Tower controller described a conflict event when one flight of military fighters passed another flig...

Narrative:

Aircraft X initially checked in indicating he was on the straight in; non-standard approximately 7 mile final. I issued a landing clearance and traffic; 'F16's will over take you high in the overhead; currently at 5;000 feet.' aircraft Y checked in almost on top of aircraft X and I immediately asked him if he had aircraft X in sight ahead of him. He said 'radar contact; but no joy' which meant to me he had them on radar but not visually in sight out the window. I instructed aircraft Y to maintain his current altitude and that traffic was 200 feet below him. Then I issued a follow up traffic report that it appeared that he was between the 2 non-standard F16's on the straight in. Aircraft Y eventually reported climbing to 4;500 feet and proceeding to initial. In my opinion the mistakes were made due to traffic volume and no assist position being manned in the arrival position. The arrival controller was over saturated and couldn't keep up with the traffic and proper scratchpad entries. The aircraft were handed off to me on top of each other; above the overhead pattern altitude without each other in sight.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller described a conflict event when one flight of military fighters passed another flight on final; the reporter claiming the RADAR Controller was saturated and should have had some assistance.

Narrative: Aircraft X initially checked in indicating he was on the straight in; non-standard approximately 7 mile final. I issued a landing clearance and traffic; 'F16's will over take you high in the overhead; currently at 5;000 feet.' Aircraft Y checked in almost on top of Aircraft X and I immediately asked him if he had Aircraft X in sight ahead of him. He said 'RADAR contact; but no joy' which meant to me he had them on RADAR but not visually in sight out the window. I instructed Aircraft Y to maintain his current altitude and that traffic was 200 feet below him. Then I issued a follow up traffic report that it appeared that he was between the 2 non-standard F16's on the straight in. Aircraft Y eventually reported climbing to 4;500 feet and proceeding to initial. In my opinion the mistakes were made due to traffic volume and no assist position being manned in the arrival position. The Arrival Controller was over saturated and couldn't keep up with the traffic and proper scratchpad entries. The aircraft were handed off to me on top of each other; above the overhead pattern altitude without each other in sight.

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	1067515
Time
Date	201302
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Fighting Falcon F16
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	VFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Fighting Falcon F16
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Local
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict NMAC Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Tower controller described a conflict event when one flight of military fighters passed another flight on final; the reporter claiming the radar controller was saturated and should have had some assistance.