Jet traffic has increased by 50 percent since September 11, 2001, and if very light jets (VLJs) start plying the nation's skies in the numbers predicted by some prophets, California airports, and California airspace, will become quite a bit busier in the next decade.
That means more airplanes — indeed more high-performance airplanes — will be vying for the same airspace. In some ways that's good news — a 2003 study on the economic impact of aviation in California revealed that aviation generated more than $250 million in annual tax revenue. An increase in traffic will aid the economy but at what cost? What will this projected increase in traffic mean to the average general aviation pilot in California?
It's too early to tell how traffic increases will impact pilots in the rest of the state, but thanks to a number of dedicated FAA air traffic control staff members based in Santa Barbara, the Central Coast airspace will soon be getting much better radar services. After almost a decade of en route-only radar services, fliers navigating the southern end of California's Central Coast will begin getting terminal radar approach control (tracon) service within the next six months.
What a long, strange trip it's been
In 1994 military officials in charge of the approach control facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base decided to get out of the approach control business. This meant that nearby airports such as Santa Ynez, Lompoc, Santa Maria, and San Luis County Regional were no longer served by down-to-the-ground approach control radar coverage. Air traffic control for the area was taken over by Los Angeles Center, utilizing its existing en route, or long-range, radar systems — systems that are designed to follow traffic that's moving along airways at altitude.
Central Coast pilots quickly learned that there's a big difference between approach radar services and en route radar services. Because of en route radar antenna locations Los Angeles Center controllers can't see low-altitude traffic at these Central Coast airports — a one-in, one-out policy exists for IFR traffic at these airports.
Current Central Coast radar services are termed one-in and one-out because controllers must follow certain restrictions when providing approach control tasks with en route radar equipment. Simply put, the radar coverage floor is quite a ways above these airports.
Around the San Luis Obispo airport the Los Angeles radar coverage is blind below 1,500 to 1,800 feet msl. Because of terrain issues there are locations along the Central Coast where the floor of radar coverage is 2,000 to 3,000 feet msl.
Therefore, when one aircraft starts an instrument approach at one of these airports all other IFR traffic in and out of that airport has to either hold (arrivals) or wait (departures) until the pilot on the approach sees the airport and requests a visual approach, lands successfully and cancels the IFR flight plan, or the pilot misses the approach and climbs high enough during the missed approach procedure to be seen again on radar.
This capacity limitation increases when IFR requests come from two or more IFR airports, such as Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo, which are located a short distance apart.
When the coastal fog season starts in May or early June and these important Central Coast airports are closed to VFR traffic each day until midmorning, the only way to get in and out is via an IFR clearance. That's when the existing system bogs down. Since Central Coast fog is not going away, and the projected traffic counts are going to increase, what does the future hold for Central Coast pilots?
The ASR-11 is rotating at SMX
In the October 2002 issue of California Flying (see " California Flying: Bay-to-Basin Plan," July 2002 Pilot) Charles "Chick" Foley, who was then air traffic manager at the Santa Barbara Tower, briefed local pilots on the big plan, which will eventually provide continuous approach control radar services from San Diego to the area north of San Francisco. The Central Coast tracon (CCT) is one of the pieces of that dream.
Foley — who has since retired — led the push to make a Central Coast tracon a reality. In 1998 a building housing the new tracon was completed near Santa Barbara. Staffing for the tracon will come from the Santa Barbara Approach staff. Training and practice to prepare the staff for a seamless airspace takeover are proceeding at a good pace. The old round radar screens were gone by March 2003 when the installation of nine standard terminal automation replacement system (STARS) controller stations was completed.
STARS is a digital system — each station can access up to three radar feeds including analog signals from existing automated radar terminal system (ARTS) radars such as the one that still exists at Vandenberg Air Force Base; the previous screen was limited to one radar feed. This feature alone will give tracon controllers a great deal of flexibility by enabling controllers more "views" of the airspace.
In mid-2005 a new airport surveillance radar (ASR-11) antenna installation at the Santa Maria airport was completed. This antenna is rotating, the feed to the CCT is live, and the project is 98-percent complete.
When?
According to Bob Jones, air traffic manager at the Santa Barbara Tower, "We're getting very close to getting terminal radar services back in the North County." The system is scheduled to be operational near the end of 2005, but it's more likely to be certified in the first quarter of 2006. The result will be fewer delays and much smoother handling of IFR traffic, and the expansion of flight-following services for VFR pilots. IFR practice approaches also will be handled more expeditiously. In the future, tower en route control (TEC) city pair routings will be developed and printed, which will ease the IFR process for common city-to-city routings from the Central Coast all the way to airports in San Diego.
Currently, the boundaries of the Central Coast tracon do not include Paso Robles airspace — but that's on the way. Plans that will allow CCT to take over Point Mugu Approach Control are under way. Someday your grandchildren will find it hard to believe that you actually flew IFR into and out of Central Coast airports without full radar coverage — just like you once found it hard to believe that your grandfather flew approaches using only an old A-N radio range for guidance.
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