Hey guys, just wanted to chime in and give the ZMA point of view as well.
So I think part of the issue with this event was ZMA and ZJX didn't have a dedicated TMU for each, we had Brin running around trying to do both while also trying to manage ZJX staffing issues so he was pretty busy. Us not having a dedicated TMU is totally on us, we just didn't have the controller to spare to be staring at the TMU tapes the whole night who really knew how to manage it. And just so I'm clear, I am only proposing potential solutions to this exact situation were it to arise again, my overall solution to fixing the immense flow of traffic would be closer to a booking system, such as CalScream, but that comes with its own issues. As far as the solution for Saturday would go, we weren't anticipating that more than 60% of the traffic would come from ATL, we almost assumed a 50/50 split, but clearly it didn't turn out as such. In retrospect I would have began rerouting ATL deps down SSCOT as soon as I noticed IAH ran out of traffic, but it just didn't happen unfortunately. Since ZJX is an integral part of the flow of traffic into ZMA, especially for events, I think the most beneficial way to have solved this would have been to have ZTL and ZJX work a little closer and instead of stopping ZMAs, starting rerouting down SSCOT, since one side of ZJX was almost empty for part of the event. We just had too much traffic coming from one place, and it happens, this isn't a new issue when it comes to events in VATUSA, especially flyin style events like this one. And I do agree that there needs to be a more practical solution then just having lines and lines of departures, but we just haven't figured it out yet. I know I'm repeating almost exactly what has been said earlier, but I just want it known that ZMA agrees that we could've done that much much better and we will look to do it better in the future.
Again I know I'm mostly repeating everyone, but this is a long standing issue for these type of events, and it is/will be here until we find a more permanent solution. Either way we do this for fun, and I hope that the surrounding ARTCCs at least enjoyed themselves and the challenges brought on by this event. I understand that ZTL had an insane amount of traffic, even with the stats Matt gave all three ARTCCs handled the event very well and I appreciate everyone around us hanging out beyond the event end and giving the pilots a fun night of flying into KMIA.