Narrative:

I was training on an afternoon working combined positions; [which] is very unsafe. But my issue is; the trainee told a cessna to follow the freeway; cleared visual approach runway xxr; and switched them to tower. Runway xxr and runway yy intersect. Next; a regional jet was cleared visual approach to runway yy and told to make a straight in. Before the regional jet was switched to tower; I made the trainee increase spacing and reduce the jet's airspeed because the two planes would have ended up passing side by side at 1.5 miles and weren't even told about each other. The supervisor in the room said this is an approved operation because a visual approach can be conducted to intersecting runways even though the aircraft don't know about one another and IFR separation isn't upheld. I told him that the aircraft have to at least be advised of one another and told that there is an aircraft conducting a simultaneous visual approach to another runway. The supervisor told me the requirement is met because we advertise on our ATIS the runways in use and approaches being conducted i.e. GPS; ILS and visual approaches. The ATIS says nothing about simultaneous visual approaches and I don't understand how a statement on the ATIS can allow us to use reduced separation; especially when the aircraft are on paralleling courses. One is told to remain over the freeway and the other is told to make a straight in. Making a straight in is not a restriction it is a pattern entry. The IFR aircraft can still maneuver left or right on a visual approach therefore reducing separation even more. Recommendation; that we don't allow IFR aircraft to fly side by side with about a mile of separation and justify it by an ATIS.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller voiced concern regarding a Supervisor's interpretation of intersecting runway operations and the requirements of traffic advisories and ATIS procedures.

Narrative: I was training on an afternoon working combined positions; [which] is very unsafe. But my issue is; the trainee told a Cessna to follow the freeway; cleared Visual Approach Runway XXR; and switched them to Tower. Runway XXR and Runway YY intersect. Next; a regional jet was cleared Visual Approach to Runway YY and told to make a straight in. Before the regional jet was switched to Tower; I made the trainee increase spacing and reduce the jet's airspeed because the two planes would have ended up passing side by side at 1.5 miles and weren't even told about each other. The Supervisor in the room said this is an approved operation because a Visual Approach can be conducted to intersecting runways even though the aircraft don't know about one another and IFR separation isn't upheld. I told him that the aircraft have to at least be advised of one another and told that there is an aircraft conducting a simultaneous Visual Approach to another runway. The supervisor told me the requirement is met because we advertise on our ATIS the runways in use and approaches being conducted i.e. GPS; ILS and Visual Approaches. The ATIS says nothing about simultaneous visual approaches and I don't understand how a statement on the ATIS can allow us to use reduced separation; especially when the aircraft are on paralleling courses. One is told to remain over the freeway and the other is told to make a straight in. Making a straight in is not a restriction it is a pattern entry. The IFR aircraft can still maneuver left or right on a Visual Approach therefore reducing separation even more. Recommendation; that we don't allow IFR aircraft to fly side by side with about a mile of separation and justify it by an ATIS.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.