Narrative:

A sudden; powerful wind shift occurred which forced sjc to change its runways in use from 12L/right to 30L/right. I called nct and informed the controller in charge that we needed to switch runway configuration immediately. He responded with the desire to wait until the top of the hour to grant my request. At this time; we began coordinating for which aircraft would be the last runway 12 departure; as well as which aircraft would be the last runway 12 arrival and the first runway 30 arrival. Two air carriers would be our last runway 12 departures and a third air carrier would be our last runway 12 arrival. A global express was making an ILS approach to runway 12R. The wind was 320 degrees at 17 KTS. The local controller read the global express the wind and advised him of the large tailwind component. The pilot acknowledged and landed. Meanwhile; the nct controller was vectoring four more aircrafts for the same ILS approach. The tailwind component had not diminished at all. I informed the nct controller in charge of this and he still responded that he wanted to wait to begin taking arriving aircraft to runway 30L. The local controller read an air carrier the wind and cleared him to land. The pilot responded that he could not accept the tailwind component and advised the local controller he was going around. At this time; the nct controller in charge called me back and asked if the air carrier had gone around because of the tailwind component. I told him that that was correct. He responded that he was taking 'everyone' away from the airport and moving them to a runway 30 approach. I told him I would switch the ILS to a runway 30 configuration. All aircraft landed safely and without further incident. This incident happened because the nct controller in charge did not take my warnings about the tailwind component seriously. He had already set four aircraft on vectors for a runway 12 approach and did not want to vector the aircraft for a runway 30 approach.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SJC Controller described a go around event caused by a strong tail wind; the reporter noting NCT's reluctance to change runway configurations.

Narrative: A sudden; powerful wind shift occurred which forced SJC to change its runways in use from 12L/R to 30L/R. I called NCT and informed the CIC that we needed to switch runway configuration immediately. He responded with the desire to wait until the top of the hour to grant my request. At this time; we began coordinating for which aircraft would be the last Runway 12 departure; as well as which aircraft would be the last Runway 12 arrival and the first Runway 30 arrival. Two Air Carriers would be our last Runway 12 departures and a third Air Carrier would be our last Runway 12 arrival. A Global Express was making an ILS approach to Runway 12R. The wind was 320 degrees at 17 KTS. The Local Controller read the Global Express the wind and advised him of the large tailwind component. The pilot acknowledged and landed. Meanwhile; the NCT Controller was vectoring four more aircrafts for the same ILS approach. The tailwind component had not diminished at all. I informed the NCT CIC of this and he still responded that he wanted to wait to begin taking arriving aircraft to Runway 30L. The Local Controller read an Air Carrier the wind and cleared him to land. The pilot responded that he could not accept the tailwind component and advised the Local Controller he was going around. At this time; the NCT CIC called me back and asked if the Air Carrier had gone around because of the tailwind component. I told him that that was correct. He responded that he was taking 'everyone' away from the airport and moving them to a Runway 30 approach. I told him I would switch the ILS to a Runway 30 configuration. All aircraft landed safely and without further incident. This incident happened because the NCT CIC did not take my warnings about the tailwind component seriously. He had already set four aircraft on vectors for a Runway 12 approach and did not want to vector the aircraft for a Runway 30 approach.

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.