Narrative:

[This report involves] contradicting rules. I was working combined [sectors] R1/R5. Our ASR-8 was out for maintenance. We're obligated to work the VFR [traffic] to the airport due to our LOA; even though sometimes the vfrs drop from our radar due to their altitude and contrary of the 7110.65. I had aircraft X; VFR from the southeast; inbound to sju [(tjsj)]. My sequence was #1 VFR on right downwind and #2; aircraft X; both handed off to the tower. I switched the first one and held onto aircraft X to ensure the sequence. I went on doing something else and within seconds I receive a call from the tower asking me if I'm working aircraft X; because it appeared on his coast/suspend list. At the moment; I didn't recall because it disappeared from my radar. A second later it reappeared. Management believes that with the mosaic sensor you are able to see to ground because its feed is from different sensors. Well; we can't see to the ground; there are a lot of blind spots. Our nearest sensor is pico; which is approximately 13 to 14 miles southeast of the airport; but it's on a mountain about 3637 ft high. The VFR traffic from the east that enters to the right downwind passes about 4 to 5 miles north of this mountain. Due to the line of sight from this sensor you can't see to the ground. Our second nearest sensor is st. Thomas; which is about 56 to 57 miles from san juan airport. Our LOA between approach controllers and the san juan tower is contradicting. Our LOA states; '6. Outages C. San juan ASR-8 outages (1) class C services are suspended however; radar services and sequencing will continue to be provided using mosiac capabilities (2) sju must: (a) broadcast via the ATIS that class C service is not available; (b) revert to ZSU mosaic; the 7110.65 states: chapter 7-8-2; (e) when radar outages occur; advise aircraft that class C is not available and; if appropriate; when to contact the tower. My recommendation is to terminate the VFR aircraft as per the 7110.65.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZSU Controller voiced concern regarding alleged 'contradicting rules' contained in local directives and those in FAA national orders.

Narrative: [This report involves] contradicting rules. I was working combined [Sectors] R1/R5. Our ASR-8 was out for maintenance. We're obligated to work the VFR [traffic] to the airport due to our LOA; even though sometimes the VFRs drop from our RADAR due to their altitude and contrary of the 7110.65. I had aircraft X; VFR from the southeast; inbound to SJU [(TJSJ)]. My sequence was #1 VFR on right downwind and #2; aircraft X; both handed off to the Tower. I switched the first one and held onto aircraft X to ensure the sequence. I went on doing something else and within seconds I receive a call from the Tower asking me if I'm working aircraft X; because it appeared on his coast/suspend list. At the moment; I didn't recall because it disappeared from my RADAR. A second later it reappeared. Management believes that with the MOSAIC sensor you are able to see to ground because its feed is from different sensors. Well; we can't see to the ground; there are a lot of blind spots. Our nearest sensor is PICO; which is approximately 13 to 14 miles southeast of the airport; but it's on a mountain about 3637 FT high. The VFR traffic from the east that enters to the right downwind passes about 4 to 5 miles north of this mountain. Due to the line of sight from this sensor you can't see to the ground. Our second nearest sensor is St. Thomas; which is about 56 to 57 miles from San Juan Airport. Our LOA between Approach controllers and the San Juan Tower is contradicting. Our LOA states; '6. Outages C. San Juan ASR-8 outages (1) Class C services are suspended however; RADAR services and sequencing will continue to be provided using MOSIAC capabilities (2) SJU must: (a) Broadcast via the ATIS that Class C service is not available; (b) Revert to ZSU MOSAIC; the 7110.65 states: Chapter 7-8-2; (e) When RADAR outages occur; advise aircraft that Class C is not available and; if appropriate; when to contact the Tower. My recommendation is to terminate the VFR aircraft as per the 7110.65.

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.