Mbs controller witnessed a traffic pattern conflict when the local controller issued a questionable ...

Narrative:

I was working approach control and switched an ea-50 on a visual approach to tower. Tower had one in the pattern and tried to put a cessna in front of the ea-50. It appeared to me the [aircraft] were nose to nose on a base leg to runway 23. Tower then saw it wasn't going to work; and told the cessna to go around and side step right. The problem was the cessna was still on base and caused him to cut right in front of the ea-50 and they looked very close on the d-brite. I just asked where was the cessna going because I was very uncomfortable with the whole situation; but I was afraid to really say anything because of the supervisor being there.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MBS Controller witnessed a traffic pattern conflict when the Local Controller issued a questionable clearance resulting in traffic on opposite base legs nose to nose.

Narrative: I was working Approach Control and switched an EA-50 on a visual approach to Tower. Tower had one in the pattern and tried to put a Cessna in front of the EA-50. It appeared to me the [aircraft] were nose to nose on a base leg to Runway 23. Tower then saw it wasn't going to work; and told the Cessna to go around and side step right. The problem was the Cessna was still on base and caused him to cut right in front of the EA-50 and they looked very close on the D-Brite. I just asked where was the Cessna going because I was very uncomfortable with the whole situation; but I was afraid to really say anything because of the supervisor being there.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1039404
Time
Date	201209
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	MBS.TRACON
State Reference	MI
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Eclipse 500
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Approach
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict

Mbs controller witnessed a traffic pattern conflict when the local controller issued a questionable clearance resulting in traffic on opposite base legs nose to nose.