Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 24
Workload
ATC Issue All Types
Procedure; Staffing; Human Factors
I was working Dallas North. Another controller was working the position that needed help which was Dallas South. Dallas Love (DAL) was in a North flow thus Dallas South was working all of the DAL arrivals. Due to the football game there was a large volume of traffic inbound to DAL. The traffic monitors showed RED; RED; (next interval either RED or Yellow) followed by yellow; yellow; yellow and this was just for arrivals to DAL (they are 15 minute intervals). This didn't include the other traffic such as those crossing through his airspace to GKY or the VFRs or other traffic inbound to RBD or HQZ! With the RED for DAL it would usually mean that one should look closely at possibly getting an AR7 (or final controller for DAL) depending on other traffic for that position.Well today there was a need for that position as not only was this controller working all of the DAL traffic by himself; he was also working numerous aircraft across the 'south airspace' inbound to GKY which was also very busy for the football game and other VFR arrivals to DAL and HQZ/RBD. It was so busy to GKY that Traffic Management Unit (TMU) stopped all DAL arrivals from the SW corner to keep them out of that traffic and rerouted them either northwest corner or se corner. This Dallas South controller was so busy that the center kept calling with handoffs because they were still flashing and he was just too busy to keep up with taking all of them from the center and other sectors within.He also was not taking handoffs from me until the last minute due to volume. I tried to help as much as possible by answering his lines and trying to get the supervisor to take some kind of action. I advised the supervisor that he needed help and he advised me that there was no one else to open that (AR4 or DAL final) position! The Feeder didn't help the situation as they continued to 'drive' the traffic toward DAL final from the base (even though it was obvious that he was not taking handoffs) and didn't even slow them down or vector them out south to go behind other traffic (although I do not know how busy they were either).This was an unsafe situation and totally uncalled for! Either have the people here for the traffic or cut the flow rates to keep the situation safe! Everyone knows that when a person stops taking handoffs or is waiting until the last minute to take them that they are just overloaded and that is when accidents can happen!Staffing! Either have the staffing here to work the aircraft or curtail the rates to a manageable point! There should never be a situation where a sector gets overloaded and it could be split off but there are no people to do it! If the sector is overloaded; cut the traffic flow! The football game is a known event; staff for it! No excuses. If you don't have the people to call in on overtime due to the insufficient facility staffing; then cut the rates and let the chips fall where they may!
D10 Controller reports of another position being inundated by traffic and taking late handoffs. Controller requested a handoff for the position but none was provided.