Narrative:

A crj-700 was departing and after he was approximately 1/2 mile off the departure end I instructed him to switch to departure. He subsequently instructed me that he was 'coming back around because of a smoke indication light from the lavatory.' I cleared him to land as he requested and the employee on shift with me and I went to work alerting the proper personnel via phone and radio. As part of our emergency process we must press a siren which alerts the surrounding area and with the addition of the new crash fire rescue equipment building; causes the doors to rise in front of the fire trucks. Unfortunately with the sounding of the siren there is the chance of others that are not integral to the functioning of the emergency process; to stick there noses into business that is not a priority at that moment. Such was the case [with] this emergency. Some guy from [the air carrier] kept calling and asking us information concerning the aircraft. He said he was the station manager. The first time he called; my fellow employee said that he could not disclose that information. I took the second call and feeling that he was legit I said quickly: 'he's landing; I have to go;' all along trying to scan my runways and stay vigilant. He didn't hear me; and kept asking his silly question. I subsequently hung up on him because I did not need to be interrupted as the fire trucks started to get on frequency and I needed to make sure all my faculties were precisely attuned to the aircraft and listening for anything else that might present itself as he was circling the airport. The 'station manager' proceeded to call back again and I just hung up on him; yet again. He called a fourth time and asked my fellow employee for our names. The employee said; 'no; I can't give out that information;' and hung up on him again. The aircraft landed without incident and no other calls from this so called 'station manager' were taken henceforth. Install a 'crash phone'. Get rid of the siren. It would light up to the authorities that need to be concerned when an emergency situation exists. It would drastically reduce extraneous outside calls from people that have no jurisdiction over the situation. It would quell ridiculous conversations that this guy wanted to have while we were dealing with this urgent situation. I used one in the air force fourteen years ago. It's time this airport graduated into the 21st century. Change the tower number so that these outside companies/agencies can't just call us when they feel to bother us with superfluous and useless information.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Local Controller reports numerous undesired phone calls from an air carrier Station Manager when the CFR siren is activated for a CRJ-700 returning with smoke in the cabin.

Narrative: A CRJ-700 was departing and after he was approximately 1/2 mile off the departure end I instructed him to switch to Departure. He subsequently instructed me that he was 'coming back around because of a smoke indication light from the lavatory.' I cleared him to land as he requested and the employee on shift with me and I went to work alerting the proper personnel via phone and radio. As part of our emergency process we must press a siren which alerts the surrounding area and with the addition of the new CFR building; causes the doors to rise in front of the fire trucks. Unfortunately with the sounding of the siren there is the chance of others that are not integral to the functioning of the emergency process; to stick there noses into business that is not a priority at that moment. Such was the case [with] this emergency. Some guy from [the air carrier] kept calling and asking us information concerning the aircraft. He said he was the Station Manager. The first time he called; my fellow employee said that he could not disclose that information. I took the second call and feeling that he was legit I said quickly: 'He's landing; I have to go;' all along trying to scan my runways and stay vigilant. He didn't hear me; and kept asking his silly question. I subsequently hung up on him because I did not need to be interrupted as the fire trucks started to get on frequency and I needed to make sure all my faculties were precisely attuned to the aircraft and listening for anything else that might present itself as he was circling the airport. The 'Station Manager' proceeded to call back again and I just hung up on him; yet again. He called a FOURTH time and asked my fellow employee for our names. The employee said; 'No; I can't give out that information;' and hung up on him again. The aircraft landed without incident and no other calls from this so called 'Station Manager' were taken henceforth. Install a 'crash phone'. Get rid of the siren. It would light up to the authorities that need to be concerned when an emergency situation exists. It would drastically reduce extraneous outside calls from people that have no jurisdiction over the situation. It would quell ridiculous conversations that this guy wanted to have while we were dealing with this urgent situation. I used one in the Air Force fourteen years ago. It's time this airport graduated into the 21st century. Change the Tower number so that these outside companies/agencies can't just call us when they feel to bother us with superfluous and useless information.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.