Narrative:

[We were] landing runway 12; 19C & 19R. Running ILS approaches to runway 12 & 19R; visual approaches to 19C. Wind was 250 at 06 KTS. Visibility on the weather report was seven miles; however it was very hazy. When I looked at the aircraft on final; I could not see the 19R aircraft until they were on a half mile final. The runway 12 aircraft could not be seen until they were on a one mile final. I was not working the position; but I did ask the local 3 controller if he saw the aircraft; and he said he saw them both inside of one mile. The distance between these two points would put the aircraft less than three miles separation. I asked the local controller 3 if he was providing visual and he said; he assumed pct was staggering the aircraft. To give you a little bit of other information. When pct called to get runway 12; the supervisor said 'no'. After a couple of phone calls from someone else to the supervisor; we were switching to land runway 12. It was obvious someone told the flm to land runway 12. Luckily once again we did not have any go-arounds. I believe we lost separation on numerous aircraft during this session. For these conditions we should have done what the flm originally wanted and pct would land runway 19R; 19C; 19L and iad tower would depart runway 30. Controllers need to be briefed again so they are aware if they cannot see these aircraft at a certain distance they need to send the aircraft around and also advise the flm if they cannot maintain visual separation. Also put a couple of tick marks on the racd to indicate where you need to see the aircraft; if not where you have to send them around.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A IAD Controller described a questionable separation event during landing operations on Runways 12; 19C and 19R. He noted the visibility did not allow Tower visual sightings prior to losing three miles lateral separation.

Narrative: [We were] landing Runway 12; 19C & 19R. Running ILS Approaches to Runway 12 & 19R; Visual Approaches to 19C. Wind was 250 at 06 KTS. Visibility on the weather report was seven miles; however it was very hazy. When I looked at the aircraft on final; I could not see the 19R aircraft until they were on a half mile final. The Runway 12 aircraft could not be seen until they were on a one mile final. I was not working the position; but I did ask the Local 3 Controller if he saw the aircraft; and he said he saw them both inside of one mile. The distance between these two points would put the aircraft less than three miles separation. I asked the Local Controller 3 if he was providing visual and he said; he assumed PCT was staggering the aircraft. To give you a little bit of other information. When PCT called to get Runway 12; the Supervisor said 'no'. After a couple of phone calls from someone else to the Supervisor; we were switching to land Runway 12. It was obvious someone told the FLM to land Runway 12. Luckily once again we did not have any go-arounds. I believe we lost separation on numerous aircraft during this session. For these conditions we should have done what the FLM originally wanted and PCT would land Runway 19R; 19C; 19L and IAD Tower would depart Runway 30. Controllers need to be briefed again so they are aware if they cannot see these aircraft at a certain distance they need to send the aircraft around and also advise the FLM if they cannot maintain visual separation. Also put a couple of tick marks on the RACD to indicate where you need to see the aircraft; if not where you have to send them around.

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.