Narrative:

Was forced to work local center; local east; and city combined this afternoon with busy arrivals and multiple VFR aircraft. Taxiway [X] requires a back taxi for departing aircraft in our south configuration. Multiple aircraft lined up waiting to back taxi. And multiple VFR and IFR aircraft arriving. I had to time up the back taxi; hoping for no confusion; while working three different frequency with near constant congestion. I requested extra spacing to runway xx and did not get it. I also had multiple arrivals to runway yyl and VFR traffic on the tower radar position. I was totally task saturated and counting on everything to go right as there was no way I could scan the multiple situations happening at the same time. Management knows that this type of situation has become common place with our limited staffing. And yet; they refuse to meter in arrivals to provide spacing. Even when directly requested by a controller. The confusion on frequency is pretty high as I can't respond to many of the aircraft on a timely basis. We are expected to do our best and really it's just a hope that something really ugly doesn't happen. I continue to submit these reports because I want it documented that there were warning signs before an incident happens. We have tried to mitigate some of the complexity by limiting VFR services in the bravo airspace. But there is still a lot of congestion because they are constantly calling in for requests. These measures are not nearly enough when we still have multiple aircraft that need to back taxi on runway xx and a constant stream of arrivals. I see it as a safety priority to slow the arrival rate; but it appears airline schedules are more important. I was fortunate to not have a go-around (despite multiple close calls) during this session; but there is very little protection right now for unexpected events. I feel completely beat down this week. The attitude right now in our facility is every man for himself.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller working combined positions described safety of flight concerns due to added workload issues.

Narrative: Was forced to work Local Center; Local East; and City combined this afternoon with busy arrivals and multiple VFR aircraft. Taxiway [X] requires a back taxi for departing aircraft in our south configuration. Multiple aircraft lined up waiting to back taxi. And multiple VFR and IFR aircraft arriving. I had to time up the back taxi; hoping for no confusion; while working three different frequency with near constant congestion. I requested extra spacing to Runway XX and did not get it. I also had multiple arrivals to Runway YYL and VFR traffic on the Tower radar position. I was totally task saturated and counting on everything to go right as there was no way I could scan the multiple situations happening at the same time. Management knows that this type of situation has become common place with our limited staffing. And yet; they refuse to meter in arrivals to provide spacing. Even when directly requested by a Controller. The confusion on frequency is pretty high as I can't respond to many of the aircraft on a timely basis. We are expected to do our best and really it's just a hope that something really ugly doesn't happen. I continue to submit these reports because I want it documented that there were warning signs before an incident happens. We have tried to mitigate some of the complexity by limiting VFR services in the Bravo airspace. But there is still a lot of congestion because they are constantly calling in for requests. These measures are not nearly enough when we still have multiple aircraft that need to back taxi on Runway XX and a constant stream of arrivals. I see it as a safety priority to slow the arrival rate; but it appears airline schedules are more important. I was fortunate to not have a go-around (despite multiple close calls) during this session; but there is very little protection right now for unexpected events. I feel completely beat down this week. The attitude right now in our facility is every man for himself.

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.