Narrative:

I was made aware today that yesterday; a controller that is not 'certified' to work and east traffic operation; was working the west sector. Background: when someone starts training in the subject area; they usually start on the west sector. It is only a departure sector and one of our less complex in the area. They then normally progress to the harder sectors which includes arrivals. When this subject airport goes into east operation; the west sector no longer is a departure sector but the main arrival sector for all air carriers landing in the area. There is a verbal agreement with management that a cpc will not work the west sector during east operations as they have had no training on running arrivals. A controller was working the west sector during east configuration and is only signed off on 2 sectors; none of which are arrival sectors. Also; this controller has had no live training on east operations other than a briefing during his west sector classroom. This is extremely dangerous and contrary to what has been agreed upon with management. A controller in charge was on during this operation; followed by a flm who continued letting the controller work. Recommendation; I recommend that there be a separate certification for east operations. At one time there was a policy to preclude this from happening. It was terminated a few years back when management verbally agreed not to use controllers on west sector if they haven't had arrival training.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TRACON Controller expressed concern regarding the failure of the facility to comply with agreed upon policies regarding certifications and authority to work positions reference traffic flows.

Narrative: I was made aware today that yesterday; a controller that is not 'certified' to work and East traffic operation; was working the West Sector. Background: when someone starts training in the subject area; they usually start on the West Sector. It is only a departure sector and one of our less complex in the area. They then normally progress to the harder sectors which includes arrivals. When this subject airport goes into East operation; the West Sector no longer is a departure sector but the main arrival sector for all air carriers landing in the area. There is a verbal agreement with management that a CPC will not work the West Sector during East operations as they have had no training on running arrivals. A controller was working the West Sector during East configuration and is only signed off on 2 sectors; none of which are arrival sectors. Also; this controller has had no live training on East operations other than a briefing during his West Sector classroom. This is extremely dangerous and contrary to what has been agreed upon with management. A CIC was on during this operation; followed by a FLM who continued letting the controller work. Recommendation; I recommend that there be a separate certification for East operations. At one time there was a policy to preclude this from happening. It was terminated a few years back when management verbally agreed not to use controllers on West Sector if they haven't had arrival training.

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.