Narrative:

I was working DR1 during a flow change at ZZZ airport from south flow to north flow as weather passed over the airport. I was informed by a tmu specialist that a specific aircraft was the last to depart. I asked if we were shutting down the airport (no one had told me we were turning the airport around the other direction yet). The specialist didn't answer me. I found out a few minutes later from a supervisor that the airport was in fact changing direction. After the aircraft I was told was the last to depart had come airborne; I was surprised to see yet another departure; and then a 3rd. I asked the specific tmu specialist what was going on; and he informed me that the 2nd aircraft was now the last. Around that time; as one of the departures came airborne (I don't remember which; but I think it was the 3rd one); a data-block was forced to my display from the arrival controller. My aircraft were still departing off of runway 17; and this data-block was an arrival; opposite direction; at 3;000 feet to runway 36. No one from tmu informed me that there was an emergency aircraft inbound opposite direction; nor did I have any reason to believe any more departures were coming off opposite direction from runway 17. When my departure aircraft lost separation with the opposite direction arrival; I first asked the tmu specialist again what was going on. Since I didn't get any answer whatsoever; I then called the tower and asked them how many more aircraft were departing runway 17; into the arrivals now coming to runway 36. The local controller in the east tower informed me he had 2 or 3 more to launch before they turned around to north flow. I said they need to hurry up because we had all this other stuff coming inbound now to the airport from the south; and I needed to get those departures out of the way. I had no idea what was going on; nobody at tmu informed me of the situation. What little information I was told turned out to be inaccurate; as I continued to receive departures after the aircraft I was told was last; had departed. Had I been informed of the opposite direction arrival to 36; I would have immediately informed the east tower to hold all departures. I was utterly surprised to see the departures keep departing and the arrival suddenly displayed to me south of the airport inbound towards my departures.I recommend that before our tmu starts making decisions; they figure out what it is they need and stick with it. A constantly changing plan is fine; however; people need to be informed. Tmu was absolutely not informing me of what was going on throughout the entire day; regardless of where I sat (I will be filing a separate report on that shortly). The departure incident cited above is a direct result of miscommunication and misinformation between tmu and the departure/arrival controllers and flm's. Again; had I been informed; I could have easily stopped the departures and avoided this incident altogether.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Arrival Controllers describe situation of a configuration change that didn't go smoothly resulting in a loss of separation with an opposite direction arrival.

Narrative: I was working DR1 during a flow change at ZZZ airport from south flow to north flow as weather passed over the airport. I was informed by a TMU specialist that a specific aircraft was the last to depart. I asked if we were shutting down the airport (no one had told me we were turning the airport around the other direction yet). The specialist didn't answer me. I found out a few minutes later from a supervisor that the airport was in fact changing direction. After the aircraft I was told was the last to depart had come airborne; I was surprised to see yet another departure; and then a 3rd. I asked the specific TMU specialist what was going on; and he informed me that the 2nd aircraft was now the last. Around that time; as one of the departures came airborne (I don't remember which; but I think it was the 3rd one); a data-block was forced to my display from the arrival controller. My aircraft were still departing off of Runway 17; and this data-block was an arrival; opposite direction; at 3;000 feet to Runway 36. No one from TMU informed me that there was an emergency aircraft inbound opposite direction; nor did I have any reason to believe any more departures were coming off opposite direction from Runway 17. When my departure aircraft lost separation with the opposite direction arrival; I first asked the TMU specialist again what was going on. Since I didn't get any answer whatsoever; I then called the tower and asked them how many more aircraft were departing Runway 17; into the arrivals now coming to Runway 36. The local controller in the East Tower informed me he had 2 or 3 more to launch before they turned around to north flow. I said they need to hurry up because we had all this other stuff coming inbound now to the airport from the south; and I needed to get those departures out of the way. I had no idea what was going on; nobody at TMU informed me of the situation. What little information I was told turned out to be inaccurate; as I continued to receive departures after the aircraft I was told was last; had departed. Had I been informed of the opposite direction arrival to 36; I would have immediately informed the east tower to hold all departures. I was utterly surprised to see the departures keep departing and the arrival suddenly displayed to me south of the airport inbound towards my departures.I recommend that before our TMU starts making decisions; they figure out what it is they need and stick with it. A constantly changing plan is fine; however; people need to be informed. TMU was absolutely not informing me of what was going on throughout the entire day; regardless of where I sat (I will be filing a separate report on that shortly). The departure incident cited above is a direct result of miscommunication and misinformation between TMU and the departure/arrival controllers and FLM's. Again; had I been informed; I could have easily stopped the departures and avoided this incident altogether.

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.