Commercial Fixed Wing
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 4
Human-Machine Interface; Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Workload; Time Pressure
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Separated Traffic
Procedure; Staffing; ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings; Company Policy; Human Factors
We had in trail restrictions to ATL and CLT. We had also altitude caps on these airports of FL330. This sector owns FL240-FL350; though at the time the ultra-high sector was combined; giving us from FL240-600. I had a full EDST (Enroute Decision Support Tool) list of airplanes; which for this sector usually is a good indicator of how busy we are. In addition; with the ATL and CLT altitude caps; it was forcing high performance business jets that were normally at FL410 and above down into the stratum with other slower performing aircraft. Overall; it was a very complex sector and operation at the time. At the time; we got the in trail requirement from ZJX regarding ATL and CLT; as well as the altitude cap; I asked my supervisor to see if we could get some alleviation on the altitude caps being so low. He told me that he had asked TMU (Traffic Management Unit) and they said no. I told him that I would need more than the 15 miles in trail that I had and he said that he would ask for it. A few minutes later; he told me that TMU would not give it to him. About 5 minutes after that; I told him I wanted 30 miles in trail out of HEDLY/ARKES/TBIRD fixes; since we were getting slammed with aircraft who were all at similar altitudes. I would approximate that CLT/ALT was probably 25% of our traffic; and no one was filing higher. He again said that they would not give it to us.Further compounding our complexity problem is that recently; we incorporated new metroplex procedures which are very rough; causing aircraft who would normally not be in confliction to be in confliction in numerous new spots in our sector. Some aircraft; which would normally fly a 345 heading for 150 miles; now fly a 345 heading before turning to a 320; back to a 345; then to a 360 heading. This makes the confliction points at the sector significantly increase over the previous airspace design; and further complicates the sector. Even aircraft on the same route are now in confliction because the radical turns that the routes take them on turn them into 100 knot headwind. So if you have 7 miles between aircraft in trail; as the first one turns; he slows down 100 knots and the second catches him. In addition; since this was just incorporated two months ago; and just before our 'busy' traffic season; we are not at all proficient on it. I had asked for 30 miles in trail to help alleviate the above issues; but was ultimately told that I could not get it for unknown reasons. About that time; at our peak complexity and volume; an aircraft had a stuck mic for approximately 5 minutes. This caused us to ask Sector 47 to transmit a message on emergency guard; asking aircraft on 125.07 to check their mics; but the stuck mic continued. Normally when this happens; we have a backup frequency for the ultra-high that we would then transmit on. We can move planes; via guard; to the backup frequency; and then talk to them and give control instructions. However; the ultra-high sector frequency was given to Sector 23. We routinely give Sector 23 this frequency because Sector 23 controls the VIP TFR; which is up to 100 miles south of their normal airspace; and their frequency does not cover it appropriately. Rather than find them a frequency to permanently use; we lose Sector 68's frequency several weeks (and months) out of the year. This further complicates Sector 68; as Sector 23's frequency that we get does not cover the sector adequately. However; in this case; Sector 23's frequency was not temp modded to Sector 65; so we had no backup and no way to alleviate the stuck mic. In addition; Sector 64; which would have been the only frequency that could have helped us offload traffic (who sits next to us and who works similar traffic) was equally busy and complex; so they could not get involved. After approximately 5 minutes of a stuck mic; we got the frequency back and continued to separate traffic as normal. We did not have a loss; though there were several close situations.Sector 68's frequency should NOT be given to the Sector 23 for 'Hurricane Sector Operations'. This event above proves some of the perils of that. But the frequency that Sector 23 gives us lacks the radio coverage to make Sector 68 viable; and then we can't open Sector 68 during peak traffic times without seriously degraded voice communications. Sector 23 should have a new frequency created for their use as they have already done with their UHF. That side was done immediately under the national security interests; but they didn't do VHF because they had been using this temporary patch. Either that or make the tanker use UHF.An immediate follow up and revision on the new metroplex routes should occur so that we can revise them and make them less conflicting. Unfortunately this would have occurred by now; but with the government shutdown; this has put every program; including this one; on hold; and it's jeopardizing safety. As a temporary measure; after the fact and a date late; we have temp modded the Sector 23 frequency to Sector 64 and Sector 65; but there should be a better solution than a temp mod. These high altitude sectors do not have dedicated emergency guard sites; and therefore cannot relay instructions to pilots without going through another sector. This further complicates our ability to work traffic in an emergency situation where we lose all of our comms such as this incident.
ZMA Center Controller reported being unable to manage sectors well due to poor or non-existent radio coverage.