Narrative:

Norcal was running what seemed to be straight ILS approaches; while advertising simultaneous offset instrument approaches (soia). They ran many pairs that collapsed below 3 miles; where we could see the second arrival and provide tower visual separation. Then aircraft Y checked in as aircraft X was about to cross the threshold at 4.95 miles in trail. I do not believe that norcal accomplished visual separation; the question was not asked; and I pointed this out to the controller in charge to say they (norcal) were running them tight. Not long after this occurred; I called over to advise the final controller that we would not be able to provide visual separation the two aircraft joining final who were not 3 miles apart. The norcal final controller then advised me that we were on closely spaced parallel (csp) approaches. I said that is not what we are advertising. They told me they were running csp until soia. By this time; I had an estimated twenty-five minutes on position and the local controller had about twenty-two. Neither one of us were aware they were ever running csp approaches. There has been a lot of confusion surrounding this and someone is going to end up in a bad situation.clarify what approaches are being run and run those until we see the next offering and only then put it on the ATIS.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SFO Controller reported NorCal was utilizing a parallel approach procedure without notifying SFO Tower or advertising the procedure on ATIS as required.

Narrative: NorCal was running what seemed to be straight ILS approaches; while advertising Simultaneous Offset Instrument Approaches (SOIA). They ran many pairs that collapsed below 3 miles; where we could see the second arrival and provide Tower visual separation. Then Aircraft Y checked in as Aircraft X was about to cross the threshold at 4.95 miles in trail. I do not believe that NorCal accomplished visual separation; the question was not asked; and I pointed this out to the CIC to say they (NorCal) were running them tight. Not long after this occurred; I called over to advise the Final Controller that we would not be able to provide visual separation the two aircraft joining final who were not 3 miles apart. The NorCal Final Controller then advised me that we were on Closely Spaced Parallel (CSP) approaches. I said that is not what we are advertising. They told me they were running CSP until SOIA. By this time; I had an estimated twenty-five minutes on position and the Local Controller had about twenty-two. Neither one of us were aware they were ever running CSP approaches. There has been a lot of confusion surrounding this and someone is going to end up in a bad situation.Clarify what approaches are being run and run those until we see the next offering and only then put it on the ATIS.

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.