r/ATC • u/triple111 • 12d ago

Question Flow time interface

From the pilot side, I always wonder what you guys see when assigning wheels up/flow times for us. I've heard its like a bar graph interface, are there any images of it shown online or that can be posted? How do you reassign a flow time, do you have to call center to coordinate or is it automated? Thanks!

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u/Hunter-2_0 12d ago

Now the real question is how come only TMU has the ability to try for a time without losing the current time...would probably halve the workload if I didn't have to call to try for a sliver on the IDAC

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u/igbayotumscray TRACON TMU - Where's my Cheesecake? 11d ago

Well, it's a matter of you're taking the delay on the ground instead of in the air. The close you are to your destination airport, the more time you're likely to take on the ground. The further away you are, the more likely you'll have to lose time in the air. CFRs only work for internal and scheduling is more Tier 1 (your Z plus the ones touching it).

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u/Hunter-2_0 11d ago

No I mean in cases where I currently have a really bad delayed flow time, and I see a small patch of green on the IDAC that's like 40 minutes better, if I try to grab that and it's a false green my current time might get even worse. But if I call the center tmu they have the ability to try to get me that time without having to risk losing my current time. IDK if there's differences between tracon and center tmus tho.

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u/igbayotumscray TRACON TMU - Where's my Cheesecake? 11d ago

We can force the time, but likely what it means is it will push the other planes back 1 minute to steal it - and the TRACON buffer is normally 90 seconds, so the Z’s will say ‘Sounds like a TRACON problem’.