Abe TRACON and tower controllers describe a situation where two aircraft became a conflict resulting...

Attributes
ACN	1222114
Time
Date	201411
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ABE.TRACON
State Reference	PA
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Light Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Light Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Approach
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 17.7
Person 2
Function	Local
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 3
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

Aircraft X was cleared for a visual approach to runway 24. He was flying approximately a 270 heading directly to the airport when I transferred him to the tower about 10 miles from the airport. Aircraft Y was on a 090 heading about 6 miles northwest of aircraft X when I gave him a 120 heading to fall behind aircraft Y. When I looked back at the radar to see if I could turn aircraft Y inbound; I observed aircraft X directly ahead of aircraft Y.I turned aircraft Y back to a 060 heading; and he reported the traffic in sight. I then cleared aircraft Y behind aircraft X. What I was unaware of was that the local controller had told aircraft X to square off his turn to final. This caused aircraft X to turn 40-60 degrees to the northwest of his current approach course. It put aircraft X and aircraft Y in a head to head situation instead of aircraft Y being on a vector behind the course of aircraft X. The local controller never called me to coordinate the turn for aircraft X.there needs to be a clear definition for when the local controller can turn an aircraft sequenced by the arrival controller. Decisions on sequencing for visual approaches are made with current aircraft tracks in mind when you're turning the next aircraft to follow. An uncoordinated turn by the local controller can easily cause a loss of separation with the following aircraft if the change in course is not observed in time.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ABE TRACON and tower controllers describe a situation where two aircraft became a conflict resulting in traffic breaking themselves out to re-sequence.

Narrative: Aircraft X was cleared for a visual approach to RWY 24. He was flying approximately a 270 heading directly to the airport when I transferred him to the tower about 10 miles from the airport. Aircraft Y was on a 090 heading about 6 miles northwest of Aircraft X when I gave him a 120 heading to fall behind Aircraft Y. When I looked back at the radar to see if I could turn Aircraft Y inbound; I observed Aircraft X directly ahead of Aircraft Y.I turned Aircraft Y back to a 060 heading; and he reported the traffic in sight. I then cleared Aircraft Y behind Aircraft X. What I was unaware of was that the local controller had told Aircraft X to square off his turn to final. This caused Aircraft X to turn 40-60 degrees to the northwest of his current approach course. It put Aircraft X and Aircraft Y in a head to head situation instead of Aircraft Y being on a vector behind the course of Aircraft X. The local controller never called me to coordinate the turn for Aircraft X.There needs to be a clear definition for when the local controller can turn an aircraft sequenced by the arrival controller. Decisions on sequencing for visual approaches are made with current aircraft tracks in mind when you're turning the next aircraft to follow. An uncoordinated turn by the local controller can easily cause a loss of separation with the following aircraft if the change in course is not observed in time.

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.

Abe TRACON and tower controllers describe a situation where two aircraft became a conflict resulting in traffic breaking themselves out to re-sequence.