Narrative:

I was controller in charge (controller in charge) and working approach and departure. Aircraft Y was on the GPS F approach into ase. Aircraft X was launched when that traffic (aircraft Y) was on a 10 mile final opposite direction. Aircraft X didn't start his takeoff roll until the arrival traffic was on a 7 mile final. Usually the west bound in front of situation always works with a GPS F approach because the departure and arrival have divergence right when the departure hits 9;100ft. Aircraft X took forever to roll and was an extremely slow climber because he was heavy. As the controller in charge; I told the local controller to have aircraft X fly runway heading to give the two divergence right away. The aircraft X pilot read it back but he did not comply with it. The local controller did the best he could to make the best out of an already bad situation. The aircraft X pilot did what he thought was right but it contradicted what the local controller was telling him to do. I'm not saying that the local controller didn't do anything wrong but he was trying to make it so the aircraft didn't come as close as they did. The pilot of aircraft X probably also was used to having odo operations with traffic on the localizer/DME east approach which in this case he would have passed to the east. The GPS F approach puts that aircraft head on with the departure until he turns at of 9;100 ft so he probably had no idea where that aircraft really was or he expected him to be someone else. My suggestions are to be aware of your aircraft types and also be aware of where that aircraft is going.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Two ASE Controllers and an air carrier flight crew report of an Opposite Direction Operation [ODO] where an aircraft is late to depart and does not take new heading to avoid inbound traffic.

Narrative: I was Controller in Charge (CIC) and working approach and departure. Aircraft Y was on the GPS F approach into ASE. Aircraft X was launched when that traffic (Aircraft Y) was on a 10 mile final opposite direction. Aircraft X didn't start his takeoff roll until the arrival traffic was on a 7 mile final. Usually the West bound in front of situation always works with a GPS F approach because the departure and arrival have divergence right when the departure hits 9;100ft. Aircraft X took forever to roll and was an extremely slow climber because he was heavy. As the CIC; I told the local controller to have Aircraft X fly runway heading to give the two divergence right away. The Aircraft X pilot read it back but he did not comply with it. The local controller did the best he could to make the best out of an already bad situation. The Aircraft X pilot did what he thought was right but it contradicted what the local controller was telling him to do. I'm not saying that the local controller didn't do anything wrong but he was trying to make it so the aircraft didn't come as close as they did. The pilot of Aircraft X probably also was used to having ODO operations with traffic on the LOC/DME E approach which in this case he would have passed to the east. The GPS F approach puts that aircraft head on with the departure until he turns at of 9;100 ft so he probably had no idea where that aircraft really was or he expected him to be someone else. My suggestions are to be aware of your aircraft types and also be aware of where that aircraft is going.

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.