Narrative:

I was working clearance delivery/tscic (clearance delivery/tower controller in charge). Workload for the overall tower was minimal; but my position was fairly busy. In addition to reading several back to back IFR clearances and coordinating with the tmu; there was severe weather in the area and thunderstorms; which required almost non-stop ATIS preparing and posting. To properly illustrate this workload; the steps for making at ATIS at below: 1. Metar or speci observations go into a pending status (audible alarm). 2. After 3-5 minutes; the observation is finalized and is ready to be posted. 3. The weather sequence is copied into the ids; which is run by 15 year old personal computer's that are often an issue. 4. The verbal ATIS is recorded; checked for accuracy; and put on line. 5 .a land line coordination is made to inform the radar data position of the new ATIS; a gi (general information) message is also sent via the fdio. Severe thunderstorms are extremely common here; it is not uncommon to make 5 or 6 ATIS broadcasts an hour while one is moving through. On this particular day; there were 3 or 4 special weather observations transmitted over a 15 minute period. The short time span made making an up-to-date ATIS is almost impossible. By the time I started recording one; another observation was already pending. On one particular ATIS I made a mistake by saying that there was 'heavy thunderstorms and mist;' there was actually heavy thunderstorms; rain; and mist. I realized the mistake while checking the broadcast for accuracy; but the next observation was already finalized; so I began making the next ATIS. A few minutes later; a DC9 was unable to stop in time and rolled into the overrun area of runway 1. The clearance delivery position faces away from the runways; I happened to see the incident because I was turned around at the time of the incident with the intention of relaying the conditions of the final and runway to the radar room. The tower team performed well during the emergency; the crash phone was activated before the DC9 was even off the runway; all arrivals and departures were immediately stopped; and the oscic was notified within 30 seconds. There were no injuries or damage to the DC9 as a result of this incident. Immediately following the incident; management started reviewing tapes and assigning blame seemed to be an urgent matter. Tapes were pulled and telcons were held before everyone involved was off position. I continued working clearance delivery for another 45 minutes. There was a lot of emphasis placed on whether or not the pilot had the current ATIS; RVR etc. I believe it was clear to everyone in the air and on the ground that the weather was rapidly changing and that there was a heavy thunderstorm over the airport. The radar controller was working hard to sequence 4-6 arrivals to the airport around significant amounts of weather; and was helping a VFR pilot in weather difficulty. Everyone was kept as up to date as possible; but our equipment and workload prevented some information from being passed. Recommendation; I believe that a digital ATIS and perhaps an updated ids could have helped with the timely dissemination of information. Had I not had so much on my plate with the manual recording and typing; I may have had my eyes out the window to see that there was standing water on the runway. A digital ATIS would allow for current weather to be broadcasted; instead of the weather from 5 minutes ago. An up to date ids could allow for an audible/visual cue when there's a new ATIS; which must be clicked and acknowledged by the radar controller. My facility's SOP dictates that the tower controller in charge should be on clearance delivery whenever possible. This often leads to the controller in charge's back being turned reading clearances and making the ATIS. The controller in charge's default position being changed to ground control would help to ensure their eyes are out the window. If a more up to date ATIS process were adopted; the clearance delivery position could be combined to ground. This would help not only with staffing; but would allow for another set of eyes to constantly be on the movement areas.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller; assigned the CIC duties; described a runway excursion event listing several distracting duties; suggesting a change in CIC/Position alignments and weather reporting equipment would better serve the operation.

Narrative: I was working CD/TSCIC (Clearance Delivery/Tower Controller in Charge). Workload for the overall Tower was minimal; but my position was fairly busy. In addition to reading several back to back IFR clearances and coordinating with the TMU; there was severe weather in the area and thunderstorms; which required almost non-stop ATIS preparing and posting. To properly illustrate this workload; the steps for making at ATIS at below: 1. METAR or SPECI observations go into a pending status (audible alarm). 2. After 3-5 minutes; the observation is finalized and is ready to be posted. 3. The weather sequence is copied into the IDS; which is run by 15 year old Personal Computer's that are often an issue. 4. The verbal ATIS is recorded; checked for accuracy; and put on line. 5 .A land line coordination is made to inform the RADAR Data position of the new ATIS; a GI (general information) message is also sent via the FDIO. Severe thunderstorms are extremely common here; it is not uncommon to make 5 or 6 ATIS broadcasts an hour while one is moving through. On this particular day; there were 3 or 4 special weather observations transmitted over a 15 minute period. The short time span made making an up-to-date ATIS is almost impossible. By the time I started recording one; another observation was already pending. On one particular ATIS I made a mistake by saying that there was 'heavy thunderstorms and mist;' there was actually heavy thunderstorms; rain; and mist. I realized the mistake while checking the broadcast for accuracy; but the next observation was already finalized; so I began making the next ATIS. A few minutes later; a DC9 was unable to stop in time and rolled into the overrun area of Runway 1. The CD position faces away from the runways; I happened to see the incident because I was turned around at the time of the incident with the intention of relaying the conditions of the final and runway to the RADAR room. The tower team performed well during the emergency; the crash phone was activated before the DC9 was even off the runway; all arrivals and departures were immediately stopped; and the OSCIC was notified within 30 seconds. There were no injuries or damage to the DC9 as a result of this incident. Immediately following the incident; management started reviewing tapes and assigning blame seemed to be an urgent matter. Tapes were pulled and TELCONS were held before everyone involved was off position. I continued working CD for another 45 minutes. There was a lot of emphasis placed on whether or not the pilot had the current ATIS; RVR etc. I believe it was clear to everyone in the air and on the ground that the weather was rapidly changing and that there was a heavy thunderstorm over the airport. The RADAR Controller was working hard to sequence 4-6 arrivals to the airport around significant amounts of weather; and was helping a VFR pilot in weather difficulty. Everyone was kept as up to date as possible; but our equipment and workload prevented some information from being passed. Recommendation; I believe that a Digital ATIS and perhaps an updated IDS could have helped with the timely dissemination of information. Had I not had so much on my plate with the manual recording and typing; I may have had my eyes out the window to see that there was standing water on the runway. A digital ATIS would allow for current weather to be broadcasted; instead of the weather from 5 minutes ago. An up to date IDS could allow for an audible/visual cue when there's a new ATIS; which must be clicked and acknowledged by the RADAR controller. My facility's SOP dictates that the Tower CIC should be on CD whenever possible. this often leads to the CIC's back being turned reading clearances and making the ATIS. The CIC's default position being changed to Ground Control would help to ensure their eyes are out the window. If a more up to date ATIS process were adopted; the CD position could be combined to Ground. This would help not only with staffing; but would allow for another set of eyes to constantly be on the movement areas.

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.