Narrative:

I was working sar. Nar had cleared and shipped aircraft X on the ILS 8R. I then turned air carrier Y on a 9 mile final approximately 4.5 miles behind aircraft X. I shipped air carrier Y to the tower just outside the FAF. Right at that time tower called down and asked me to break air carrier Y out; I told them I didn't have him. Right after that tower did break air carrier Y out to the south. I then turned and commented to the nar controller how air carrier Y had actually picked up speed on final and how it had gotten pretty close. Shortly after air carrier Y came back on frequency he mentioned how they had a 40 KT tailwind on final. I commented that yes; I had noticed how he had actually picked up speed on final. I was told by my supervisor that they were looking at a possible systems error. I was then shown information from the tarp and saw then what had happened. I would suggest that controllers watch closer the effect that wind is having on aircraft on final and take that into consideration.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: GRR Controller described an overtake event on final when wind factors were not fully considered during the in trail spacing planning.

Narrative: I was working SAR. NAR had cleared and shipped Aircraft X on the ILS 8R. I then turned Air Carrier Y on a 9 mile final approximately 4.5 miles behind Aircraft X. I shipped Air Carrier Y to the Tower just outside the FAF. Right at that time Tower called down and asked me to break Air Carrier Y out; I told them I didn't have him. Right after that Tower did break Air Carrier Y out to the south. I then turned and commented to the NAR Controller how Air Carrier Y had actually picked up speed on final and how it had gotten pretty close. Shortly after Air Carrier Y came back on frequency he mentioned how they had a 40 KT tailwind on final. I commented that yes; I had noticed how he had actually picked up speed on final. I was told by my Supervisor that they were looking at a possible systems error. I was then shown information from the TARP and saw then what had happened. I would suggest that controllers watch closer the effect that wind is having on aircraft on final and take that into consideration.

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.