Narrative:

When bwi is in an east operation; runway 15R departures are either given runway heading; climb to 040 for graco; or turn right heading 330 for wooly departures. A B737 departed and bwi tower called me and said; 'I accidentally gave the B737 a 330 heading. Can you turn him back to runway heading?' I said roger or affirmative. I immediately displayed the aircraft to wooly and bwifn who would have conflicting traffic. I observed the B737 stop his 180 degree turn approximately halfway through it; pointing directly at an A319; a RAVNN3 arrival; worked by bwifn. Both aircraft were at or climbing to 040. When the B737 checked on he sounded confused and said 'the tower gave us a 330 heading. I was simultaneously yelling across the floor to bwifn; 'I'm going right and climbing!' as bwifn responded; 'I'm going left and descending! I issued the B737 a further right turn to avoid and climb above traffic. When all else fails; good ATC usually works. I believe standard separation was maintained. These are both re-occurring problems. First bwi tower controllers have no limitation put on their use of the radar d-brite. They however; are not trained to a level commensurate with their duties. This manifests itself repeatedly. Bwi is required by LOA to check the d-brite and ensure the aircraft auto acquire to the appropriate sector. They routinely turn and switch aircraft without checking the d-brite. If they had; this situation might have been avoided. Unfortunately; this happens with regularity. Second; the RAVNN3 arrival is perilously close; in a bwi east operation; to these northwest bound aircraft who depart runway 15R making a 180 turn directly at the RAVNN3 arrival roughly 5 miles apart; at the same altitude; during a critical phase of flight and making a frequency change. It is an outdated heading; based on different bwi traffic from years ago. If these 15R departures went left; or the ravnn was moved; or if a bwi departure SID was built; with de-conflicting altitudes; this would not continue to occur.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PCT Controller described an unsafe condition claiming BWI Tower controllers do not abide by the LOA with regard to ensuring departures are assigned to the correct PCT sector; adding; new procedures could help prevent similar events.

Narrative: When BWI is in an east operation; Runway 15R departures are either given runway heading; climb to 040 for GRACO; or turn right heading 330 for WOOLY departures. A B737 departed and BWI Tower called me and said; 'I accidentally gave the B737 a 330 heading. Can you turn him back to runway heading?' I said roger or affirmative. I immediately displayed the aircraft to WOOLY and BWIFN who would have conflicting traffic. I observed the B737 stop his 180 degree turn approximately halfway through it; pointing directly at an A319; a RAVNN3 arrival; worked by BWIFN. Both aircraft were at or climbing to 040. When the B737 checked on he sounded confused and said 'the Tower gave us a 330 heading. I was simultaneously yelling across the floor to BWIFN; 'I'm going right and climbing!' As BWIFN responded; 'I'm going left and descending! I issued the B737 a further right turn to avoid and climb above traffic. When all else fails; good ATC usually works. I believe standard separation was maintained. These are both re-occurring problems. First BWI Tower controllers have no limitation put on their use of the RADAR D-Brite. They however; are not trained to a level commensurate with their duties. This manifests itself repeatedly. BWI is required by LOA to check the D-Brite and ensure the aircraft auto acquire to the appropriate sector. They routinely turn and switch aircraft without checking the D-Brite. If they had; this situation might have been avoided. Unfortunately; this happens with regularity. Second; the RAVNN3 arrival is perilously close; in a BWI east operation; to these northwest bound aircraft who depart Runway 15R making a 180 turn directly at the RAVNN3 arrival roughly 5 miles apart; at the same altitude; during a critical phase of flight and making a frequency change. It is an outdated heading; based on different BWI traffic from years ago. If these 15R departures went left; or the RAVNN was moved; or if a BWI departure SID was built; with de-conflicting altitudes; this would not continue to occur.

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.