Narrative:

Working east radar; supervisor in the TRACON handling controller in charge functions. Large force exercises in progress. Aircraft X departed eielson AFB (eil) on an IFR clearance and the flight plan listed no departure procedure. By LOA with eil; such departures are assigned runway heading (320 degrees) initially. Aircraft X checked on frequency and I observed the aircraft beginning a left-hand turn. Upon noticing this; I assigned aircraft X a heading and notified my supervisor that the aircraft appeared to have self-initiated a turn. Due to the similarity between the first fix on the flight plan and the name of a departure procedure off eil; my first thought was perhaps the flight plan was incorrect and the aircraft had actually been assigned a departure procedure. I queried the pilot as to whether they were on a departure procedure and was told they were not; but that they had been issued a stereo flight plan. I then queried the pilot as to whether eil ATCT had assigned them a heading on departure and was told they had not been assigned a heading; at which point the pilot reiterated they were on a stereo flight plan. At this point; I asked my supervisor if I should advise the pilot of a possible pilot deviation before the aircraft left my airspace and frequency. I was instructed to wait while my supervisor called eil ATCT. I was not involved in that phone conversation; so I do not know what information was passed or divulged. My supervisor came back shortly and indicated that I should not tell the pilot anything and that the issue was with eil ATCT. I believe this occurrence should have been listed as a qar and appropriate actions should have been taken. I believe events similar to this occur constantly and the management at fai ATCT continuously refuses to hold the pilots and controllers at eielson AFB accountable to the same rules and regulations by which everyone else is required to operate.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: FAI Controller described likely pilot deviation with regard to initial heading assignment off EIL. Reporter alleged management not processing military pilot and controller errors.

Narrative: Working East Radar; Supervisor in the TRACON handling CIC functions. Large force exercises in progress. Aircraft X departed Eielson AFB (EIL) on an IFR clearance and the flight plan listed no departure procedure. By LOA with EIL; such departures are assigned runway heading (320 degrees) initially. Aircraft X checked on frequency and I observed the aircraft beginning a left-hand turn. Upon noticing this; I assigned Aircraft X a heading and notified my Supervisor that the aircraft appeared to have self-initiated a turn. Due to the similarity between the first fix on the flight plan and the name of a departure procedure off EIL; my first thought was perhaps the flight plan was incorrect and the aircraft had actually been assigned a departure procedure. I queried the pilot as to whether they were on a departure procedure and was told they were not; but that they had been issued a stereo flight plan. I then queried the pilot as to whether EIL ATCT had assigned them a heading on departure and was told they had not been assigned a heading; at which point the pilot reiterated they were on a stereo flight plan. At this point; I asked my Supervisor if I should advise the pilot of a possible pilot deviation before the aircraft left my airspace and frequency. I was instructed to wait while my Supervisor called EIL ATCT. I was not involved in that phone conversation; so I do not know what information was passed or divulged. My Supervisor came back shortly and indicated that I should not tell the pilot anything and that the issue was with EIL ATCT. I believe this occurrence should have been listed as a QAR and appropriate actions should have been taken. I believe events similar to this occur constantly and the management at FAI ATCT continuously refuses to hold the pilots and controllers at Eielson AFB accountable to the same rules and regulations by which everyone else is required to operate.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.