Stars and Sids (Arrivals & Departures)

Question:  Being about 150 miles from Los Angeles, I often listen to air traffic control  for Los Angeles International (LAX) on LiveATC.net. I've heard more than a few pilots check in with ATC and say something like, "Los Angeles Approach, American 1234 is with you at flight level two two zero, descending on the MITTS." I know that "flight level two two zero" is an altitude of 22,000 feet, but can you shed some light on what the second part means?

Tammy Cravit, Lompoc, CA

Answer:  The "MITTS" is an arrival "profile" for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).  A profile arrival, known as a STAR for Standard Terminal Arrival Route shows pilots exactly where to be at what altitude and may even dictate airspeed.  This standardization relieves controllers from issuing the exact same clearances over and over again and helps relieve radio congestion (although the frequencies for Approach Control are still plenty busy).

Let's have a look at what the pilots look at when they come in on the MITTS and I'll point out a few things to you.  Although the date at the bottom of this chart is recent at the time I'm publishing this question, of course it will not remain current and should not be used for actual navigation (I must be hanging around too many attorneys or something).  You may need to enlarge the picture a bit on your own computer:

http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/LAX/STAR/MITTS+TWO/pdf

On the left side of your screen you should see what pilots use for navigation this STAR.  All the fixes have names.  For instance, look toward the top and you'll see SNRKL, MITTS and JONZZ.  Beneath them are their latitude/longitude coordinates, but pilots in modern cockpits can actually read the names on their cockpit screens.  Below SNRKL   it says, "Cross at or above 12,000'."  As soon as the pilot crosses over SNRKL, he can descend now to 10,000' as you can see the notation below MITTS directs the pilot to cross above 10,000' and below 11,000'.  Most pilots will go right down to the lower limit for the crossing, or 10,000' in this case as there is more of a tendency to be high than low during tightly controlled profile approaches like this.

There are SIDS as well that work the same way.  SID stands for Standard Instrument Departure." 

You'll notice the full name of the MITTS Arrival is actually MITTS TWO, meaning there has been a revision to this procedure.  When the next revision comes out, pilots will be issued a new arrival plate entitled, MITTS THREE, etc.

My good friend and mentor, Hoppy Hopkins (you can read about him in my book "The World At My Feet") used to say, when we were flying together, "Let's get a vector to Hector (a navigational intersection in California, where we flew together), a heading to Redding and a SID to SQUID (a navigation intersection).  He had such a way with words.

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