Narrative:

Eight miles from tjig; I retrieved current ATIS information. I tuned to the isla grande airport tower frequency (135.875) and made a call. My call was as follows ' isla grande tower; helicopter abc water tower with ATIS; landing. At this point I was still several miles from the tower (it's a big tower); and approximately 6 to 7 miles from the isla grande airport. The controller immediately responded with 'possible pilot deviation....you need to report from outside the delta' with which I replied 'I am outside the delta' and he responded 'no you are not!'. I immediately pushed the ident button to hopefully mark my location at that point in time (well outside the delta airspace) I asked for the controller's initials and a phone number to contact the tower and told him to 'mark the tape'. He refused to give me his initials and a phone number and did not reply until I said again 'mark the tape; I need your initials and a phone number'. All of this time I was still outside the delta airspace. My observer took a picture of the GPS and I was still approximately one mile from the delta airspace. I started doing 360's outside the delta airspace until the controller asked me what my intentions were. I told him 'I'm trying to land at tjig if you'd give me some help'. At which point he told me to fly south to a landmark I wasn't familiar with. I replied that I was not familiar with that landmark; so he gave me a vector of 140 to which I complied. He then cleared me to tjig and told me to remain south of the runway and report landing assured; which I did. Upon landing; I called the tower and that controller refused to give me his initials. He told me to call another number. I spoke with an individual who refused to identify himself who also refused to give me the controller initials and said he would look into it and call me back. Approximately 20 minutes later the individual called me back and very aggressively told me that he had reviewed the tapes and that he heard me report 'overtop the water tower' to which I replied 'I did not say that' I simply said 'water tower' he informed me that they base all their information on the pilots position report. When I asked him if he had radar and that I wanted to review the tapes; he told me they did not have radar. I then asked him; well if you don't have radar; 1. What is your controller doing giving me vectors; and 2. How can you emphatically state a 'possible pilot deviation'?? I asked him where I could retrieve radar data and he gave me the number in san juan which I called. I spoke with a very helpful gentleman. He said he would try and get the radar tape. He called me back and informed me that it would be [a few days] before his supervisor would be able to review the tapes. I asked him if I could view the tapes and he responded; he didn't know but his supervisor would. I asked him how long the tapes would be held in memory and he said 45 days. He was very helpful and polite just like every other controller/ATC person I have dealt with in 30+ years of flying. He asked me (can't remember the verbage) if the controller had violated me....if he had asked me to call the tower. I told him no; I was the one who asked for the controllers initials and for him to mark the tape. (Again; I was assuming he had a radar feed) this is the very first time I have ever encountered an unsafe controller. When that controller vectored me to 140; he vectored me directly into the final approach path for san juan airport runway 09 (although I was at only 500 feet); I can only imagine the TCAS of an airliner alerting due to my proximity! I had been briefed upon arriving on the island of puerto rico that the isla grande tower had a radar feed from san juan control. Apparently this is not the case! Had I known this; I would not have accepted his vector; after all; without radar how does he know where he is vectoring me! Incredibly; that same controller said the exact same thing to me yesterday while I was reporting to land at isla grande. He stated 'possible pilot deviation....report outside the delta next time' to which I replied 'I am outside the delta' and he said 'no you are not!' but yesterday I replied 'well my GPS must be wrong' and he replied 'yes it is!' in his typical unpleasant tone...and I just complied with his instructions and landed. It might be noted that he yelled at a national guard helicopter this same day after my incident 'possible pilot deviation' and then a week or two ago; I heard him riding a first time solo student pilot (who announced 'student pilot first solo') with 'possible pilot deviation' when he failed to turn to base at a checkpoint he was unfamiliar with. He told the student pilot (who was in landing configuration) 'turn 270' which the student 'complied' and turned to a heading of 270; but the controller stated 'that's not what I told you!' he wanted the student to make a 270 degree turn to line back up with the runway. Luckily; the student pilot was sharp enough to transition back to cruise mode (flaps up;power;etc) I feel this controller is dangerous; unsafe and is not an asset to the thousands of fine men and women in air traffic control. I plan on filing a formal complaint with the FAA but was told it won't do any good because this is a civilian 'contract' tower (whatever that means). This individual should be fired in my opinion or at least be given extensive retraining.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Helicopter pilot reported a verbal altercation with a TJIG Tower Controller over his position inside or outside the Class D. The Controller then proceeded to issue a vector heading without the benefit of Radar.

Narrative: Eight miles from TJIG; I retrieved current ATIS information. I tuned to the Isla Grande airport tower frequency (135.875) and made a call. My call was as follows ' Isla Grande Tower; helicopter abc Water Tower with ATIS; Landing. At this point I was still several miles from the tower (it's a BIG tower); and approximately 6 to 7 miles from the Isla Grande Airport. The controller immediately responded with 'possible pilot deviation....you need to report from outside the delta' with which I replied 'I am outside the delta' and he responded 'no you are not!'. I immediately pushed the Ident button to hopefully mark my location at that point in time (well outside the delta airspace) I asked for the controller's initials and a phone number to contact the tower and told him to 'mark the tape'. He refused to give me his initials and a phone number and did not reply until I said again 'mark the tape; I need your initials and a phone number'. All of this time I was still outside the delta airspace. My observer took a picture of the GPS and I was still approximately one mile from the delta airspace. I started doing 360's outside the delta airspace until the controller asked me what my intentions were. I told him 'I'm trying to land at TJIG if you'd give me some help'. At which point he told me to fly South to a landmark I wasn't familiar with. I replied that I was not familiar with that landmark; so he gave me a vector of 140 to which I complied. He then cleared me to TJIG and told me to remain South of the runway and report landing assured; which I did. Upon landing; I called the tower and that controller refused to give me his initials. He told me to call another number. I spoke with an individual who refused to identify himself who also refused to give me the controller initials and said he would look into it and call me back. Approximately 20 minutes later the individual called me back and very aggressively told me that he had reviewed the tapes and that he heard me report 'overtop the water tower' to which I replied 'I did not say that' I simply said 'water tower' He informed me that they base all their information on the pilots position report. When I asked him if he had radar and that I wanted to review the tapes; he told me they did not have radar. I then asked him; well if you don't have radar; 1. What is your controller doing giving me vectors; and 2. How can you emphatically state a 'possible pilot deviation'?? I asked him where I could retrieve radar data and he gave me the number in San Juan which I called. I spoke with a very helpful gentleman. He said he would try and get the radar tape. He called me back and informed me that it would be [a few days] before his supervisor would be able to review the tapes. I asked him if I could view the tapes and he responded; he didn't know but his supervisor would. I asked him how long the tapes would be held in memory and he said 45 days. He was very helpful and polite just like every other controller/ATC person I have dealt with in 30+ years of flying. He asked me (can't remember the verbage) if the controller had violated me....if he had asked me to call the tower. I told him no; I was the one who asked for the controllers initials and for him to mark the tape. (again; I was assuming he had a radar feed) This is the very first time I have ever encountered an unsafe controller. When that controller vectored me to 140; he vectored me directly into the final approach path for San Juan airport runway 09 (although I was at only 500 feet); I can only imagine the TCAS of an airliner alerting due to my proximity! I had been briefed upon arriving on the island of Puerto Rico that the Isla Grande tower had a radar feed from San Juan control. Apparently this is not the case! Had I known this; I would not have accepted his vector; after all; without radar how does he know where he is vectoring me! Incredibly; that same controller said the exact same thing to me yesterday while I was reporting to land at Isla Grande. He stated 'Possible pilot deviation....report outside the delta next time' to which I replied 'I am outside the delta' and he said 'no you are not!' But yesterday I replied 'well my GPS must be wrong' and he replied 'yes it is!' in his typical unpleasant tone...and I just complied with his instructions and landed. It might be noted that he yelled at a National Guard helicopter this same day after my incident 'possible pilot deviation' and then a week or two ago; I heard him riding a first time solo student pilot (who announced 'student pilot first solo') with 'possible pilot deviation' when he failed to turn to base at a checkpoint he was unfamiliar with. He told the student pilot (who was in landing configuration) 'turn 270' which the student 'complied' and turned to a heading of 270; but the controller stated 'That's not what I told you!' He wanted the student to make a 270 degree turn to line back up with the runway. Luckily; the student pilot was sharp enough to transition back to cruise mode (flaps up;power;etc) I feel this controller is dangerous; unsafe and is NOT an asset to the thousands of fine men and women in air traffic control. I plan on filing a formal complaint with the FAA but was told it won't do any good because this is a civilian 'contract' tower (whatever that means). This individual should be fired in my opinion or at least be given extensive retraining.

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.