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A90 TRACON controller reported flaws within the LOA with VFR towers in the area.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1713355 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201912 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | A90.TRACON |
| State Reference | NH |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Falcon 50 |
| Flight Phase | Initial Climb |
| Route In Use | None |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Other / Unknown |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Experience | Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 10 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT |
Narrative:
There are 2 problems with the situation. 1st bed tower is required to call and release aircraft within 3 minutes of the control departure time. Bedford tower called to request release on 2 aircraft with edct's; which were more than 10 minutes in the future. There's no way to validate the actual departure time of the aircraft if there's a 10 minute window in which they have release authority. This gave them a 13 minute window to depart the aircraft; the LOA says 3 minutes.the 2nd and more disturbing problem is that the aircraft and question came off on the wrong beacon code. Hanscom tower appeared to try to change the beacon code. In doing such bedford tower delayed the transfer of communication of the IFR aircraft. The departure area allows the tower to assign a heading towards an MVA which was higher than the assigned altitude. Without a way to communicate with the aircraft I had no chance to stop the aircraft from entering the lower in MVA. The tower is not an IFR facility. They are not trained to avoid MVA areas. They should not be able to assign IFR aircraft a vector which points them at a lower MVA within 8 miles of the airport.the LOA is flawed and dangerous bases upon the VFR towers lack of training.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A90 TRACON Controller reported flaws within the LOA with VFR Towers in the area.
Narrative: There are 2 problems with the situation. 1st BED tower is required to call and release aircraft within 3 minutes of the control departure time. Bedford tower called to request release on 2 aircraft with EDCT's; which were more than 10 minutes in the future. There's no way to validate the actual departure time of the aircraft if there's a 10 minute window in which they have release authority. This gave them a 13 minute window to depart the aircraft; the LOA says 3 minutes.The 2nd and more disturbing problem is that the aircraft and question came off on the wrong Beacon code. Hanscom Tower appeared to try to change the Beacon code. In doing such Bedford Tower delayed the transfer of communication of the IFR aircraft. The Departure area allows the Tower to assign a heading towards an MVA which was higher than the assigned altitude. Without a way to communicate with the aircraft I had no chance to stop the aircraft from entering the lower in MVA. The Tower is not an IFR facility. They are not trained to avoid MVA areas. They should not be able to assign IFR aircraft a vector which points them at a lower MVA within 8 miles of the airport.The LOA is flawed and dangerous bases upon the VFR towers lack of training.
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.