scenarios in general because I can't describe them in full detail, so I'll go over a few things that you'll find in the scenarios we run.

As a north controller you're likely to see:

• Arrivals into Academy - You'll have to scan south's airspace too to plan a sequence that works for both your Academy arrivals and their arrivals. You call up south and say something like, "South, North, sequence." They come back, "South." You'll say, "One slot behind Delta 58, M.N." And then they'll give their initials. Try to stay ahead of the game and give them slots so that they don't have to call you up asking for them.
• Arrivals into Bartles - These will come from the northeast (in which case you drop them to 3000 before they hit the Bartles shelf and vector them across the top of your scope to land at Bartles), or they come from the northwest (which they're given to you at 4000 here and are already on a runway heading so you can pretty much just clear them for the approach once they get closer to the airport). There will also be one or two Bartles arrivals in each scenario which come up from the south (the south controller will vector them around the outer 15 mile ring and then hand them off to you). You'll just vector these north and then towards the airport. You might also get a VFR pop-up going to Bartles by way of James.
  
• Arrivals into James - These will also come from either the northeast or northwest. You can vector them straight in for the full approach or you can give them vectors.
• Point outs to South - You may get an aircraft going out the Noble gate or Shawn gate that is climbing to 12,000, so it's easier to hand them off to Center. Since they'll be clipping South's airspace you have to do a point out on each one.
• Hand offs to South - If an aircraft is going out the Noble gate at 8,000 or something other than the high altitude (12,000), then you can just hand them off to South and transfer their communications.
• APREQs - You may get some Jeske arrivals coming down from the northwest at 10,000. They're on a heading direct to Jeske Tacan originally. By SOPs, you're supposed to drop them to 6,000 and keep them in the outer 15 mile ring. However, it may be easier to just keep them at 10,000 and keep them direct Jeske Tacan. This requires an APREQ.
• Overflights - There will be a few overflights going to OKC or MKC, etc. who you'll just let fly through your airspace. When they get towards the limits of your airspace you'll just hand them off.
• Departures off of Bartles - Airplanes will call up requesting release. Make sure you don't release them if you've got a plane that will be landing soon at Bartles.
• Departures off of James - Same thing, except McAlester FSS will be the one requesting the release.
• Departures off of Academy - Most of your departures will be going out of the Colin gate or the Mayes gate. You'll just climb them to their requested altitude and turn them towards that direction. Some airplanes you have to wait to turn until they're out of 3,000 though (for noise abatement), and you may also need to scan the area to make sure you won't have a conflict from climbing them into someone else.

As a south controller you're likely to see:

• Arrivals into Academy - You'll have to either be given slots from the north controller or you'll have to request them. Be prepared to change up whatever sequence you may have had in mind if North doesn't want you to have that slot you thought you'd get. Speed control is your friend.
  
• Arrivals into Jeske - These will be coming up from the southwest of will be given to you by the North controller from the northwest. Drop them to about 6,000, once they're within 15 miles of Jeske call them inbound, drop them to 3,000 once they get closer, and then vector them and clear them to land.
  
• Arrivals into Bartles - You'll usually get one that comes up from the southeast wanting to go to Bartles. Keep him in the outer 15 mile ring and keep him at 6,000 and then hand him off to North once he gets farther north.
  
• Point outs to North - You may get some departures off of Jeske that are going out the Colin gate at 12,000, so you'll want to hand these off to Center and just point them out to North. There may also be some departures wanting to go out the Mayes gate, so they'd be a point out too.
  
• Hand offs to North - Typical hand offs that you may have to do.
  
• Overflights - There will be a few overflights who you'll just let fly through your airspace. You'll just hand them off once they get towards the limits of your airspace.
  
• Departures off of Jeske - These will be going out any of the four departure gates. Not too difficult. You may have to throw in a point out or hand off with one of the planes if they're headed out the Colin or Mayes gate.
  
• Departures off of Academy - Most of your departures will be going out of the Shawn or Noble gate. You'll just climb them to their requested altitude and turn them towards that direction. Some airplanes you have to wait to turn until they're out of 3,000 though (for noise abatement), and you may also need to scan the area to make sure you won't have a conflict from climbing them into someone else. One thing to look out for is the planes going out the Shawn gate. You'll get something like a Skyhawk coming off going out the Shawn gate at 8,000. Your first thought is to climb him up and turn him left to get out the gate. But if you do that then you're screwed when a jet comes off requesting the Shawn gate too, and now you've just turned the Skyhawk into his flight path. Operational error, anyone? Solution is to wait to turn the Skyhawk until he gets about 6 miles further south. That way you'll still have separation when the jet comes off.