Narrative:

We have an unusual operation at denver while bkf AFB is working on their runways. The local F16 squadron is based at den temporarily and can accept (and will request) either runway 35R or 17L without regard to the flow of traffic. We were landing and departing south when aircraft Y called requesting a visual approach to runway 35R. I vectored aircraft Y clear of other traffic and issued a descent. My tm called den tower with the inbound. I cleared him for the va shortly after he called the field in sight. I watched as he approached the field and I saw another limited data block start to roll on the adjacent runway; 17R; in the opposite direction of aircraft Y. Aircraft Y was still about 15 miles south of the airport but the indicated ground speed was 550 knots. Aircraft X tagged up and I saw that it was filed on the stakr RNAV route; which would directly conflict with the aircraft Y flight. I called local 2 to issue a vector when I heard aircraft X call me on the radio. I issued a vector to aircraft X of 210 and told him to make it a tight turn. I then told him to turn to heading 230. Local 2 called me and without waiting I told her that I had turned aircraft X (I may have omitted the call sign and just said 'I turned him to a 230 heading' as there was no doubt what the subject of conversation would be.) she keyed up while on the line and told aircraft Y to maintain 100. I stopped aircraft X's climb at 90. At some point the land line connection terminated. Aircraft X was eventually cleared to FL230 and direct stakr; and aircraft Y seemed to arrive without further complication.I don't know if there was a break in the chain of communication in the tower and the local controller was surprised by the opposite direction traffic; or if she had intended to vector the departure and for whatever reason he didn't get it. It may be that while the F16's will be landing against the flow we specify 'opposite direction' or some other phraseology even though there is no directly opposite direction traffic (nobody to runway 17L). This should not mean that when we are in a north/south configuration we need to call 'opposite direction' on every arrival. That would be overly cumbersome.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Numerous controller report of issue with opposite direction arrival and normal configuration departure that leads to a NMAC.

Narrative: We have an unusual operation at Denver while BKF AFB is working on their runways. The local F16 squadron is based at DEN temporarily and can accept (and will request) either Runway 35R or 17L without regard to the flow of traffic. We were landing and departing south when Aircraft Y called requesting a visual approach to Runway 35R. I vectored Aircraft Y clear of other traffic and issued a descent. My TM called DEN Tower with the inbound. I cleared him for the VA shortly after he called the field in sight. I watched as he approached the field and I saw another limited data block start to roll on the adjacent runway; 17R; in the opposite direction of Aircraft Y. Aircraft Y was still about 15 miles south of the airport but the indicated ground speed was 550 knots. Aircraft X tagged up and I saw that it was filed on the STAKR RNAV route; which would directly conflict with the Aircraft Y flight. I called Local 2 to issue a vector when I heard Aircraft X call me on the radio. I issued a vector to Aircraft X of 210 and told him to make it a tight turn. I then told him to turn to heading 230. Local 2 called me and without waiting I told her that I had turned Aircraft X (I may have omitted the call sign and just said 'I turned him to a 230 heading' as there was no doubt what the subject of conversation would be.) She keyed up while on the line and told Aircraft Y to maintain 100. I stopped Aircraft X's climb at 90. At some point the land line connection terminated. Aircraft X was eventually cleared to FL230 and direct STAKR; and Aircraft Y seemed to arrive without further complication.I don't know if there was a break in the chain of communication in the Tower and the Local Controller was surprised by the opposite direction traffic; or if she had intended to vector the departure and for whatever reason he didn't get it. It may be that while the F16's will be landing against the flow we specify 'opposite direction' or some other phraseology even though there is no directly opposite direction traffic (nobody to Runway 17L). This should not mean that when we are in a north/south configuration we need to call 'opposite direction' on every arrival. That would be overly cumbersome.

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.