 |
37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
S46 TRACON controller stated airbus type departing aircraft routinely climb at much slower airspeeds than similar size type aircraft.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1350335 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201604 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | S46.TRACON |
| State Reference | WA |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Airbus Industrie Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Initial Climb |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Aircraft 2 | |
| Make Model Name | B737-800 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Initial Climb |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Departure |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Experience | Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 1.3 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
The SOP allows tower to launch successive departures utilizing pilot provided visual separation. The ATCT must modify the secondary scratchpad in the stars data-tag to advise the TRACON that pilot provided visual separation is being used. However; in this case the first aircraft is an [airbus] and that type of aircraft is notorious for climbing out much slower than most other aircraft. According to the falcon replay the trailing B738 is 1.55 miles behind the [airbus] with a 60 knot overtake. I restricted the B738 to 230 knots and requested the [airbus] increase to 250 knots as soon as possible. Despite those efforts the situation continued to compress. While I was aware pilot provided visual separation was being utilized; in my judgment the situation had become unsafe and I decided to break our noise abatement procedures and initiate an early eastbound turn for the B738. After initiating the turn I made the supervisor aware of the situation. Both aircraft subsequently continued their departures without further incident.this is a common problem that we experience with [this type of airbus departure]. I do not know why this specific aircraft type climbs out so differently; but it is common knowledge at the TRACON. I would propose that this situation could be corrected by changing the letter of agreement to exclude [this airbus aircraft type departure] from the provision allowing the use of pilot provided visual separation between successive departures. If tower had utilized the standard 3-5 mile in-trail spacing that would have been required during IMC; this event would have been completely avoided.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: S46 TRACON Controller stated Airbus type departing aircraft routinely climb at much slower airspeeds than similar size type aircraft.
Narrative: The SOP allows Tower to launch successive departures utilizing pilot provided visual separation. The ATCT must modify the secondary scratchpad in the STARS data-tag to advise the TRACON that pilot provided visual separation is being used. However; in this case the first aircraft is an [Airbus] and that type of aircraft is notorious for climbing out much slower than most other aircraft. According to the FALCON replay the trailing B738 is 1.55 miles behind the [Airbus] with a 60 knot overtake. I restricted the B738 to 230 knots and requested the [Airbus] increase to 250 knots as soon as possible. Despite those efforts the situation continued to compress. While I was aware pilot provided visual separation was being utilized; in my judgment the situation had become unsafe and I decided to break our noise abatement procedures and initiate an early eastbound turn for the B738. After initiating the turn I made the supervisor aware of the situation. Both aircraft subsequently continued their departures without further incident.This is a common problem that we experience with [this type of Airbus departure]. I do not know why this specific aircraft type climbs out so differently; but it is common knowledge at the TRACON. I would propose that this situation could be corrected by changing the Letter of Agreement to exclude [this Airbus aircraft type departure] from the provision allowing the use of pilot provided visual separation between successive departures. If Tower had utilized the standard 3-5 mile in-trail spacing that would have been required during IMC; this event would have been completely avoided.
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.