NextGen: On A Roll

TO: Manager of External Change
Your Operation

FROM: AAA

SUBJECT: Upcoming Airspace and IFR Procedural Changes

The rolling stone that constitutes NextGen is picking up additional momentum following the North Texas airspace redo in November. We would have expected a pause to regroup and refresh, but this performer is going for the Gold – in this case, a bagful of airspace and IFR procedural changes that will be rolled out with the chart change cycle effective November 13, 2014.

The center of action for these changes will be primarily the heavily trafficked Northeastern quadrant of the U.S., basically from the D.C. area up through and including the portions of Canada roughly along a Windsor, Toronto, Montreal line, but California will see some changes too.

Changes will occur in practically every category of IFR procedure except approaches, so you will find new, revised, and deleted J-Routes, Q-Routes, STARS, and SIDs in the total package. The main effect will be to make the system more efficient by increasing the overall NextGen component; meaning primarily more RNAV PBN.

User impact will vary depending on where you fly, how frequently you fly, who files, what you typically file, and your avionics (equipment). The changes will affect more than 400 preferred routes and all coded departure routes and playbook routes related to those.

The NBAA has done its usual excellent job of summarizing the upcoming action, and you can find that briefing via this link: http://www.nbaa.org/ops/intl/nam/20141009-significant-airspace-changes-coming-november-13-across-the-united-states-canada.php