Narrative:

I was working as controller in charge monitoring ground control and local control; a skills check was in progress on local. Aircraft X called inbound 10 miles to the south and was told to make straight in runway 01L report a 3 mile final; he did read back the instructions. We were starting to get a departure rush and the supervisor was pushing the trainee to get the departures out quickly and was directing his actions. The trainee had been working the position for about 35 minutes with his instructor prior to the skill check; and they were about 1hr 5min in the skill check; so 1hr 40min total for the trainee.the complexity and traffic volume were high for our airport and the trainee was falling behind; so the supervisor was directing his actions to get departures out. I remember looking at the pad I was keeping and thinking that it seemed like aircraft X should have checked in by now; I looked at the radar and saw no target and thought maybe I had missed the report or that they had already arrived. Aircraft Y had been waiting for take off and the trainee cleared him for take off. The aircraft Y taxied on to the runway and I looked at the finals and saw aircraft X very short final; I called out go around (not sure the trainee/supervisor heard me); aircraft X called a go around and was directed into left traffic. Aircraft Y continued his take off roll and departed. Aircraft X landed without further incident. I believe a contributing factor was that another controller on break had come up and was reattaching the handset rest at the controller in charge position slightly blocking the view of the runway 01 finals and contributing the overall distractions. We had the pilot of aircraft X call the tower he said he tried to contact the tower but didn't get through; listening to the tapes we found no evidence of that. Asked why he didn't verify he was cleared to land or say anything as he got closer to the runway he said that at lvk they just continue to the runway and go around if they haven't been cleared. The trainee told me that he had forgotten to write the inbound on his pad and had forgotten him.the pilot should have reported as instructed; if he got no response he should not have continued to the threshold before trying again. The trainee has a recommend [for position certification] and is expected to check out soon; the skill check may have become a check ride. While the trainee was slightly behind the power curve he was still managing; and I believe the supervisor pushing him to speed up departures contributed to the trainee losing focus; however lack of good pad management and scan technique definitely contributed to the situation. If you are conducting a check ride/possible check ride then if the trainee is being safe and not grossly delaying traffic then you shouldn't step in and start directing them; it just makes them lose focus and have to try even harder to keep up with traffic.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A small aircraft pilot executed a go-around due to another small aircraft on the runway for departure. The pilot on go-around was unable to establish communication with the Tower due to frequency congestion. Tower personnel recognized the situation as did the pilot. Pilot's initial communication with Tower was advising them they were executing the go-around. ATC training was in progress in the Tower.

Narrative: I was working as CIC monitoring Ground Control and Local Control; a skills check was in progress on local. Aircraft X called inbound 10 miles to the south and was told to make straight in Runway 01L report a 3 mile final; he did read back the instructions. We were starting to get a departure rush and the supervisor was pushing the trainee to get the departures out quickly and was directing his actions. The trainee had been working the position for about 35 minutes with his instructor prior to the skill check; and they were about 1hr 5min in the skill check; so 1hr 40min total for the trainee.The complexity and traffic volume were high for our airport and the trainee was falling behind; so the supervisor was directing his actions to get departures out. I remember looking at the pad I was keeping and thinking that it seemed like Aircraft X should have checked in by now; I looked at the radar and saw no target and thought maybe I had missed the report or that they had already arrived. Aircraft Y had been waiting for take off and the trainee cleared him for take off. The Aircraft Y taxied on to the runway and I looked at the finals and saw Aircraft X very short final; I called out go around (not sure the trainee/supervisor heard me); Aircraft X called a go around and was directed into left traffic. Aircraft Y continued his take off roll and departed. Aircraft X landed without further incident. I believe a contributing factor was that another controller on break had come up and was reattaching the handset rest at the CIC position slightly blocking the view of the runway 01 finals and contributing the overall distractions. We had the pilot of Aircraft X call the tower he said he tried to contact the tower but didn't get through; listening to the tapes we found no evidence of that. Asked why he didn't verify he was cleared to land or say anything as he got closer to the runway he said that at LVK they just continue to the runway and go around if they haven't been cleared. The trainee told me that he had forgotten to write the inbound on his pad and had forgotten him.The pilot should have reported as instructed; if he got no response he should not have continued to the threshold before trying again. The trainee has a recommend [for position certification] and is expected to check out soon; the skill check may have become a check ride. While the trainee was slightly behind the power curve he was still managing; and I believe the supervisor pushing him to speed up departures contributed to the trainee losing focus; however lack of good pad management and scan technique definitely contributed to the situation. If you are conducting a check ride/possible check ride then if the trainee is being safe and not grossly delaying traffic then you shouldn't step in and start directing them; it just makes them lose focus and have to try even harder to keep up with traffic.

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.