A BELL LONG RANGER HELI PLT COMPLAINS OF AN OVERWORKED; UNDERSTAFFED SPLIT POS TWR OP FOR SEPARATION OF TRANSITING HELI AND ARRIVING TURBOPROP TFC NW OF BOS; MA.

Date: 2000-05 · Aircraft: Jet/Long Ranger/206 · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: atc-issue-all-types|conflict-airborne-conflict|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence|other-atc-handling

Synopsis

A BELL LONG RANGER HELI PLT COMPLAINS OF AN OVERWORKED; UNDERSTAFFED SPLIT POS TWR OP FOR SEPARATION OF TRANSITING HELI AND ARRIVING TURBOPROP TFC NW OF BOS; MA.

Narrative

INITIALLY I WAS NOT GOING TO ADDRESS THIS; HOWEVER; I FEEL THAT THE TWR WORKING SPLIT FREQS (ONE FREQ FOR HELIS AND TFC/PHOTO FIXED WING AND ONE FOR AIRLINE ARRS AND DEPS SIMULTANEOUSLY) MAY BE A PROB AT TIMES. I WAS FLYING A BELL HELI OVER FENWAY PARK AREA ON A 1500 FT OR 2000 FT AND BELOW CLRNC FOR PHOTO WORK TO THE W OF THE ARPT. THERE WERE SOME SCATTERED SHOWERS AROUND WITH VARYING VISIBILITY. NORMALLY; WE OPERATE THE HELIS 1000 FT AND BELOW. I WAS WORKING HIGHER FOR A PARTICULAR SHOT. ONCE COMPLETE; I REQUESTED THE TOBIN RTE FOR A NE DEP. I RECEIVED AN APPROVAL; QUICKLY FOR THE RTE. I HAD SOME CONCERN; AS I COULD HEAR THE CTLR'S VERY BUSY SIDE OF HER CONVERSATION WORKING THE OTHER FREQ AT THE SAME TIME AND EARLIER THEY HAD BEEN ARRIVING (TURBOPROPS) ON THE RWY 15R APCH AND CIRCLE DOWN THE HARBOR; LAND ON RWY 4L TO THE NE. SHE WAS VERY QUICK WITH 'APPROVED AS REQUESTED;' NOT MENTIONING ANYTHING ABOUT MY ALT. I CALLED BACK TO CONFIRM WITH ATC THAT I WAS GOING OUTBOUND ON THE TOBIN RTE. I THEN RECEIVED AN 'APPROVED AS REQUESTED; DSND TO 800 FT FOR THE TOBIN RTE.' WHILE DSNDING; I SWITCHED SOME FREQS FOR THE TRIP OUTBOUND ON THE SECOND RADIO. UPON REACHING THE START OF THE TOBIN RTE AT 800 FT AND ABOUT 1 MI FROM XING THE RWY 15R APCH COURSE; JUST WHERE THE TURBOPROPS START MAKING THEIR R TURNS VISUALLY DOWN THE HARBOR FOR RWY 4L; I LOOKED AT MY 1 O'CLOCK POS AND ABOUT 1 MI AND A TURBOPROP WAS MAKING HIS R TURN DOWN THE HARBOR. ALTHOUGH A SURPRISING SIGHT; BECAUSE THE TWR HAD MADE NO MENTION OF THE TFC; NO EVASIVE ACTION WAS NECESSARY. I CONTINUED OUT THE TOBIN RTE XING THE RWY 15R COURSE WITHOUT INCIDENT. WHILE XING I SAW DISTANT; 10 MI OR SO; LIGHTS OF ANOTHER ACFT FOR THE SAME APCH. ALTHOUGH THERE WAS NO INCIDENT THERE; I DO FEEL I WAS GETTING SECOND RATE ATTN TO MY OP WITH WHATEVER TIME THE CTLR HAD LEFT OVER WHILE SHE WAS WORKING THE OTHER MUCH BETTER FREQ. 1) AFTER I RECONFIRMED MY RTE OUTBOUND; I WAS THEN TOLD TO DSND TO A LOWER ALT. 2) I WAS NEVER ALERTED TO INBOUND TFC ON THE RWY 15R CIRCLE TO RWY 4L APCH. AGAIN NO INCIDENT; BUT WHAT ABOUT NEXT TIME? I FEEL WHENEVER EITHER FREQ GETS BUSY; ANOTHER CTLR SHOULD TAKE ONE. IF IT'S BUSY ENOUGH TO BE CLASS B AIRSPACE; THEN IT SHOULD BE STAFFED TO THAT LEVEL. UNTIL THEN; MY EYES; EARS; GENERAL ALERTNESS WILL BE WORKING OVERTIME WITH CONTINUING RECONFIRMATIONS ON CLRNCS/APPROVALS FROM THE TWR.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.