Hi Joe and other interested parties
So Sector 14. I tend to run it combined with S13 or as S12/13/14.
Outline:
14 is a fairly small sector, 2 chunks of airspace. The bit east of the line RINIS-XAMAN-SUMUM-GILTI is delegated from Amsterdam FIR. Partly to S14, S13 and TC JACKO. (UK AIP, En-Route chart 6-47 for dimensions). S14 is FL215-FL295. West of the line S14 is FL215-FL245. Below S14 is TC JACKO, Above is S13. Reason is usually combine S13/S14 is so I don't have to worry about the vertical S13/S14 split.
Main routes are East to West. Some traffic has to cross over if routing SUMUM-TOSVA-IDESI vs Traffic routing NOGRO/ABNED/GALSO to LOGAN/ERING/TEBRA.
Coordination/Standing Agreements:
Amsterdam (TMA) and Brussels (TMA) deps climb to 240 and need further climb most of the time, unless they have adestination in the London TMA.
Traffic coming in from the East for LTMA.
LL/WU/LF/some others with RFL 290 or below are coordinated in and need descend to be 240 by the S14/TC SABER boundary.
FL280 for SS/GW/SC/TC traffic, 290 for KK and 260 for LC/MC/KB/some smaller ones. These all have to be descended. To leave S14 downwards at 220 into TC JACKO airspace. The Standing agreements must be achieved. However, SS/GW traffic needs to be 220 lvl TOSVA/RINIS. Nothing stops you from being level before these fixes. As long as it is above JACKO airspace when you transfer it.
There can be lots of SS and GW traffic at the same time. My advice, if needed, descend early and use vertical separation. The best way is to stream the traffic, all in trail at similar speeds. If there is too much traffic, set up a GW stream, east of the IDESI-WIQID track, and a SS stream to the west of the GW stream. Giving direct to WIQID and LAPRA should be OK. As long they are not too far West of IDESI, then they will tangle with LTMA outbound via TC REDFA sector.
Try to stream KK, LC/KB traffic as well.
If streaming is not an option, 2 aircraft above each other is ok. Transfer the first one at 220, wait for it to drop to 210 or below and then transfer the second descending 220.
Priority is to get the Thames traffic down first, then the SS/GW and then the KK traffic. If running S14 alone, make sure you are 240 or below at the RINIS-XAMAN-SUMUM-GILTI line.
Transatlantic routes have an impact on S14. If set to South or Central there tends to be more traffic than when set to North. EHAM traffic will then generally route via S10/11 instead of S13/14.
The main thing for streaming and sequencing is: you achieve separation by using vectors, and maintain it using speed control. One thing though, when under automatic control the speed control is not always very good. So you build a stream, next sector ruins it. My advice: don't look after transferring.... 🙈
I hope this helps. I don't know how the real controllers do this, but this makes sense to me.
happy controlling, C
