Narrative:

Every morning at oma; monday through friday; we have what we call our departure push. This can be about 50 to 80 or more departures; most are scheduled air carriers; box haulers; and some corporate traffic thrown in. During this time; due to our short staffing situation; ground control is almost always combined with clearance delivery; operated on two different frequencies. What really complicates an already tenuous situation is the air carriers constantly using frequency time to ask for push backs; causing a lot of frequency congestion; read back errors; and partially blocked transmissions. This is at an airport that is undergoing a lot of new construction; so we have to watch the pilots closely. Our air carrier ramp is uncontrolled; pilots are never required to get a push back clearance. Despite informing them over and over; they continue to call to ask for push back clearance; which can't be issued. The manager here and the airport authority both refuse to tell the airlines this. The airport likes to give the airlines the illusion that we control their mess; and our manager either doesn't care enough to inform them; or wants to avoid all potential confrontations. Someday soon; an air carrier is going to block a ground control instruction with an unnecessary request to push; and contribute to a incursion of some kind. Recommendation; I strongly recommend that all airlines flying out of oma be notified that push back calls are not needed; not wanted; and increase controller complexity and work load.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: OMA Controller voiced concern regarding the facility practice of combined Ground/Clearance Delivery positions during the morning push; complicated by unnecessary push back calls from aircraft in none movement areas.

Narrative: Every morning at OMA; Monday through Friday; we have what we call our departure push. This can be about 50 to 80 or more departures; most are scheduled air carriers; box haulers; and some corporate traffic thrown in. During this time; due to our short staffing situation; Ground Control is almost always combined with Clearance Delivery; operated on two different frequencies. What really complicates an already tenuous situation is the air carriers constantly using frequency time to ask for push backs; causing a lot of frequency congestion; read back errors; and partially blocked transmissions. This is at an airport that is undergoing a lot of new construction; so we have to watch the pilots closely. Our air carrier ramp is uncontrolled; pilots are never required to get a push back clearance. Despite informing them over and over; they continue to call to ask for push back clearance; which can't be issued. The Manager here and the Airport Authority both refuse to tell the airlines this. The airport likes to give the airlines the illusion that we control their mess; and our Manager either doesn't care enough to inform them; or wants to avoid all potential confrontations. Someday soon; an Air Carrier is going to block a Ground Control instruction with an unnecessary request to push; and contribute to a incursion of some kind. Recommendation; I strongly recommend that all airlines flying out of OMA be notified that push back calls are not needed; not wanted; and increase controller complexity and work load.

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.