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Prompted by a spacing error by his developmental; an approach controller expressed concern about the amount of aircraft weight class data required to be remembered to provide required approach spacing. Also cites frequent changing of type designators to accommodate ICAO standards as a contributing factor.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 888764 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201005 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Brasilia EMB-120 All Series |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Final Approach |
| Route In Use | Visual Approach |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Aircraft 2 | |
| Make Model Name | MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Final Approach |
| Route In Use | Visual Approach |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Instructor Approach |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
Training in progress. Conducting visual approaches. An E120 was behind an MD80. When the developmental switched him to the tower I asked if he was following his traffic. Developmental did not know the E120 was a 'small' requiring four miles at threshold. I should have been more tuned in. The developmental had been doing very well for several weeks and so far this session had been clearing aircraft to follow preceding traffic as appropriate. He cleared and switched this one without instructing him to follow and I didn't catch it in time. Spacing may have decreased to less than four miles. I have to stay very alert even with easy traffic and a developmental that has been doing well with a routine operation. I had no reason to anticipate a problem. It is very difficult to remember every aircraft type identifier; especially when we keep changing identifiers which provide no meaningful information just to follow ICAO standards. We work most of the air traffic in the world; why do we change the identifiers to eight different things for a piper cherokee? It is impossible to remember all the information we are given.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Prompted by a spacing error by his Developmental; an Approach Controller expressed concern about the amount of aircraft weight class data required to be remembered to provide required approach spacing. Also cites frequent changing of type designators to accommodate ICAO standards as a contributing factor.
Narrative: Training in progress. Conducting visual approaches. An E120 was behind an MD80. When the Developmental switched him to the Tower I asked if he was following his traffic. Developmental did not know the E120 was a 'small' requiring four miles at threshold. I should have been more tuned in. The Developmental had been doing very well for several weeks and so far this session had been clearing aircraft to follow preceding traffic as appropriate. He cleared and switched this one without instructing him to follow and I didn't catch it in time. Spacing may have decreased to less than four miles. I have to stay very alert even with easy traffic and a Developmental that has been doing well with a routine operation. I had no reason to anticipate a problem. It is very difficult to remember every aircraft type identifier; especially when we keep changing identifiers which provide no meaningful information just to follow ICAO standards. We work most of the air traffic in the world; why do we change the identifiers to eight different things for a Piper Cherokee? It is impossible to remember all the information we are given.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.