 |
37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
TRACON controller reported aircraft incorrectly starting descent on ILS which creates a conflict and wake turbulence error.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1686362 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201909 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | PCT.TRACON |
| State Reference | VA |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Commercial Fixed Wing |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Descent |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Approach |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
I was working the arrival sectors; lucke; mulrr; binns; for dulles airport. During the afternoon arrival bank; multiple international air carriers were given descents on the HYPER7 and MAPEL2 arrivals. These aircraft were given descend via clearances for their respective runways. For this example; aircraft X was told to descend via the MAPEL2 arrival for runway 19C. The aircraft complied with all crossing altitudes and speeds; but once the aircraft reached waypoint covur; the aircraft joined the localizer (as they were instructed to do); and then also descended on the glide slope. There is a major safety issue with this! There cannot be any margin for error for this problem to keep occurring. If another aircraft is crossing below aircraft X at 060; a major collision could occur causing many innocent people their lives. Not only is this a potential issue; but we're not even factoring in wake turbulence. What if another aircraft catches the wake of aircraft X due to this descent? The issues are clearly present. Fix it! We have; over the last 3 years; designed brand new stars and approaches into iad that creates a much safer and efficient environment keeping everyone on course and happy. These designs also allow iad to begin utilizing trips which is safer and less workload on feeders. We have everything designed and ready to go just awaiting final meeting for implementation process to begin and not sure what the holdup is.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: TRACON Controller reported aircraft incorrectly starting descent on ILS which creates a conflict and wake turbulence error.
Narrative: I was working the arrival sectors; LUCKE; MULRR; BINNS; for Dulles airport. During the afternoon arrival bank; multiple international air carriers were given descents on the HYPER7 and MAPEL2 arrivals. These aircraft were given descend via clearances for their respective runways. For this example; Aircraft X was told to descend via the MAPEL2 arrival for Runway 19C. The aircraft complied with all crossing altitudes and speeds; but once the aircraft reached waypoint COVUR; the aircraft joined the localizer (as they were instructed to do); and then also descended on the glide slope. There is a major safety issue with this! There cannot be any margin for error for this problem to keep occurring. If another aircraft is crossing below Aircraft X at 060; a major collision could occur causing many innocent people their lives. Not only is this a potential issue; but we're not even factoring in wake turbulence. What if another aircraft catches the wake of Aircraft X due to this descent? The issues are clearly present. Fix it! We have; over the last 3 years; designed brand new STARs and approaches into IAD that creates a much safer and efficient environment keeping everyone on course and happy. These designs also allow IAD to begin utilizing TRIPs which is safer and less workload on feeders. We have everything designed and ready to go just awaiting final meeting for implementation process to begin and not sure what the holdup is.
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.