Narrative:

At las we have a device called the ricd (runway intersection coordination devise); it is used to show ownership of the runway intersection of runway 25R and runways 19L/right. If the light is green; it's your intersection. If the light is red it is not your intersection. I was working the LC2 position; and had a couple aircraft taxiing out for departure. LC1 called over and coordinated the intersection to be my control after aircraft Y. While my second aircraft; aircraft X; was holding in position; I coordinated the intersection back to LC1 behind aircraft X. When aircraft X was about 2/3 of the way down runway 19R and already airborne; LC1 yelled over 'hey are you rolling that [aircraft type]?' my reply was 'yes; that was the coordination; aircraft X back!' to which LC1 replied 'but I have the light!' at that point I looked over at the ricd and it was in fact red indicating that I do not have control of the intersection. I cannot say with any amount of certainty what happened with the ricd. I don't know if I was never given the light behind the aircraft Y departure as it was coordinated; or if for some unknown reason I accidently gave up the light at the wrong time. I think as a facility we have good procedures in effect to control the use of the intersection. The only problem is not knowing what happened with the light at the ricd. We as controllers just need to be more aware of what is actually happening; not just seeing a green/red light and making our decision solely on that.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: LAS Tower Controllers reported confusion about who owned a runway and procedure at the time of an error. Two aircraft departed two different crossing runways; a policy and tool is in place to avoid this situation. Both Controllers wonder if the tool changed ownership on its own; or how neither realized what was happening.

Narrative: At LAS we have a device called the RICD (Runway Intersection Coordination Devise); it is used to show ownership of the runway intersection of Runway 25R and Runways 19L/R. If the light is green; it's your intersection. If the light is red it is not your intersection. I was working the LC2 position; and had a couple aircraft taxiing out for departure. LC1 called over and coordinated the intersection to be my control after Aircraft Y. While my second aircraft; Aircraft X; was holding in position; I coordinated the intersection back to LC1 behind Aircraft X. When Aircraft X was about 2/3 of the way down Runway 19R and already airborne; LC1 yelled over 'Hey are you rolling that [Aircraft Type]?' My reply was 'Yes; that was the coordination; Aircraft X back!' To which LC1 replied 'But I have the light!' At that point I looked over at the RICD and it was in fact red indicating that I do not have control of the intersection. I cannot say with any amount of certainty what happened with the RICD. I don't know if I was never given the light behind the Aircraft Y departure as it was coordinated; or if for some unknown reason I accidently gave up the light at the wrong time. I think as a facility we have good procedures in effect to control the use of the intersection. The only problem is not knowing what happened with the light at the RICD. We as controllers just need to be more aware of what is actually happening; not just seeing a green/red light and making our decision solely on that.

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.