NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Before the sun came up and rush hour began Thursday morning, an invisible change happened over Nashville.
You'll likely have no idea anything's different, but aviators say the Nashville area will be safer as a result.
Sky 5 pilot Lance Pugliese is in constant communication with air traffic controllers whenever the helicopter gets close enough to the BNA tower at the Nashville Airport.
The required distance from where he and other pilots must communicate with the tower is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration. It is class-based, and before Thursday, Nashville was a Class C or "Charlie."
"That class was set up years ago, before Nashville saw massive growth in air traffic," said Pugliese, who has been flying in and around around Nashville's airspace for a decade.
Along with the growth Middle Tennesseans have experienced on the ground, the FAA tracked a 50 percent increase in air traffic in the area since 2015. And in June, staff determined the Class C was not enough to handle demand.
That's why August 10, the agency expanded Nashville to an enlarged Class C, being dubbed a "Super Charlie," increasing controlled airspace from a 10- to 15-mile radius and adding hundreds of vertical feet.
The FAA cited the need to "reduce the risk of midair collisions and improve air traffic operations."
This Super Charlie is unique to Nashville, and allows the larger airspace without graduating BNA to a Class B or "Bravo."
According to the FAA, Nashville International Airport meets the passenger count, but not the total operations needed, for a Class B designation.
Pugliese said the city's annual July 4th celebration is a great example of why the larger airspace was needed.
"There could be twenty aircraft flying that exact location and half of the aircraft aren’t required to communicate with the air traffic controllers," he said, "they’re just outside of their airspace, so this expansion is going to... require everyone to be communicating. And provide more safety for everyone involved."
The increased diameter now requires smaller aircraft to immediately check in when they take off from nearby John Tune airport in West Nashville or the Smyrna airport in Rutherford County. Allowing for more control and communication over Nashville.
So you may not see the change, or hear it. But it will affect you as more flights take off and land in our area.
"The general public's probably not going to even notice any of the changes, but it's definitely going to increase the safety of any of the flights that they're on — so it's just another great thing for the city of Nashville."
Last fiscal year BNA staff reported the airport served 22 million passengers, breaking the record from the year before. The airport expects to surpass 35 million passengers per year by 2033.
