Commercial Fixed Wing
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 22
Workload; Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance
Weather; Company Policy
I was first assigned to work the controller in charge position. There was a large weather band that had closed all traffic to basically the whole State X and half of State Y. All of the traffic was starting to be rerouted into certain sectors in one of the areas at the ARTCC. The TSD (Traffic Situational Display) numbers were showing all three center sectors in this area would all be going above 30 aircraft per sector. The red numbers for these sectors are between 18-22. We also had a large cell in the middle of other sectors that were causing deviations that TMU (Traffic Management Unit) did not anticipate. These aircraft were deviating to the east into non-radar airspace. When I noticed this I went to TMU and told them the current plan was no longer working due to military airspace and non-radar airspace. The warning areas were active surface to unlimited and the warning area to the east was active if I recall. I then called the adjacent center and told them we could no longer accept traffic deviating to the east and they needed to push traffic through the line of weather to the west. This allowed us to stream aircraft through the hole as one and prevent aircraft coming back together in the center sector airspace to the north and keep them away from the warning area that was surface to unlimited. I was then assigned to tracker position for a sector because the TSD numbers were 24 and rising. The radar position had me sit in front of the scope and do all the typing. In my over 15 years in this area; this is the second most unsafe session I have ever worked. It was of no fault to the radar assist or the radar controller. The traffic was just way too busy. The rides were horrible and everyone wanted to descend. The weather was building and there was no other place for them except through the hole we had. The session just kept getting busier and busier and it appeared Traffic Management did not slow any traffic down at all. At one point I looked up at the TSD numbers and it showed we had 45 planes in the sector. Keep in mind this is a sector designed to handle 18-20 aircraft under ideal conditions. A falcon radar replay of the session was pulled and at one time there were 30 to 36 aircraft in our sector. I stopped looking at that point because the data blocks were covered up so bad you couldn't see anything. Totally unsafe!In closing; the sectors above and north of our airspace were also working well above their limits. We had 10 people on duty this day and had 8 of the 10 covering these 3 sectors which left 5 sectors on the other part of our area unable to be staffed properly. Luckily the weather had shut down all those sectors other than 2. The weather was forecasted days in advance to be this bad and no plan was ever talked about or put into place to my knowledge. We had Operation Managers; Supervisors and TMC (Traffic Management Coordinator) people standing over all 3 of the sectors when this happened and all were shocked at the amount of traffic in the sector.Again; only under ideal condition should we be working over 20 aircraft in these sectors not under the worst of conditions. The TMO (Traffic Management Officer) claimed he pulled the numbers for the sector and stated the numbers were only 26 that we had track control of. We were talking to well over that number and it appears they are trying to change the facts. I was there and know the facts and we were working well over those numbers! We also had point outs coming from an adjacent sector that was not factored into those numbers. Overall; it was totally unsafe and at the verge of becoming out of control. All controllers that got off these sectors were all visibly shaken after their sessions over there. Most of these controllers have 20 plus years and all stated it was the most unsafe thing they had ever done. I think that speaks for itself. I expect more for our agency and we pride ourselves on safety and this was far from it. TMU at this center always hasto fight with the command center all the time to get what we need. In no other area in the country would it be acceptable to work over 35 airplanes through weather and warning areas. Traffic would either be rerouted around these areas or ground stops would be put in place. This was a total compromise of safety and needlessly put people's lives in danger. We should work to be better than that.
An ARTCC Controller in Charge reported no action was taken by the FAA Command Center to effectively manage traffic flows during known weather events causing Center sectors to be overloaded with traffic.