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Game on: Grissom ATC gears up for 'Super' weekend

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner
  • 434th ARW Public Affairs
GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. --  As Indianapolis gears up for Super Bowl XLVI, Grissom air traffic controllers are preparing for a full-on blitz of game-bound fans flying through their airspace.

Grissom ATC handles all military, civilian and commercial air traffic between Chicago Center and Indianapolis Center up to 10,000 feet and is an integral part of the National Airspace System.

"All south-bound traffic to Indy will have to go through Grissom, and we'll be the feeder into Indy for the game," explained Terry Albaugh, 434th Operations Support Squadron ATC manager. "It's going to be pretty wild man, pretty wild."

Typical traffic in Grissom's airspace consists of everything from small, single-engine propeller planes to corporate executive jets. These aircraft are exactly what the controllers say they are planning for this weekend. They just expect a whole lot more of them.

"On a typical day, our controllers normally deal with 300 to 500 aircraft," said Albaugh. "Super Bowl Sunday through Monday will be the busiest times, and we expect to get 600 to 800 'exec jets' more than normal."

And, it's those executive jets carrying celebrities, politicians and other prominent individuals into the heart of the state that Grissom's controllers will be most concerned with this weekend.

"There will be more 'props' in the mix as well, but they aren't as much concern," said Albaugh. "We're mainly concerned about the jets because of their speed and fuel (capabilities)."

With all the additional air traffic flowing from the northeast of New England Patriots' and New York Giants' fans, Grissom's radar scopes are going to be abuzz with activity.

"It's going to be like a controlled beehive," remarked Albaugh. "The bees are going to come back to the hive so far, and then they're all going to line up behind each other."

Perhaps a better way of explaining it would be a set of beehives with one major hive in the center with several smaller hives around.

"Not all the jets will be going into Indianapolis International (Airport)," explained Albaugh. "(The Federal Aviation Administration has) six satellite airports set up to help deal with the increased jet traffic."

And, to help the NAS deal with increased traffic during and after the big game, Grissom controllers will be heading into overtime.

"Our normal operations are from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., but to help the NAS, we'll be open from 5:30 a.m. until 2 a.m. on Sunday and then opening back up Monday at 6 a.m.," explained Albaugh. "We added an additional shift, which means those who normally had the day off to watch the game will have to come in."

And, in the world of air traffic management where lives are at stake, the key to success is continuity, so Albaugh said he had to do a bit of juggling to make sure everything fit into place.

"The key is having people who work day shift work during the day and those who work the night shift work the night so everyone is familiar with what's going to happen," he said.

Schedule changes weren't the only thing the Grissom controllers have had to do to ensure a safe night for everyone taking to the Hoosier skies. They first started their preparing for the big game in October.

"We've trained hard on various scenarios, planning for the worst and hoping for the best," stated Albaugh. "We're planning for ice, snow storms and power outages; we take everything into consideration we possibly can."

Perhaps one of the controllers biggest weather concerns for the controllers is ice.

"Icing is probably the worst thing for a pilot," said the air traffic manager before adding it's something they're used to handling and air travelers can rest assured they're in good hands. "Every year we go into a lot of training around October on what to look for including keywords from pilots and alternate landing locations, so we're prepared for anything."

And, being that prepared stems from a culture of excellence and cooperation already in place at Grissom, said Albaugh.

"From the start the (434th Air Refueling Wing) was right behind us," he recalled. "They never hesitated at supporting us and that's a big part (of our success)."

With all the hard work the ATC crews have put into making the Super Bowl weekend successful, they said they were excited to be part of Hoosier history.

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to say, 'Yeah, we worked the Super Bowl,'" concluded Albaugh. "It will be an adrenaline rush, but in the end we're just another set of eyes to make sure it all flows well."

The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. Airmen and aircraft from the 434thARW are routinely called to deploy around the world in support of the Air Force mission.

Grissom is the home to the 434th ARW, Army Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve. The base is the largest employer in Miami County and injects over $135 million into the local economy each year.

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