Tower controller voiced concern regarding supervisory instructions not to issue a sfvr clearance whe...

Attributes
ACN	1088057
Time
Date	201305
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	Marginal
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	M-20 B/C Ranger
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Taxi
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	SVFR
Person 1
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

A mooney noting low clouds and not wanting to violate VFR cloud clearance; requested a SVFR clearance out of the class C airspace. Ground control 2 gave the aircraft a SVFR clearance. Local control 2 requested a SVFR release from local control 1 who held the release pending airspace availability. A few minutes later; the flm in the south tower told local control 2 to make the mooney fly VFR. So the pilot did depart VFR and came much closer than the VFR required 500 ft separation from the low clouds in the area. The flm should be instructed on cloud clearance requirements between VFR flight and SVFR flight.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller voiced concern regarding Supervisory instructions not to issue a SFVR clearance when the airport was above VFR minima even though cloud clearance was apparently a factor.

Narrative: A Mooney noting low clouds and not wanting to violate VFR cloud clearance; requested a SVFR clearance out of the Class C Airspace. Ground Control 2 gave the aircraft a SVFR clearance. Local Control 2 requested a SVFR release from Local Control 1 who held the release pending airspace availability. A few minutes later; the FLM in the south Tower told Local Control 2 to make the Mooney fly VFR. So the pilot did depart VFR and came much closer than the VFR required 500 FT separation from the low clouds in the area. The FLM should be instructed on cloud clearance requirements between VFR flight and SVFR flight.

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.

Tower controller voiced concern regarding supervisory instructions not to issue a sfvr clearance when the airport was above VFR minima even though cloud clearance was apparently a factor.