Denver TMA assessment

This report describes the assessment of the Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) conducted at the Denver Center and TRACON, January 11-February 5, 1993. The assessment addressed the effectiveness of TMA for supporting various traffic management activities. At the Center, traffic management coordinators (TMC's) shadowed traffic operations, using TMA to make metering time and internal release decisions. At the TRACON, TMC's accessed TMA in an advisory mode for different planning activities such as staffing, distributing the traffic load, and changing the airport acceptance rate. These different opportunities for assessing TMA provide insight into TMA as a potential communication aid and planning tool. Findings from this assessment indicate that TMA can be used to support traffic management planning and decisions. TMC's at the center were able to use information provided by TMA to determine metering times as well as internal release times. At the TRACON, TMA supported decisions on airport configuration, airport acceptance rate, load distribution, proactive coordination with the center, and staffing. While findings of TMA use are generally positive, it must be kept in mind that this assessment is a snapshot in time. Not all TMA capabilities were assessed, nor were TMC's fully trained and knowledgeable on all features. Feature use will continue to evolve and strategies emerge as the TMC's gain experience with TMA over a variety of traffic situations and their understanding of TMA capabilities broadens with continued training.