Narrative:

Aircraft X had requested days in advance to work a 'photo mission' directly over the airport at 1;900 feet. Flying east and west and working southbound. This puts aircraft X directly in towered airspace and in class B for the majority of this time. As aircraft X called me for flight following I was informed by my controller in charge (controller in charge) that tower has refused to accept communications on this aircraft that will be in their airspace and that I must give them a point out and they will 'miss the traffic with their traffic'. There are a multitude of issues with this situation:first and foremost the ATC system is built for the safe and efficient flow of air traffic. Allowing this operation in the first place is neither of those. As a controller I want to deny the operation but at this TRACON there seems to be a huge lack of responsibility at the supervisor and operations manager level. Everyone at those levels knows that this operation is unsafe but is unwillingly to deny it at their level. Therefore leaving a controller on position feeling handcuffed and pressured to allow this operation to happen. The operation manager had pulled the controller in charge aside (who was against allowing this operation) and informed him to tell me how this was going to work. Again there should not be this kind of pressure put on a controller. Allowing this aircraft takes away any ability of ensuring any kind of separation in the event of a go-around. The list of issues with this operation is just the tip of the iceberg. Photo missions and pressure to accommodate at the expense of safety has been a growing issue in this facility for years. The lack of support and unwillingness to deny this kind of operation at an operation supervisor and operation manager level; leaving controllers feeling forced to work an unsafe operation; is a huge concern. This needs to be addressed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A TRACON Controller reported a photo mission aircraft flying an unsafe route was allowed to proceed through the airspace.

Narrative: Aircraft X had requested days in advance to work a 'photo mission' directly over the airport at 1;900 feet. Flying east and west and working southbound. This puts Aircraft X directly in towered airspace and in Class B for the majority of this time. As Aircraft X called me for flight following I was informed by my CIC (Controller in Charge) that Tower has refused to accept communications on this aircraft that will be in THEIR airspace and that I must give them a point out and they will 'miss the traffic with their traffic'. There are a multitude of issues with this situation:First and foremost the ATC system is built for the SAFE AND EFFICIENT flow of air traffic. Allowing this operation in the first place is neither of those. As a controller I want to deny the operation but at this TRACON there seems to be a HUGE lack of responsibility at the Supervisor and Operations Manager level. Everyone at those levels knows that this operation is unsafe but is unwillingly to deny it at their level. Therefore leaving a controller on position feeling handcuffed and pressured to allow this operation to happen. The Operation Manager had pulled the CIC aside (who was against allowing this operation) and informed him to tell me how this was going to work. Again there should not be this kind of pressure put on a controller. Allowing this aircraft takes away any ability of ensuring any kind of separation in the event of a go-around. The list of issues with this operation is just the tip of the iceberg. Photo missions and pressure to accommodate at the EXPENSE OF SAFETY has been a growing issue in this facility for years. The lack of support and unwillingness to deny this kind of operation at an Operation Supervisor and Operation Manager level; leaving controllers feeling forced to work an unsafe operation; is a huge concern. This needs to be addressed.

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.