Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 5.5
Workload; Time Pressure; Confusion; Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Distraction
ATC Issue All Types; Airspace Violation All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Separated Traffic; Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed
Staffing; Weather; Procedure; Airspace Structure; Company Policy
We started our shift with a mandatory briefing on two aircraft accidents with loss of life. In both instances we were told no weather information being given was a contributing factor which is interesting because two hours later sectors 33 and 34 were enveloped in weather. Sectors 33 and 34 and working most of ZJX's traffic North and South bound above 24000 feet. Very little to no weather information was able to be given to pilots transitioning these sectors due to volume and complexity for the next 6 plus hours and if it was it was not 'prescribed phraseology'. However; this not an indictment of the controllers working the sectors; but a lack of traffic management and a complete disregard for safety by those in charge. In addition to weather not being called; I witnessed multiple airspace violations; multiple aircraft Inappropriate Altitude for Direction of Flight (IAFDOF) with no APREQ (Approval Request); as well as multiple aircraft NORDO because of traffic saturation and complete lack of organization of the traffic flow. During this period multiple sectors were all working in 'survival mode'. Hampton Sector gave a no notice hold and quit taking hand offs at one point due to saturation. Another NORDO aircraft caused Macon Sector to yell about a midair happening if we didn't switch an aircraft that no one in Sector's 33 or 34 could raise due frequency congestion.I do not recall any losses of separation when I was working only because of the quick action taken by controllers fixing extremely complex situations. I have been a Professional Controller for years and this is the fourth very similar event to take place in [a different] area. If calling the weather is a priority and safety matters more than the number of aircraft we work please look at this event to help ensure that.There should be a review of the Traffic Management Unit (TMU) initiatives in place and see why what was in place didn't work because I'm sure this was not the intended end result of the initiatives set in place by the TMU. In this event a good aligned route in house flowing from South to North would of helped. Routes that put aircraft well into a defined sector and quit letting all aircraft deviate to the same point. The ATL arrivals should have been over CEW then CARNS for the VYPRR instead they were put on routes that ran the Sector 11 and 34 boundary and caused a huge mess. I asked several times to fix this with little to no help because if they did get the route controllers were taking them off it because it was non standard and no direction was given for the new routes. Aircraft being rerouted to northeast airports were given routes that cut back across 34 instead of just staying in sector 11 to clear the weather and move on to ZTL and miss the oncoming southbound traffic. This would not of over saturated sector 11 in my opinion and if everyone stayed on the assigned route it would of helped both Sector 11 and 34 with complexity and frequency congestion. A similar situation would of helped later with traffic splitting Sector 33 and 34 Northbound.SLOW IT DOWN! How is a sector 'red'; in alert status; with no weather being called for 6 hours without slowing down the problem. Controllers made it work; but at what cost to safety?
There was a massive front approaching. The Seminole sector was red for 5-6 hours with most of the sector shutoff from weather. Sector 34 was working 30-35 aircraft with only 20% of their airspace. We are not allowed to work more than 20 planes on a day with no weather and all our airspace. The system completely broke down and safety was compromised. It was a completely unsafe situation. Aircraft were auto acquiring from Sector 30 into sector 16. ZTL Sector 27 was yelling on the shout line ship him or he is going to die! This needs to be looked at and fixed. It is completely unacceptable.Get someone in Traffic Management Unit (TMU) who can do their job. This is a systemic problem in ZJX. Flow continually drops the ball; nothing changes and the controllers have to fix everyone's [mistakes].
Center Controllers reported numerous airspace and procedural violations due to unmanageable traffic workload caused by multiple weather deviations into and out of the airspace.