New York Air Route Traffic Control Center
New York Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZNY)/New York ARTCC, or New York Center (via radio communications) is one of 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) in the United States.
New York Center was the world's first Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC), and manages the entire New York Metropolitan Area and Philadelphia areas, as well as 3,250,000 square miles (8,400,000 km2) of oceanic airspace.
Collectively, the Center is responsible for air traffic service in 3,270,000 square miles (8,500,000 km2) of controlled airspace. ZNY assumes a route control over four extremely busy Class B airports; most of the air traffic in and out of the New York Metropolitan Area.
Due to multiple factors within the airspace, the ZNY ARTCC is often regarded as one of the most complex airspaces in the United States, and is also one of the busiest in the world with respect to volume of traffic versus volume of airspace.
Area of responsibility
The Center is located at 4205 Johnson Avenue on Long Island in Ronkonkoma, a hamlet (unincorporated community) in the Town of Islip, New York, United States, near New York City. Long Island MacArthur Airport is north of the ARTCC.
Its primary responsibility is the separation of overflights, and the expedited sequencing of arrivals and departures along Standard Terminal Arrival Routes and Standard Instrument Departures for the entire New York Metropolitan Area and Philadelphia.
ZNY assumes control over several Class Bravo (Class B) airports, including
- Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in Newark/Elizabeth, New Jersey
- LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York City, New York
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City, New York
- Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) in Philadelphia/Tinicum Township, Pennsylvania
New York Center manages 3,270,000 square miles (8,500,000 km2) of airspace. Of that, 17,000 square miles (44,000 km2) are mainland airspace, and the remaining 3,250,000 square miles (8,400,000 km2) is oceanic airspace.
The Basic Breakdown
The sector shelves start as low 0 AGL and top out as high as Flight Level 600 (60,000 ft) ASL. ZNY handles a total of 28 sectors, excluding Oceanic sectors. These are broken down into Low Altitude and High Altitude sectors, with 16 Low Altitude sectors and 12 High altitude sectors. Within the Center there are 6 Areas, which other ARTCC's might call specialties.
Area Breakdown
In ZNY, the Areas are Lettered A through F.
Area A
Area A covers the southeast edge of Pennsylvania. Area A puts arrivals in trail for Philadelphia TRACON via the BUNTS feed (its busiest) heading to Philadelphia Int'l (PHL), Wilmington DE Airport (ILG) and other Eastern PA and Northern NJ airports. The area also feeds traffic into PCT (Potomac Consolidated TRACON) which runs arrivals and departures for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), and other area airports. Area A also feeds Harrisburg Approach, controlling Harrisburg Int'l (MDT), Lancaster Airport (LNS), York (THV), Reading Regional Airport (RDG), Allentown Airport (ABE) and other PA airports. Area A's high altitude sectors work departures from all the above airports, and feed them into existing streams received from Area B departing NY & BOS metro areas as well as those coming from over the ocean and from Canada. This traffic is handed off in trail on en route airways to Washington Center (ZDC) to the South and Cleveland Center (ZOB) to the West.
Area B
Area B is the busiest area in ZNY and covers the East side of Pennsylvania, the northern half of New Jersey, and Long Island west of Deer Park (DPK). Area B controls departures heading west, south, and southwest out of N90 (New York TRACON). Area B sequences most of those departures into streams for the STARs to BWI, IAD, and DCA. Area B also sequences all Boston Logan (BOS) arrivals travelling over JFK Airport (JFK) and Hartford's Bradley International Airport (BDL).
Area C
Area C covers the northern edge of Pennsylvania, and controls both eastbound arrivals into JFK on the LENDY5 STAR and some westbound departures out of N90.
Area D
Area D is in the middle of Pennsylvania and borders the Cleveland ARTCC's (ZOB) east border. Area D handles the PHL SPUDS2/SLATT3 STAR along with PHL departures departing via the PTW (Pottstown VOR, or VHF omnidirectional range) exit westbound. Area D's High Altitude sectors handle all westbound N90 departures, and the MIP4 (Milton 4) STAR into LGA and FQM3 (Williamsport 3) STAR into EWR.
Area E
Area E is the first set of Oceanic sectors that mainly have control over the Atlantic just offshore from New York and New Jersey. Area E maintains 2 radar sectors that are both 'offshore'. The first is Sector 66. This sectors owns airspace to the southeast of Kennedy (South of Long Island). There are no VORs or airports within this sector. However, this is one of the busiest, and most difficult, sectors within the facility, mainly due to numerous aircraft that are 'head-on' and are required to descend/ascend through each other's altitudes. Because of this, there is a lot of vectoring and speed control involved. Warning area 107, when active, takes a big chunk of the sector's airspace, thus adding to its complexity. The second 'offshore' radar sector in Area E is Sector 82. Aircraft are off-loaded to this sector when there is weather along the east coast of the US. The rest of the sectors in Area E are all non-radar (ATOP) sectors that control traffic going to/from the Caribbean Islands and Bermuda.
Area F
Area F is the other set of Oceanic sectors, and maintains control of the North and South Atlantic. Area F assumes responsibility for three "mainland" high altitude oceanic sectors just off the coast of New York. This sector becomes extremely busy during the holiday season as many flights are destined for Caribbean and when adverse weather is approaching the eastern seaboard as many flights file flight plans with off shore routing. Complexity in these sectors can make it very challenging due to traffic climbing and descending, crossing, and holding in the sector. The military operates in several warning areas in the airspace, once activated it reduces the airspace by nearly half it's original size and capacity. Since there is no defined route structure like most sectors, traffic flows are random, thus increasing difficulty. This area deals with multiple facilities from other countries, such as Santa Maria, Gander, Moncton, San Juan and Piarco. Each facility has its own method and procedure for coordinating aircraft. Area F also controls the area of the North Atlantic including Bermuda. (Bermuda International Airport only controls flights on approach, departure and while on the ground.) The rest of the sectors in Area F are all non-radar (ATOP) sectors. They control flights that are crossing to/from Europe in the North and South Atlantic.
Areas E and F are bordered by:
- Miami ARTCC - KZMA/ZMA (Miami, Florida)
- Jacksonville ARTCC - KZJX/ZJX (Hilliard, Florida)
- Washington ARTCC - KZDC/ZDC (Leesburg, Virginia)
- Boston ARTCC - KZBW/ZBW (Nashua, New Hampshire)
- San Juan FIR - TJZS/ZSU (Puerto Rico)
- Piarco FIR (Piarco, Trinidad and Tobago)
- Santa Maria FIR (Azores, Portugal)
- Moncton FIR - CZQM (Moncton, New Brunswick)
- Gander FIR - CZQX (Gander, Newfoundland)
Areas and Frequencies
Area A
High Altitude Sectors
- EMI 09 (Westminster 09) - 134.32
- HAR 10 (Harrisburg 10) - 133.47
Low Altitude Sectors
- MXE 25 (Modena 25) - 135.45
- LRP 26 (Lancaster 26) - 133.17
- MDT 27 (Middletown 27) - 132.2
Area B
High Altitude Sectors
- ETX 42 (East Texas 42) - 127.17
- JFK 56 (Kennedy 56) - 125.32
Low Altitude Sectors
- PARKE 39 (PARKE 39) - 132.1
- ARD 55 (Yardley 55) - 134.6
- DIXIE 68 (DIXIE 68) - 118.97
Area C
High Altitude Sectors
- ULW 34 (Elmira 34) - 132.17
- SFK 49 (Stony Fork 49) - 121.32
Low Altitude Sectors
- HUO 35 (Huguenot 35) - 132.6
- SAX 36 (Sparta 36) - 133.15
- CFB 50 (Binghamton 50) - 133.35
- LHY 51 (Lake Henry 51) - 134.45
Area D
High Altitude Sectors
- PSB 73 (Phillipsburg 73) - 132.87
- MIP 75 (Milton 75) - 128.57
Low Altitude Sectors
- BWZ 74 (Broadway 74) - 132.15
- FQM 91 (Williamsport 91) - 124.9/ 134.8
- PTW 92 (Pottstown 92) - 124.62
- SWISSDALE 93 (Swissdale 93) - 123.62
Area E
High Altitude Sectors
- PAEPR 82 (PAEPR 82) - 126.025
- HANRI 83 (HANRI 83) - 133.525
Low Altitude Sectors
- MANTA 66 (Ship Bottom, NJ) - 128.3
Non-Radar Sectors
87 CHAMP, 88 BACUS, 89 KRAFT, 90 GRATX (All ATOPS sectors/Ocean 21)
Area F
High Altitude Sectors
- JOBOC 65 (JOBOC 65) - 125.92
- ATLANTIC 86 (Barnegat, NJ) - 133.5 // 354.000
- BDA 81 (BERMUDA) - 128.5
Non-Radar Sectors
16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24 (All ATOP sectors)
Arinc (New York Radio) handles all Communications on HF Frequencies.
References
External links
Coordinates: 40°47′3.5″N 73°5′48.7″W / 40.784306°N 73.096861°W