Narrative:

I was working harbor radar. There was an untracked target at 3000 feet maneuvering in the lgb departure corridor for a while and was causing me issues with every departure (they come off climbing to 3000). The rundown was full of 2 jets. The first 2 jets I was able to vector around the 3000 foot target. The target then moved to a position that I didn't feel I could maneuver around so I called and told them to stop aircraft X at 2000. The long beach tracon controller thought I said that because of the pq (IFR) that just departed and I clarified that it was because of the 3000 foot target.the P/Q pops off and I radar identification him; and have to stop him at 2500 for the target intermittently. After that; aircraft X comes off and the tower turned him quicker so that his route of flight was not typical; perhaps he came off of a different runway. This put him in a position where there was another target at 2000 right in his face. Because of this; the tower climbed him to 3000 (because they knew the reason why I stopped him at 2000 was not a factor on this heading). As they did this; they called me and told me they climbed him to 3000. Meanwhile; the 2000 foot untracked target started to climb too. When aircraft X checked on he was very close to the untracked target at the same altitude (2400). The first transmission I gave was a traffic alert and heading. Aircraft X eventually got the traffic in sight. I tried to follow the first untracked target so that I could educate him but he flew into cpm. The tower controller was so concerned with departing aircraft X quickly that it put him in an unsafe situation instead of waiting for the IFR P/Q to be out of the way so that we could have given him a vector to avoid traffic.the whole harbor airspace is unsafe. In the over 10 years that I've been in the agency; it is the most unsafe airspace I've ever seen. Aircraft are constantly in the long beach departure corridor at altitudes ranging from 1000-4500. Usually we can vector to stay away but some days there are just too many. It needs to be a class charlie. On top of it; the long beach culture is one that feels that all they have to do is call traffic. It is common for them to launch jets into targets (which was a totally different culture than we had at sna tower; when I used to work there). I took a family trip to lgb tower and they said they're a class D; all they have to do is call traffic. Lgb tower needs to watch this to see what it causes. I'm surprised the FAA allows lgb to remain a class D.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SCT TRACON Controller reported an unsafe operation with a departure off of Long Beach Airport and a IFR aircraft close to the departure end of the runway. Controller recommended that LGB become a Class Charlie airspace.

Narrative: I was working Harbor Radar. There was an untracked target at 3000 feet maneuvering in the LGB departure corridor for a while and was causing me issues with every departure (they come off climbing to 3000). The rundown was full of 2 jets. The first 2 jets I was able to vector around the 3000 foot target. The target then moved to a position that I didn't feel I could maneuver around so I called and told them to stop Aircraft X at 2000. The Long Beach Tracon controller thought I said that because of the PQ (IFR) that just departed and I clarified that it was because of the 3000 foot target.The P/Q pops off and I radar ID him; and have to stop him at 2500 for the target intermittently. After that; Aircraft X comes off and the tower turned him quicker so that his route of flight was not typical; perhaps he came off of a different runway. This put him in a position where there was another target at 2000 right in his face. Because of this; the tower climbed him to 3000 (because they knew the reason why I stopped him at 2000 was not a factor on this heading). As they did this; they called me and told me they climbed him to 3000. Meanwhile; the 2000 foot untracked target started to climb too. When Aircraft X checked on he was very close to the untracked target at the same altitude (2400). The first transmission I gave was a traffic alert and heading. Aircraft X eventually got the traffic in sight. I tried to follow the first untracked target so that I could educate him but he flew into CPM. The Tower controller was so concerned with departing Aircraft X quickly that it put him in an unsafe situation instead of waiting for the IFR P/Q to be out of the way so that we could have given him a vector to avoid traffic.The whole HARBOR airspace is unsafe. In the over 10 years that I've been in the agency; it is the most unsafe airspace I've ever seen. Aircraft are constantly in the Long Beach departure corridor at altitudes ranging from 1000-4500. Usually we can vector to stay away but some days there are just too many. It needs to be a Class Charlie. On top of it; the Long Beach culture is one that feels that all they have to do is call traffic. It is common for them to launch jets into targets (which was a totally different culture than we had at SNA Tower; when I used to work there). I took a family trip to LGB tower and they said they're a Class D; all they have to do is call traffic. LGB tower needs to watch this to see what it causes. I'm surprised the FAA allows LGB to remain a Class D.

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.