Hello, my name is Travis Uhlhorn and I am an air traffic control specialist
at the FAA’s San Antonio International Airport Control Tower, or ATCT.
I have been actively involved
in air traffic within the San Antonio Airspace for the last 12 years.
We will walk you through the flight procedure poster boards for the proposed
arrival and departure procedures at San Antonio International Airport.
Each of the following boards shows a sampling of proposed approach
and departure procedures; most boards also show existing flight tracks.
Each board will show either arrival or departure aircraft
with current day tracks color coded in blue.
Each proposed arrival procedure
will also be shown on two separate boards, one providing a zoomed-out view
and another showing a zoomed-in view to show additional detail.
The flight tracks and procedures are all overlaid on a map of the surrounding area.
Each flight procedure board is oriented with north facing up.
The name of each flight procedure is shown
by an arrow on the map containing a five-letter name.
Arrows for arrival procedures point toward the airport,
while arrows for departure procedures point away from the airport.
For example, this board shows five departures,
the ALISS, YODUH, SNIDR,
TIMMO, and TJANO.
These are called SIDs, or Standard Instrument Departures.
A few acronyms are used by Air Traffic Controllers
explaining the boards and in the text.
The spelling of each departure procedure is limited to five letters.
For example, the spelling of the ALISS departure is pronounced “Alice.”
The stars on the board are locations of waypoints,
which are fixed navigational points in space that the aircraft fly to.
Just as with the spelling of procedures, waypoints are spelled with 5 letters;
for example, the TATAR waypoint
would be pronounced “Tater.” The proposed flight procedures
The proposed flight procedures
are colored purple for departures and orange for arrivals.
These colored paths show the proposed flight paths.
Surrounding the paths are “dispersed path areas”
in either pink for departures or yellow for arrivals.
These areas show the possible locations where aircraft may fly,
and account for the possibility of different routing
to avoid hazardous weather, for operational need, or for safety.
When aircraft fly in these areas, it is typically due
to a pilot receiving a compass heading from Air Traffic Control.
A vector is a compass heading assigned to an aircraft
by an Air Traffic Controller at San Antonio TRACON
or the airport tower.
The proposed procedures will use satellites
for guidance instead of ground-based navigational aids.
For arriving aircraft,
once the Standard Terminal Arrival Route, or STAR,
Controllers may either give
the pilot a vector to the final approach or fly
the entire procedure and would be issued the RNP approach.
RNP is an acronym for
Required Navigation Performance
that allows properly equipped aircraft
to fly precise routes all the way to the runway.
San Antonio International Airport
currently has four RNP approach procedures
that are utilized by properly equipped aircraft.
These are shown in teal on the maps.
Aircraft arriving or departing may be vectored
off their procedure for operational need,
safety, or for hazardous weather.
Aircraft that are vectored are given a different heading to fly
than the published procedure.
However, controllers would use these proposed procedures
as published whenever air traffic conditions allow.
The bullet points on the right side
provide additional details about the procedures.
This board shows an overview of the proposed arrival
and departure procedures in the greater San Antonio area.
These paths generally follow where aircraft arrive and depart
today, especially in areas within a few miles of the airport.
As we walk through the boards,
we’ll talk about each of the operational flows,
which is what we call the primary direction aircraft arrive and depart.
Primarily, aircraft land and depart into the wind,
however, many other factors
such as route of flight, weight of aircraft, runway closures,
and velocity of wind are also considered
which permit aircraft to arrive or depart
other runways to achieve operational advantages.
For example,
at San Antonio, aircraft may land on one runway and takeoff
on another, such as landing on Runway 13R
and departing on Runway 4.
This board shows an overview of the proposed arrival and departure
procedures in relation to military airspace in the greater San Antonio area.
Randolph Air Force Base is located 12 miles from San Antonio
International Airport, and is depicted on the map with the label “RND.”
The large areas of military airspace, depicted by the shaded
regions, are used for military training.
The proposed procedures are designed to generally avoid these areas.
However, civilian aircraft can fly through these Military Operations
Areas, or “MOAs” if flying under Visual Flight Rules.
This board shows a zoomed out view of the existing flight
tracks and proposed departure procedures, called “SIDs”,
for aircraft departing to the southeast on Runway 13 Right.
Aircraft departing on Runway 13 Right will initially fly a compass
heading given by Air Traffic Control to a waypoint.
This initial heading is called a “vector.”
From the waypoint,
aircraft will continue their departure by following the SID.
Aircraft will continue to depart and climb out as they do today
close-in to the airport, below 10,000 feet
while maintaining the existing voluntary noise abatement procedures.
Runway 13R is a commonly used runway because winds
are often from the southeast, and it is safest for aircraft to land and
depart into the wind.
This board shows a zoomed-out view
of the existing flight tracks and proposed arrival procedures, called “STARS”,
for aircraft arriving to the southeast on Runway 13 Right.
Aircraft landing on Runway 13 Right will fly the STAR to a waypoint,
where they are then given a vector
by controllers to the final approach to land.
Aircraft will continue to arrive as they do today, using similar routes.
Just as aircraft depart on Runway 13R due to the direction of the wind, aircraft
also land on Runway 13R when the wind direction is from the southeast.
This board shows a zoomed in view of the existing flight tracks
and proposed STARS for aircraft arriving to the southeast on Runway 13 Right.
This board shows a zoomed out view of the existing flight tracks
and proposed SIDs for aircraft departing to the northeast on Runway 04.
Aircraft departing on Runway 04 will initially fly a vector
given by Air Traffic Control to a waypoint.
From the waypoint, aircraft will continue their departure by following the SID.
Aircraft will continue to depart and climb out as they do today
close-in to the airport, below 10,000 feet
while maintaining the existing voluntary noise abatement procedures.
Aircraft depart on Runway 4 year-round, flying initially to the northeast,
joining a SID to guide them to their destination.
The proposed SIDS are being implemented as part of the FAA’s
modernization of the National Airspace System.
These SIDS are used by San Antonio International Airport,
Randolph Air Force Base, as well as other smaller airports.
This board shows a zoomed out view of the existing flight tracks
and proposed STARS for aircraft arriving to the northeast on Runway 04.
Aircraft landing on Runway 04 will fly the STAR to a waypoint,
and are then given a vector to the final approach to land.
Aircraft will continue to arrive as they do today, using similar routes.
Aircraft arrive on Runway 4
year-round when the winds come from the north.
This board shows a zoomed in view of the existing flight tracks
and proposed STARS for aircraft arriving to the northeast on Runway 04.
This board shows a zoomed out view of the existing flight tracks
and proposed SIDs for aircraft departing to the southwest on Runway 22.
Aircraft departing on Runway 22 will initially fly
a vector given by Air Traffic Controllers to a waypoint.
From the waypoint, aircraft will continue their departure by following the SID.
Aircraft will continue to depart and climb
as they do today close-in to the airport,
below 10,000 feet
while maintaining the existing voluntary noise abatement procedures.
Runway 22 is used when winds are from the southwest.
This board shows a zoomed out view of the existing flight tracks
and proposed STARs for aircraft arriving to the southwest on Runway 22.
Aircraft landing on Runway 22 will fly the STAR to a waypoint,
and are then given a vector to the final approach to land.
Aircraft will continue to arrive as they do today, using similar routes.
This board shows a zoomed in view of the existing flight tracks
and proposed STARs for aircraft arriving to the southwest on Runway 22.
This board shows a zoomed out view of the existing flight tracks
and proposed SIDs for aircraft departing to the northwest on Runway 31 Left.
Aircraft departing on Runway 31 Left will initially fly a vector
given by Air Traffic Controllers to a waypoint.
From the waypoint, aircraft will continue their departure by following the SID.
Aircraft will continue to depart and climb out as they do
today close-in to the airport, below 10,000 feet
while maintaining the existing voluntary noise abatement procedures.
Runway 31L is used when winds come from the north,
which is typically during the winter months.
This board shows a zoomed out view of the existing flight tracks
and proposed STARs for aircraft arriving to the northwest on Runway 31 Left.
Aircraft landing on Runway 31 Left will fly the STAR to a waypoint,
and are then given a vector to the final approach to land.
Aircraft will continue to arrive as they do today, using similar routes.
As with aircraft departing on Runway 31L,
aircraft arriving on this runway is common in the winter months
due to the predominant wind direction being from the north and northwest.
This board shows a zoomed in view of the existing flight tracks
and proposed STARs for aircraft arriving
to the northwest on Runway 31 Left.
Hello, I’m Kristi Regotti and I am an Environmental
Protection Specialist with the FAA in the southwest region.
Per federal guidance in the National Environmental Policy Act,
referred to as NEPA, the FAA is required to evaluate categories of potential
environmental, social, and economic effects of a proposed Federal action.
According to NEPA, these proposed SIDs and STARs are a proposed Federal action.
The environmental level of review
for this proposed action will be an Environmental Assessment, or EA.
The EA is currently in process and a draft EA is scheduled to be published
for public review and comment later this year.
More details of the public ability to review
and comment on the EA will be available on the project website.