Narrative:

During my over night shift we were on a runway 27 operation. I got a call from the controller in the TRACON to coordinate a [runway] 9R arrival which I approved. The controller in the TRACON worked aircraft Y in first for runway 27R. I cleared aircraft Y to land and noticed the TRACON controller turn aircraft X on final for runway 9R. The aircraft X was showing 280 KTS as a ground speed and was coming up to the runway fast as aircraft Y was rolling out on the runway. The TRACON controller did not switch the aircraft X to me until he was on a 3 mile final for runway 9R. When aircraft X checked in I told him to continue and that traffic was rolling out on runway 27L. The aircraft X pilot then came back and said he was going to do south turns so he could descend and lose air speed. A couple seconds later the aircraft X pilot said to me he does not think he will be able to land. I told aircraft X to go-around. Shortly after aircraft X was given instructions to go-around an alert on the asde-X went off saying to send aircraft X around. At this time aircraft Y was at taxi speed and I gave him instructions to exit the runway. I then went back to aircraft X and cleared him for a visual approach to runway 27L and cleared him to land on runway 27L. After the incident I called down to the supervisor to report the asde-X alert as required. No loss of separation occurred.the TRACON controller [and] I did not follow proper opposite direction approach procedures. When I was given aircraft X I should have sent him around right away instead of letting it go as far as it did. I believe our facility should have opposite direction approach procedures in the local west and local east SOP. I looked today and there is nothing in the local control section saying that the tower has to call the TRACON to tell them that the landing aircraft is over the threshold but further back in the SOP it is written. I believe since this pertains to local control that the procedures should be clearly written in the local control east/west sections of the SOP.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PHL Tower Controller reports of situation being an opposite direction arrival that caused the ASDE-X to alarm because the LOA procedure was not followed by the TRACON or the Tower controllers.

Narrative: During my over night shift we were on a Runway 27 operation. I got a call from the Controller in the TRACON to coordinate a [Runway] 9R arrival which I approved. The Controller in the TRACON worked Aircraft Y in first for Runway 27R. I cleared Aircraft Y to land and noticed the TRACON Controller turn Aircraft X on final for Runway 9R. The Aircraft X was showing 280 KTS as a ground speed and was coming up to the runway fast as Aircraft Y was rolling out on the runway. The TRACON Controller did not switch the Aircraft X to me until he was on a 3 mile final for Runway 9R. When Aircraft X checked in I told him to continue and that traffic was rolling out on Runway 27L. The Aircraft X pilot then came back and said he was going to do S turns so he could descend and lose air speed. A couple seconds later the Aircraft X pilot said to me he does not think he will be able to land. I told Aircraft X to go-around. Shortly after Aircraft X was given instructions to go-around an alert on the ASDE-X went off saying to send Aircraft X around. At this time Aircraft Y was at taxi speed and I gave him instructions to exit the runway. I then went back to Aircraft X and cleared him for a visual approach to Runway 27L and cleared him to land on Runway 27L. After the incident I called down to the Supervisor to report the ASDE-X alert as required. No loss of separation occurred.The TRACON Controller [and] I did not follow proper opposite direction approach procedures. When I was given Aircraft X I should have sent him around right away instead of letting it go as far as it did. I believe our facility should have opposite direction approach procedures in the Local West and Local East SOP. I looked today and there is nothing in the Local Control section saying that the Tower has to call the TRACON to tell them that the landing aircraft is over the threshold but further back in the SOP it is written. I believe since this pertains to Local Control that the procedures should be clearly written in the Local Control East/West sections of the SOP.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.