Miami ATCT & TRACON (MIA), Miami, Florida, USA 1.01M annual operations (TRACON) in 2016 (FAA ATADS)
A part of the Miami Air Traffic Control Tower Facility at Miami International Airport, the Miami TRACON works all traffic below 16,000 in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale metropolitan areas. Miami itself is very, very busy, but the satellite airports within Miami airspace should not be taken lightly either. About 277,000 annual movements involve neither Miami nor Fort Lauderdale, which means even the satellite sectors can bring you down.
The procedures are fairly manual, still requiring controllers to issue standard crossing restrictions that are written on the charts as what to expect. There are a few important divisions to note:
- There are two sets of SIDs, some in use during daytime (0600-2300 local), and the others used for nighttime noise abatement only. Daytime SIDs (0600-2300):
- EONNS2
- HEDLY2
- MIA6
- MNATE2
- PADUS2
- VALLY2
- WINCO2
Nighttime SIDs (2300-0600):
- BSTER2 (west ops only)
- DEEEP2 (west ops only)
- HITAG2 (east ops only)
- JONZI2 (east ops only)
- POTTR6 (east ops only)
- SOUBY5 (east ops only)
V - Final North (default)
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A - Final South (unavailable)
N - Feeder North (unavailable)
S - Feeder South (unavailable)
D - Departure North (unavailable)
W - Departure South (unavailable)
F - FLL Final North (unavailable)
J - FLL Feeder/Final South (unavailable)
R - FLL North Feeder (unavailable)
Q - FLL Southwest (unavailable)
Z - FLL Southeast (unavailable)
L - FLL North Departure (unavailable)
G - FLL Satellite (unavailable)
H - TMB Arrival (unavailable)
Miami International 426,474 annual operations
Miami is, of course, the busiest airport being served by Miami TRACON. Due to prevailing east winds, the runways are aligned east west, and frequently operates in an east flow with well-directed winds. This also works well for noise abatement, as the aircraft are naturally departing over the water, rather than over populated areas.
During periods of high arrival volume, Miami utilizes land-and-hold-short operations (LAHSO) for arrivals on Runway 9 and Runway 12. Typically, Runway 9 arrivals keep the full length, and B737/A320 and similar (or smaller) aircraft land Runway 12 with instructions to hold short of Runway 9. This is most frequently the way the operation is run, though controllers have the ability to change it on the fly.
During periods of high departure volume, Miami utilizes mostly Runway 8R, with Runway 9 being used for some heavy aircraft, assignment often determined based on parking position.
MIA does not have any final monitor positions, and thus are unable to conduct simultaneous independent parallel approaches. Staggered separation must be used if parallel arrivals are in use.
Fort Lauderdale / Hollywood International
306,728 annual operations
18.2nm north-northeast of KMIA
In terms of airspace, Fort Lauderdale is a very short distance away from Miami, and it is probably only for this reason that Fort Lauderdale does not have its own TRACON. It is a pretty busy place, and due to the proximity to another high volume airport (Miami), there is simply not a lot of room to get creative in the areas between these airports. It has two parallel east-west aligned runways (which roughly parallel Miami's), 10L and 10R. There is more general aviation traffic at KFLL than KMIA, but it is still overwhelmingly air carrier dominated (look to TMB and OPF for the GA activity).
Miami Executive (Tamiami) 282,066 annual operations 11.8nm southwest of KMIA
A MIA satellite whose traffic is composed mostly of itinerant general aviation traffic, which means the place can be a beehive of VFR during peak periods. Other than charters for the "top 1%", this airport exists solely to quench the people's thirst for a place to do pattern work, or to fly into and out of on the weekends. This is the kind of place for which "snowbirds" and "weekend warriors" get their names.
North Perry 190,955 annual operations 12.6nm north-northeast of KMIA
A FLL satellite south of the Fort Lauderdale area.
Pompano Beach Airpark 186,534 annual operations 28.7nm north-northeast of KMIA
A FLL satellite north of the Fort Lauderdale area.
Fort Lauderdale Executive 174,391 annual operations 24.9nm north-northeast of KMIA
A FLL satellite airport with traffic destined for the Fort Lauderdale area.
Palm Beach International 148,896 annual operations (airport) 300,983 annual operations (TRACON)
Our neighbors to the north of Miami, Palm Beach airport and its Palm Beach TRACON work closely with Miami TRACON. It is far less busy than Miami, but does control a fairly large area.
Miami Opa Locka Executive 141,195 annual operations 6.7nm north of KMIA
A busy FLL satellite airport with the majority of corporate traffic destined for the Miami area.
Boca Raton 88,269 annual operations 36.2nm north-northeast of KMIA
Boca is pictured on the Miami video map, and is right along the northern perimeter depicted in openScope. However, due to the actual stratification of the airspace, altitudes 4,000 and down over the Boca Raton airport are controlled by Palm Beach TRACON, meaning Miami TRACON will be handing aircraft off to Palm Beach rather than directly providing approach and departure services at this airport.
Miami Approach (Final) footage Miami Approach footage during radar outage