Narrative:

A B737-400 was descending on a STAR and it was being vectored to final from the east. I had an erj-190 on a 190 heading and the B737 on a 130 heading expecting them to have the airport in sight. Previous aircraft had reported the airport in sight earlier with no problem. I asked the B737 to report the 'approach lights' in sight and he said he was searching. I had anticipated him being out of 6000 and 'approach lights' in sight in time so as not to be a factor with the erj-190. Don't anticipate aircraft getting the airport in sight. Use more positive separation when applying use of 30 degree intercept rule for simultaneous parallel operations.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TRACON Controller described a loss of separation event during parallel visual approach procedures when anticipating arrivals would report the airport in sight as prior arrival had done.

Narrative: A B737-400 was descending on a STAR and it was being vectored to final from the east. I had an ERJ-190 on a 190 heading and the B737 on a 130 heading expecting them to have the airport in sight. Previous aircraft had reported the airport in sight earlier with no problem. I asked the B737 to report the 'approach lights' in sight and he said he was searching. I had anticipated him being out of 6000 and 'approach lights' in sight in time so as not to be a factor with the ERJ-190. Don't anticipate aircraft getting the airport in sight. Use more positive separation when applying use of 30 degree intercept rule for simultaneous parallel operations.

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.