ASRC & VRC Scratchpad - Temporary Altitude Entries

POC: Facility Advisory Board	Date: 2008-04-17
Code: ZLA-005	Version: 2.14

ASRC & VRC Scratchpad - Temporary Altitude Entries

1. PURPOSE.

Defines standard procedures to be used regarding the 'scratch pad' field in ASRC and VRC

2. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.

The Office of Primary Responsibility (OPR) for this SOP is the ZLA Facility Advisory Board. This SOP shall be maintained, revised, updated or cancelled by the ZLA Facility Advisory Board or any organization that supersedes, replaces or assumes the FAB responsibilities. Any suggestions for modification/amendment to this SOP should be sent to the FAB for review.

3. DISTRIBUTION.

This SOP is intended for use by controllers staffing positions at ZLA.

4. BACKGROUND.

With ASRC and VRC, controllers have the ability to communicate useful information to each other using the 'scratch pad' field. For this information to be meaningful, all controllers need to understand the meaning of the field and use consistent procedures. This document defines what those procedures should be.

5. REQUIREMENTS.

a. Aircraft going from Center to Approach

(1) Center should not normally have to scratch arrivals before handing off to approach provided that the scratch contains the current destination airport, and the aircraft has been cleared via the appropriate star as per the SOP.

b. Aircraft going from Approach to Tower

(1) Aircraft should whenever possible be scratched with the approach procedure the aircraft has been assigned.

(a) Approach procedure codes should be scratched as follows:

X # Y

(1) “X” shall be the procedure type:

V=Visual
I=ILS
R=RNAV
G=GPS
O=VOR
N=NDB
L=LOC
D=LDA

(2) “#” shall be the second digit of the runway number or the appropriate letter for a circling approach.

Examples:

Rwy 25L scratched as “5”
Rwy 27 scratched as “7”
Rwy 9 (09) scratched as “9”


(3) “Y” shall be the L/R Designator if applicable. If there is no L/R, then the “Y” space may be used to scratch the second digit of the runway.

Examples:

LAX ILS 25L approach scratched as “I5L”

BUR Visual 8 approach scratched as “V08”

SAN LOC 27 approach scratched as “L27”

SNA NDB1L approach scratched as “N1L”

LAS VOR 25L approach scratched as “O5L”

ONT RNAV 26R approach scratched as “R6R”

AVX VOR A approach scratched as “OA”

(2) If a non-standard approach is issued, it should be coordinated with TWR via landline.

c. Aircraft going from Tower to Approach

(1) TWR (or GC or CD if open) shall change the scratch pads of departing aircraft as follows:

(a) Aircraft issued the departure procedure shall scratch the a/c with the code for their procedure in the scratch as follows:

(b) Aircraft that do not have charts on board shall be cleared to fly an appropriate heading, to expect vectors to YYY. CD/GND/TWR controllers shall enter the first filed fix in the scratchpad. Ie SLI, MZB, DAG, etc.

d. Aircraft going from Approach to Center

APP should clear the scratch when handing off to CTR, as CTR is normally more concerned with the aircraft's destination and direction of flight rather than a specific DP.

e. Use of the temporary altitude field

(1) The 'temp altitude' field should not be used to coordinate altitudes at time of handoff - as all aircraft should be handed off descending to the altitudes defined in the SOPs with which both CTR and APP controllers are required to be familiar.

(2) If altitudes other than standard altitudes are required due to traffic circumstances, this should be communicated directly with the receiving controller via landline/chat box. This ensures that the unusual altitude is more likely to be noticed.

Note: The temporary altitude field however is a useful field and should be used by Centers to remind themselves what altitude the aircraft has been cleared to, if a temporary altitude has been issued in place of their final altitude or the SOP-specified handoff altitude to APP.

Similarly, APP may also use the temporary altitude field as a mental note to themselves as well, however it should not be relied on for inter-sector co-ordination. Controllers should use the pre-defined altitudes specified in the SOPs, and exceptions should be negotiated by the landline/chat box, and not via the temporary altitude field.