Narrative:

The weather was zero visibility in the tower with freezing fog and no asde. The operation was running just fine until our supervisor decided to come to the tower and start telling controllers how to run the traffic. One example was the supervisor telling the controller working local control to issue line up and wait (luaw) even though we can't see the aircraft. I was working clearance delivery/flight data and stood up and said 'you can't do that'. The supervisor said 'I don't care' and told local control to do it again. I again spoke out and was told again 'I don't care' and the supervisor told local control again to put the aircraft in position.I then said 'ok you're blatantly breaking the luaw rules'. At this time I told him you could only do it if the runway was advertised as a departure only runway. He again said 'I don't care'. After a minute I was told to change the ATIS to accurately reflect the operation. During this time the supervisor decided to take all the arrivals to runway 2L and all the departures to runway 2R. Meanwhile the rvrs for runway 2R dropped below departure minimums. Then the supervisor decided to take all the departures that couldn't accept runway 2R back across the airport while still having zero visibility in the tower mind you; over to runway 2L. He was instructing local control; ground control and finals radar control in the TRACON downstairs how to run their traffic even though all the controllers were certified on the positions they were working. He was a distraction to all involved making an already very stressful and complex operation even worse.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BNA Controller observed the Tower Supervisor order the Local Controller to instruct an aircraft to line up and wait even though the legal requirements for this procedure were not in place. The Supervisor was issuing orders to all the Controller positions which he felt was unnecessary and increased the complexity of their operation.

Narrative: The weather was zero visibility in the Tower with freezing fog and no ASDE. The operation was running just fine until our supervisor decided to come to the Tower and start telling Controllers how to run the traffic. One example was the supervisor telling the Controller working Local Control to issue Line Up and Wait (LUAW) even though we can't see the aircraft. I was working Clearance Delivery/Flight data and stood up and said 'you can't do that'. The supervisor said 'I don't care' and told Local Control to do it again. I again spoke out and was told again 'I don't care' and the Supervisor told Local Control again to put the aircraft in position.I then said 'ok you're blatantly breaking the LUAW rules'. At this time I told him you could only do it if the runway was advertised as a departure only runway. He again said 'I don't care'. After a minute I was told to change the ATIS to accurately reflect the operation. During this time the Supervisor decided to take all the arrivals to Runway 2L and all the departures to Runway 2R. Meanwhile the RVRs for Runway 2R dropped below departure minimums. Then the Supervisor decided to take all the departures that couldn't accept Runway 2R back across the airport while still having zero visibility in the tower mind you; over to Runway 2L. He was instructing Local Control; Ground Control and Finals Radar Control in the TRACON downstairs how to run their traffic even though all the controllers were certified on the positions they were working. He was a distraction to all involved making an already very stressful and complex operation even worse.

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.