Stratotanker 135
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 25.5
Workload; Time Pressure; Situational Awareness; Distraction; Confusion; Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Human Factors; Procedure
I was training a developmental controller on her second D-side. We had an ALTRV (Altitude Reservation) scheduled through the area with 2 KC35's and 4 F15's. This ALTRV came through yesterday with 1 DC10 and 6 F15's. There was not a separate flight plan filed yesterday on the F15's and they were requesting to break up in the sector adjacent ours. The sector previous to ours put in a proposed flight plan for the F15's. The DC10 was filed to RDR; but after the break-up requested a different destination. So yesterday's break up went smoother than todays because of the proposed flight plan. Yesterday I pointed out the issue to the FLM (Front Line Manager). This flight plan is filed through the airspace as a single ship; only the DC10; and there is no flight plan for the F15's. This is a problem as they are flying through because the URET (User Request and Evaluation Tool) flight plan is not accurately showing the correct number and types of aircraft and it's a problem for the break up as there is no flight plan on file. Today; the ALTRV was [Flight X]; 2 KC35's and 4 F15's. The F15's wanted to break off from the KC35's and the KC35's wanted to break up and return as single ships. Once again; the flight plan for the ALTRV is filed as a single ship and no flight plans are in on any other aircraft. [Flight X] informs us that [Flight Y] is going to want to break off and go to [another destination] (no flight plan on file) and the F15's; [Flight Z]; will break off and go to [destination airport] via FAR..DIK..MLS..BIL. So then we put flight plans in on the 2 new flights. The R-side attempts to break up all 3 flights but accidently clears [Flight X] as 'flight' so [Flight Y] follows him. Then the turn to destination puts them going into another area's sector and we have to coordinate with the next sector as [Flights X & Y] aren't really broken up yet. Then [Flight Y] asked for different routing and at this point they are in the next sector passing right through an arrival stream into MSP. The next sector controller calls and asks us to leave the [Flights] MARSA (Military Authority Assumes Responsibility for Separation of Aircraft) assign them 260B270 and ship them to the next sector. So the next sector ends up breaking them up. Now [Flight Z] was cleared to MOU via FAR 'as filed'. I'm not sure if they knew what 'as filed' was but we had put in what was on the ALTRV sheet. Instead of flying the routing on the ALTRV sheet; they flew direct FAR direct MOU. The next sector caught that and fixed the routing. Now; after [Flight Z] was cleared they went NORDO. So they weren't advised MARSA was terminated until they found a way to the next sector's frequency somehow. The whole thing was a huge mess that had many contributing causes. The first recommendation is that all aircraft that will split from a formation flight have separate flight plans filed. This will help out with the sector workload immensely. Military aircraft don't always have the best radios and if they are on UHF frequencies; they don't always work well. Trying to get a flight plan during flight from a military aircraft is always a high workload situation and errors can easily be made. We didn't have the equipment suffix for [Flight Z] and they were negative RVSM. The previous sector had told us this otherwise it could have been a big problem because after break up [Flight Z] requested FL360. There should have been a separate flight plan for each [Flight X & Y] and one for [Flight Z]. At the very least [Flight Z] should have had a flight plan filed as 4/F15. Then [Flight X & Y] would be filed as 2/H/KC35. They were all filed as 1/H/KC35. I was very upset because this happened 2 days in a row; after I pointed out the problem to the FLM.The issue with the break up was because of poor procedure on the part of the R-side. He should have gotten all 3 flights established at different altitudes before he cleared them and kept them in our airspace until all the routing andaltitude issues were sorted out. This became much more complicated because they went into another sector.
ZMP Controller reported of problems associated with a military flight break up after refueling. Controller reported this was a problem the day before and that it was reported to the FLM on duty.