Narrative:

A cirrus was coordinated as 'a practice approach that was going to go missed approach.' we give practice approaches IFR separation on the approach but do not have to allow them to execute the missed approach with IFR protection. I told him he would be VFR after terminating the approach and 'right turn out approved.' I told the aircraft when he reported at the missed approach point to maintain VFR. He read it back. I then cleared a falcon for takeoff on a lindz 7 departure. I coordinated with approach that the cirrus would be VFR from the missed approach point. Approach then advised me that the aircraft was in fact an IFR aircraft; not just a VFR doing a practice approach. The RA event was with falcon departing and hawker arriving. I scrambled to afford IFR separation with the cirrus whom I now understood was an IFR cirrus departure in front of a falcon departure. The falcon didn't get as good of traffic calls as I should have given. However the hawker; inbound was on final and the falcon quite clear of final to the west; westbound when he got the TCAS alert. They were not a factor. He was unhappy about the situation. At the time I told approach that the cirrus was VFR on the climb out; and she told me he was on an IFR flight plan; I was scrambling. I coordinated headings to keep the cirrus out of the way of the falcon right behind him. I was successful in this but did not use the landlines in the interest of time as we are a tracab and it was faster to point at approach's scope and coordinate simultaneously with issuing the turn to the pilot. It is not directly related to the TCAS event; but the use of the term 'practice approach' is quite misleading. I have seen this before in training on approach. I advised the developmental not to coordinate an IFR arrival as 'a practice approach.'

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ASE Controller described a TCAS RA event between a departure and arrival aircraft caused by a misunderstanding between the Approach and Local Controllers reference the term 'practice approach' and IFR vs VFR status.

Narrative: A Cirrus was coordinated as 'a practice approach that was going to go missed approach.' We give practice approaches IFR separation on the approach but do not have to allow them to execute the missed approach with IFR protection. I told him he would be VFR after terminating the approach and 'right turn out approved.' I told the aircraft when he reported at the missed approach point to maintain VFR. He read it back. I then cleared a Falcon for takeoff on a LINDZ 7 departure. I coordinated with Approach that the Cirrus would be VFR from the missed approach point. Approach then advised me that the aircraft was in fact an IFR aircraft; not just a VFR doing a practice approach. The RA event was with Falcon departing and Hawker arriving. I scrambled to afford IFR separation with the Cirrus whom I now understood was an IFR Cirrus departure in front of a Falcon departure. The Falcon didn't get as good of traffic calls as I should have given. However the Hawker; inbound was on final and the Falcon quite clear of final to the west; westbound when he got the TCAS alert. They were not a factor. He was unhappy about the situation. At the time I told approach that the Cirrus was VFR on the climb out; and she told me he was on an IFR flight plan; I was scrambling. I coordinated headings to keep the Cirrus out of the way of the Falcon right behind him. I was successful in this but did not use the landlines in the interest of time as we are a TRACAB and it was faster to point at approach's scope and coordinate simultaneously with issuing the turn to the pilot. It is not directly related to the TCAS event; but the use of the term 'practice approach' is quite misleading. I have seen this before in training on approach. I advised the developmental not to coordinate an IFR arrival as 'a practice approach.'

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.