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S46 - Seattle TRACON

About this facility

Seattle, Washington, USA 582,394 annual operations in 2016 (FAA ATADS)

Located less than a quarter mile west of SeaTac's Runway 16R-34L, this consolidated approach control facility works all traffic in the Seattle metropolitan area. The facility is fairly new, with a large, open control floor sporting about 15-20 STARS scopes, and an in-house Traffic Management Unit.

Airspace

For the most part, S46 airspace extends up to 15,000 feet over a fairly large area surrounding northwestern Washington state. There are various shelves that extend S46's ability to prepare an arrival sequence, including the Olympia and Arlington shelves (SFC-9,000), and the Paine shelf which extends the northern reach of the airspace.

Class B airspace exists with tops of 10,000 over the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area, with a fairly complex structure designed to deconflict noncommunicative VFR traffic from IFR arrivals on arrival and departure procedures in and out of Seattle.

Of unique note here is the location of Boeing Field (KBFI), which is less than 5nm north of SeaTac (KSEA), right along the approach course to the 16s. For this reason, extra restrictions on localizer intercept altitudes or crossing restrictions are needed to ensure appropriate separation. Particularly when in good visual conditions on a south/east flow, due to the numerous conveniently placed landmarks, controllers heavily utilize visual reference points with their traffic advisories.

Instrument Procedures

For an American airport, the procedures are fairly automated, with the design of the SIDs and STARs taking a lot of weight off the controllers. Aircraft climb and descend via the procedures, and by design the traffic flow requires minimal intervention other than running the final. Aircraft are still manually vectored to the final approach course.

Sectors Available in openScope

To be completed. Currently still in search of information on S46 sectorization.

F - final  (default)
E - east feeder  (unavailable)
W - west feeder  (unavailable)
B - east satellite (unavailable)
D - west satellite (unavailable)
A - east departure (unavailable)
Y - west departure (unavailable)

Airports of Interest

KSEA (Primary Airport)

Seattle-Tacoma International (422,503 annual operations)

As it's commonly known by the locals, "SeaTac" is the powerhouse airport of Seattle TRACON. SeaTac has three parallel runways, the outer two having centerlines 2,500 feet apart, making them independent in terms of wake turbulence. Typically the majority of departing traffic will utilize 16L-34R (and often 16C-34C during times of peak volume), and the majority of landing traffic will utilize 16R-34L (possibly alongisde 16C-34C when in VMC), and 16L-34R intermittently for heavier aircraft.

S46 has two final monitor positions for KSEA, and thus can support simultaneous independent ILS approaches to Runways 16L-34R and 16R-34L.

KBFI

Boeing Field / King County International
249,075 annual operations
4.8nm north of KSEA

Known for being the home of Boeing and its assembly hangars, as well as being a busy general aviation airport, KBFI's activity presents a unique challenge due to its proximity with SeaTac. Boeing Field's two parallel runways can accommodate heavy pattern work with light GA on the smaller 3,709' x 100' runway, as well as large and heavy aircraft on its 10,000' x 200' runway.

KRNT

Renton Municipal
127,998 annual operations
4.7nm northeast of KSEA

General aviation airport with multiple FBOs and flight schools serving the Renton/Kent area.

KPAE

Snohomish County / Paine Field
114,247 annual operations
27.5nm north of KSEA

Home of the Boeing Everett Delivery Center, this airport is almost exclusively Boeing traffic, serving as a place to store new aircraft before airlines take delivery of the aircraft.

KTIW

Tacoma Narrows
75,621 annual operations
15.4nm southwest of KSEA

Remote general aviation across the sound, west of downtown Tacoma, right by the infamous Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

KOLM

Olympia Regional
45,838 annual operations
37.6nm southwest of KSEA

World War II era airport now open for public use. Has relatively little traffic, much of which are helicopters.

Additional Resources

Add links to relevant videos, files, etc here