May (Q3) 2024

I don’t think the process was very thorough. I think each number was just created locally who knows how. Many times possibly like the night before it was due. I also don’t think people realize how quickly you go from understaffed fo overstaffed. Being 2-3 over numbers quickly turns into splitting dead sectors cus everyone is sitting around. If we went to full CRWG we’d be 5-6 over numbers a lot of days.
If I remember correctly, natca rep sat with atm and they looked at traffic on a specific day. I think it was like the 27th or 29th busiest day of the year. They then went into each area and looked at the traffic numbers during the busiest part of the day by sector and said we need “X” bodies to staff this area with “X” positions open and “X” d-sides, etc. They then correlated it to area staffing and then total center staffing. So then some Centers went up and others went down. Again this was just my Z but I would be surprised if it was done much different at other Zs, tower and approach I don’t know.
 
If I remember correctly, natca rep sat with atm and they looked at traffic on a specific day. I think it was like the 27th or 29th busiest day of the year. They then went into each area and looked at the traffic numbers during the busiest part of the day by sector and said we need “X” bodies to staff this area with “X” positions open and “X” d-sides, etc. They then correlated it to area staffing and then total center staffing. So then some Centers went up and others went down. Again this was just my Z but I would be surprised if it was done much different at other Zs, tower and approach I don’t know.
It was done the same everywhere. They just collaborated on what positions would be open when. The rest was done by NATCA National and HQ
 
Work ground separate from local, work clearance separate from ground, standalone CIC, heck they can always create a local assist position. Don't worry about that!

In seriousness though, I wonder if the variance across facilities comes from misinterpreting or deliberately fudging the process. Some facilities made their new numbers taking into account having people off the boards for recurrent or whatever, and some didn't, maybe? Who knows.
I was part of the process at my facility and “from the hip” would be an understatement.
 
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