Narrative:

The TRACON was combined to the tower. I was working approach using a tdw; which provides for a much smaller display than a normal radar display in the TRACON. Noise level was high as there was 4 other controllers working in the tower cab. I had the military helicopter inbound to bif from the northeast; I was vectoring this helicopter for a visual approach into runway 21; meanwhile a military king air was inbound from the northwest. This aircraft was requesting a visual approach followed by a ILS practise approach. My initial sequence was the helicopter first; followed by the king air. We stagger approaches to bif and elp treating the 2 runways (runway 21 and runway 22) as one. I changed the sequence because the helicopter was too slow; I kept altitude separation between the two as I changed the sequence; however; I became distracted with a VFR arrival over downtown elp that was going to be right in the face of a B737 that was departing elp runway 26L. I turned the cessna south bound and coordinated verbally with the local controller who was working right next to me in the tower. While working on that; I cleared the king air for the visual approach to runway 22 as he was now east of final; while the helicopter was west of final; the 2 still separated. Local control requested to turn the B737 northbound; thus avoiding the cessna pop up traffic. As I saw the helicopter heading into a higher MVA; I vectored them back towards final; as the helicopter now made a much tighter turn than I anticipated and called the runway in sight. I cleared the helciopter for a visual approach to runway 21 into bif. When I realized I might not have required separation I called bif tower to provide visual separation on the traffic they would be talking to; as the controller did not answer me and I had additional traffic I was distracted by other calls and never got back to request the visual separation. The local controller; at elp reported having both aircraft in sight and I did not check to see if separation was lost. Recommendation; the TRACON needs to be open during periods of high traffic; or at a minimum during week days. This helps the controllers to use the proper equipment. The supervisors at elp take administration time to work on administrative duties when they should be supervising the operations. This happens several times a week; and many times they will combine the operations to the tower for this purpose. That was also the case during this instance; there were no extra set of eyes to help the approach controller when we are combined because there is no extra tower display to either split the sectors or have someone watching the operation. Also; we used to be able to provide visual separation to the two runways years back; but now bif has to provide it; but if they do not answer; we have to stagger approaches.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ELP Controller described a conflict event during combined operations in the Tower; citing equipment; procedural and other distractions as contributing factors.

Narrative: The TRACON was combined to the Tower. I was working Approach using a TDW; which provides for a much smaller display than a normal RADAR display in the TRACON. Noise level was high as there was 4 other controllers working in the Tower cab. I had the Military helicopter inbound to BIF from the NE; I was vectoring this helicopter for a Visual Approach into Runway 21; meanwhile a Military King Air was inbound from the NW. This aircraft was requesting a Visual Approach followed by a ILS practise approach. My initial sequence was the helicopter first; followed by the King Air. We stagger approaches to BIF and ELP treating the 2 runways (Runway 21 and Runway 22) as one. I changed the sequence because the helicopter was too slow; I kept altitude separation between the two as I changed the sequence; however; I became distracted with a VFR arrival over downtown ELP that was going to be right in the face of a B737 that was departing ELP Runway 26L. I turned the Cessna South bound and coordinated verbally with the Local Controller who was working right next to me in the Tower. While working on that; I cleared the King Air for the Visual Approach to Runway 22 as he was now East of final; while the helicopter was West of final; the 2 still separated. Local Control requested to turn the B737 Northbound; thus avoiding the Cessna pop up traffic. As I saw the helicopter heading into a higher MVA; I vectored them back towards final; as the helicopter now made a much tighter turn than I anticipated and called the runway in sight. I cleared the helciopter for a Visual Approach to Runway 21 into BIF. When I realized I might not have required separation I called BIF Tower to provide visual separation on the traffic they would be talking to; as the Controller did not answer me and I had additional traffic I was distracted by other calls and never got back to request the visual separation. The Local Controller; at ELP reported having both aircraft in sight and I did not check to see if separation was lost. Recommendation; the TRACON needs to be open during periods of high traffic; or at a minimum during week days. This helps the controllers to use the proper equipment. The supervisors at ELP take administration time to work on administrative duties when they should be supervising the operations. This happens several times a week; and many times they will combine the operations to the Tower for this purpose. That was also the case during this instance; there were no extra set of eyes to help the approach controller when we are combined because there is no extra tower display to either split the sectors or have someone watching the operation. Also; we used to be able to provide visual separation to the two runways years back; but now BIF has to provide it; but if they do not answer; we have to stagger approaches.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.