Section 6 - Departure Control Agreement and Procedures
6.0.1 All personnel staffing the position of Departure Controller (herein “Departure”) within the Miami ARTCC shall abide by and conform to all rules and regulations applying to ATC within the VATSIM and VATUSA environments.
6.0.2 ATC personnel will use the standard callsign format for controllers within VATUSA airspace.
a. The first three (3) characters of the callsign (prefix) represent the major facility at which Departure Control services are offered. See §6.0.4.
b. If the controller will be providing ATC service using voice, the designator _V_ should be used between the prefix and suffix.
c. If the controller is undergoing voice instruction in conjunction with providing ATC service using voice, the “voice student” designation will be used (_VS_) after the callsign prefix.
d. The last three (3) character of the callsign (suffix) shall be: DEP
6.0.3 The controller will provide the following ATC services:
a. Departure services for all airports within the airspace served by the controller.
b. Approach services for all airports within the airspace served by the controller when those services are not being provided by an Approach Controller, when workload permits, and when certified to do so by the Facility Chief.
c. Tower services for those airports within the airspace served by the controller when those airports are designated as eligible for additional service in §6.0.4, and Tower services are not being provided by a Tower Controller.
d. Ground services for those airports within the airspace served by the controller when those airports are designated as eligible for additional service below in §6.0.4, and Ground services are not being provided by a Ground Controller or Tower Controller.
e. Clearance Delivery for those airports within the airspace served by the controller when those airports are designated as eligible for additional service below in §6.0.4, and Delivery services are not being provided by a Delivery Controller, Ground Controller or Tower Controller.
f. Departure will provide IFR clearances and departure releases to IFR flights which request such clearances within the airspace served by the controller, and that plan to depart from an airport not eligible for additional service when those services are not being provided by a Tower, Ground or Delivery controller.
6.0.4 The Departure positions that may be staffed within Miami ARTCC, and a list of airports eligible for additional service by that position are:
Departure Position
Airports Eligible for Additional Service
MIA_DEP
KMIA
KFLL
PBI_DEP
KPBI
6.0.5 Miami Departure (MIA_DEP) serves the airspace within the boundaries of Miami TRACON as depicted in the current sector file from the surface to 16,000 ft.
6.0.6 Palm Beach Departure (PBI_DEP) serves the airspace within the boundaries of the Palm Beach Class C airspace and to a limit of 20 nm. from the center of Palm Beach International Airport (KPBI), from the surface to 14,000 ft.
6.0.7 A VATUSA S-3 rating or higher and passing scores on Miami ARTCC’s Delivery/Ground exam, Miami ARTCC’s Tower exam, and Miami ARTCC’s Approach/Departure exam are required to staff a Departure position within Miami ARTCC.
§ 6 .1.0 Duties and Responsibilities
6.1.1. Departure shall provide Departure services at all airports within the controller’s designated airspace in accordance with FAA 7110.65 except as described in this document.
6.1.2. Departure will use the <F3> key to track and “claim ownership” of all aircraft being provided with Departure or Approach services by the controller.
6.1.3 Departure shall coordinate departure runways and departure headings with the controller providing Tower service (when present). The Tower Controller shall have final authority of the choice of runways for departure.
6.1.4 Departure will make one of the following release agreements with the controller providing Tower services (when present):
a. A blanket release subject to suspension as described in 6.1.5 below.
b. Individual departure releases for each aircraft via text or voice.
6.1.5 Departure may suspend any previous agreed to blanket departure release by using the .break feature of ASRC.
6.1.6 Departure may re-instate any suspended blanket departure releases by using the .nobreak feature of ASRC.
6.1.7 If an aircraft executes a missed approach, or is instructed by either Tower or the controller providing Arrival services to execute a missed approach or go-around, any blanket departure release in effect is immediately cancelled and a new agreement must be made between Tower and Departure as per 6.1.4 above.
6.1.8 Departure will coordinate with the controller providing Approach service to ensure a smooth flow of arriving and departing traffic, and to avoid any violation of separation minima.
6.1.9 Departure will transfer control as follows:
a. A Transfer of Radar Identification and Transfer of Communications must be completed to a Center Controller (when available) before the aircraft reaches either the vertical or horizontal limit of the Departure Controller’s airspace.
b. A Transfer of Radar Identification and Transfer of Communications must be completed to an Approach Controller (when available) before the aircraft must begin a normal descent to the destination served by the Approach Controller.
c. When transferring control to either Center or Approach, Departure will use the <F4> key as described in the ASRC manual.
6.1.10 If Departure will be terminating radar service because no further ATC is available, the controller will remove any temporary altitude restrictions from the flight strip and the scratchpad will be set to reflect the default condition to display the destination.
6.2.1 Departure will ensure that all aircraft handed off to Center are separated by five (5) miles or more at the completion of the handoff.
6.2.2 Departure will provide vectors to aircraft as follows:
a. So that the aircraft may intercept a filed transition of a Departure Procedure before hand off to Center.
b. So that the aircraft is on a heading to the first waypoint of the filed route of flight before hand off to Center.
6.2.3 Departure will issue a “Climb and Maintain” instruction to either the final cruise altitude, or the ceiling of the airspace controlled by Departure, whichever is lower.
6.2.4 Departure will ensure that any aircraft to be handed off will not conflict with any aircraft being tracked by another controller.
6.2.5 With regard to VFR operations:
a. VFR departures remaining within Class B airspace will be issued a heading that will expedite their ability to join the pattern altitude and pattern direction of their destination, then the aircraft will be handed off the the controller providing Approach services (when present).
b. VFR departures that will exit any Class B airspace will be issued a cardinal heading appropriate to their direction of flight that will expedite their departure from Class B airspace (i.e. NORTH, NORTHWEST, SOUTH, SOUTHEAST, etc.).
c. VFR departures exiting Class B or C airspace will be instructed to switch to UNICOM (122.800), unless a request is made for Flight Following, in which case they will be instructed to contact the controller providing Enroute services (when present).
d. VFR aircraft shall be informed when radar service is terminated and their transponder should be set to 1-2-0-0.
§ 6.3.0 Radio Frequencies
6.3.1 The following radio frequencies shall be used:
Controller Callsign
Radio Frequency
MIA_DEP 119.450
PBI_DEP 128.300