Narrative:

I was working meacham south when aircraft X checked in. I issued the aircraft a descent to 5000 feet. During this time there was an intermittent radar target that I was not aware of. When aircraft X was over cpt he advised that there was a glider out there. I then noticed a target directly over cpt. I placed a heading indicator on it to track it. It dropped off the screen and several miles later it would reappear. I asked the pilot what altitude the glider was at and he said about 6500 feet and that he was pretty close. I apologized to the pilot that I did not see it. He said that it is not my fault or not much that I could really do about it. I do not remember the exact statement. Also; if I remember correctly he said that his equipment did not pick it up either. I them advised the operational manager of the situation; and showed him the intermittent target. Once I was relieved I stopped by the operations manager desk. He had just gotten off the phone with the pilot; he said the pilot was pretty cool about the situation. He then showed me the statement referring to the intermittent target. The operations manager told me not to worry there was not anything I really could have done since the target was intermittent. The reason I never previously filed a report was due to the operations manager telling me that there was nothing I could have done. However; today I am called into quality control to give a controller statement in regards to a near midair collision. It is my understanding that only a pilot may declare a near midair collision; and to my knowledge the pilot did not do this. I really do not have any recommendations for this type of situation; prior to the situation I believed all possible conflicts where resolved. Maybe all aircraft are required to have a transponder.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: D10 TRACON Controller reported not observing an intermittent target on the radar display until informed of the glider by an air taxi pilot in descent.

Narrative: I was working Meacham South when Aircraft X checked in. I issued the aircraft a descent to 5000 feet. During this time there was an intermittent radar target that I was not aware of. When Aircraft X was over CPT he advised that there was a glider out there. I then noticed a target directly over CPT. I placed a heading indicator on it to track it. It dropped off the screen and several miles later it would reappear. I asked the pilot what altitude the glider was at and he said about 6500 feet and that he was pretty close. I apologized to the pilot that I did not see it. He said that it is not my fault or not much that I could really do about it. I do not remember the exact statement. Also; if I remember correctly he said that his equipment did not pick it up either. I them advised the Operational Manager of the situation; and showed him the intermittent target. Once I was relieved I stopped by the Operations Manager desk. He had just gotten off the phone with the pilot; he said the pilot was pretty cool about the situation. He then showed me the statement referring to the intermittent target. The Operations Manager told me not to worry there was not anything I really could have done since the target was intermittent. The reason I never previously filed a report was due to the Operations Manager telling me that there was nothing I could have done. However; today I am called into Quality Control to give a controller statement in regards to a near midair collision. It is my understanding that only a pilot may declare a NMAC; and to my knowledge the pilot did not do this. I really do not have any recommendations for this type of situation; prior to the situation I believed all possible conflicts where resolved. Maybe all aircraft are required to have a transponder.

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.