Narrative:

I was just getting a break and heard someone yell out; look 5 west of the airport (phx). So I looked at the nearest scope and observed two departures side by side separated by a couple hundred feet. Phx tower applied visual separation on these two departures; but when I saw it; the first departure (A321) was showing 240 KTS over the ground; whereas; the second departure (CRJ9) was showing 280 KTS over the ground. I don't know the altitudes; but they would be less than 8;000 ft. The CRJ9 was actually passing the A321; fortunately he was passing and on the proper side so they would not criss-cross. We have fielded numerous complaints from pilots requesting for an off set on departure for wake turbulence in the past. While this was not the case; one would expect these two aircraft to relatively perform the same 'speed wise'; while not necessarily 'climb wise'. There have been issues whereby a CRJ2 or CRJ7 climbs out at 210 KTS without telling us. I have issued 250 KTS to these aircraft on initial contact to avoid this. I don't really think this was the tower's fault. I think it is a problem letting each pilot chose his own speed on climb out. I recommend that we publish speeds on the sids/dps. At least until 10;000 ft. Possibly 250 KTS until leaving 10;000 ft; or 230 KTS until leaving 10;000 ft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: P50 Controller witnessed a side by departure event with the Tower providing visual separation; the reporter noting speed assignments should be published on the SID to minimize various speeds utilized by different aircraft.

Narrative: I was just getting a break and heard someone yell out; look 5 west of the airport (PHX). So I looked at the nearest scope and observed two departures side by side separated by a couple hundred feet. PHX Tower applied visual separation on these two departures; but when I saw it; the first departure (A321) was showing 240 KTS over the ground; whereas; the second departure (CRJ9) was showing 280 KTS over the ground. I don't know the altitudes; but they would be less than 8;000 FT. The CRJ9 was actually passing the A321; fortunately he was passing and on the proper side so they would not criss-cross. We have fielded numerous complaints from pilots requesting for an off set on departure for wake turbulence in the past. While this was not the case; one would expect these two aircraft to relatively perform the same 'speed wise'; while not necessarily 'climb wise'. There have been issues whereby a CRJ2 or CRJ7 climbs out at 210 KTS without telling us. I have issued 250 KTS to these aircraft on initial contact to avoid this. I don't really think this was the Tower's fault. I think it is a problem letting each pilot chose his own speed on climb out. I recommend that we publish speeds on the SIDs/DPs. At least until 10;000 FT. Possibly 250 KTS until leaving 10;000 FT; or 230 KTS until leaving 10;000 FT.

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.