ZOA FNO Success!

[Ira Robinson]

Although I was unable to attend the event I have heard nothing but wonderful things about how well it went.  Traffic levels were apparently way higher than expected and the weather was as poor as it could be, so help was provided by surrounding ARTCC's as well.  I understand that controllers and pilots all adapted to circumstances that made them think out of the box, and did so with professionalism and courtesy.

For those of you who did attend I would love to hear some more stories of your experience, for the ones I have heard so far have just blown me away!
 

[Ryan Parry]

It really makes me happy to hear that there are positive reviews of the event going around. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't extremely nervous about the event. We'd just completed a resectorization of our Northern California TRACON a couple weeks ago, the weather put us into southeast plan in IMC, which meant we had one runway to land on, and we were a tad bit short handed. All in all though I thought we did a fantastic job considering the circumstances and I couldn't be prouder of the ZOA crew. I also owe a big thanks to the controllers from outside of ZOA that came in to help us out!

We had 83 departures and 151 arrivals between KSFO, KOAK, and KSJC. Obviously KSFO is the bulk of that number (121 arrivals).

[Don Desfosse]

I thought it was great.  I say this even after being quoted a one hour estimated gate hold at KLAX for KSFO, but in reality it was lifted way earlier than that.  Yeah, I heard about a bunch of folks diverting because of extended hold times, but they should have heeded the advice to bring plenty of fuel.  And guess what, diverts happen.  And everything I heard (and experienced myself) was that the service was excellent. Job well done, with a perfect storm (literally) working against you.