ZDC RADAR CTLR DESCRIBED INCIDENT WHEN FSS COORD ERRORS RESULTED IN TWO ACFT RECEIVING SIMULTANEOUS IFR RELEASES FROM RWI.

2008-02 · NASA ASRS report 777597

Date: 2008-02 · Aircraft: Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172

Anomalies: other-fss-ops

Synopsis

ZDC RADAR CTLR DESCRIBED INCIDENT WHEN FSS COORD ERRORS RESULTED IN TWO ACFT RECEIVING SIMULTANEOUS IFR RELEASES FROM RWI.

Narrative

FSS AT RDU CALLED FOR A CLRNC ON A C172; OFF OF RWI. I WAS BY MYSELF AT THE SECTOR AND BUSY; SO I SAID I WOULD CALL THEM BACK. FIVE MINUTES LATER; I CALLED THEM BACK. THE PHONE RANG ABOUT 7 TIMES BEFORE THEY PICKED UP. I TOLD THE FSS PERSON THAT I HAVE A CLRNC FOR ACFT #1. SHE SAID; 'I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.' I SAID; 'YOU CALLED FOR A CLRNC AND I WAS BUSY. I'M READY TO ISSUE THE CLRNC NOW.' SHE SAID; 'OKAY; GO AHEAD.' I GAVE THE CLRNC BUT 5 MINUTES LATER; SHE CALLED BACK AND SAID SHE COULDN'T LOCATE THE PLT OR THE FSS PERSON WHO ORIGINALLY TOOK HIS CALL. I VOIDED THE CLRNC AND ADVISED HER TO CALL BACK WHEN READY. ABOUT 5 MINUTES LATER; FSS CALLS FOR A CLRNC ON ACFT #2; A LEARJET. I GAVE THE CLRNC WITH A VOID TIME. THE FSS PERSON (DIFFERENT ONE) SAYS; 'WHAT ABOUT ACFT #1? IS HE ALREADY AIRBORNE?' I SAID THAT THAT CLRNC HAD BEEN VOIDED. HE SAID; 'NO; HE GOT IT AND SHOULD BE ROLLING.' I SAID; 'THAT'S FUNNY BECAUSE I CANCELLED THE CLRNC WHEN YOU GUYS COULDN'T LOCATE HIM.' LONG STORY SHORT: ORIGINAL DEP REQUEST CAME FROM RDU FSS. WHEN I CALLED BACK AND IT RANG 7 TIMES; THE CALL GOT FORWARDED TO LEESBURG; VA; FSS. HOWEVER; WHEN I INITIALLY GAVE THE CLRNC TO LEESBURG; THE GUY FROM RDU PICKED UP THE LINE AND THOUGHT I WAS TALKING TO HIM. THE TWO FSS CANNOT HEAR EACH OTHER ON THE LINE. IT HAD SOUNDED GARBLED ON MY END. HAD THAT ACFT #2 (LEARJET) DEPARTED; HE WOULD HAVE TAKEN OFF RIGHT BEHIND THE C172. IT WAS IFR AND AT NIGHT; THIS WAS AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN! FSS NEEDS TO STOP CALL-FORWARDING THEIR CALLS TO THE OTHER FSS'S. THEY ALSO NEED TO CLEARLY IDENTIFY WHO THEY ARE (RALEIGH FSS; LEESBURG FSS; ETC). THIS SCENARIO HAPPENED AGAIN LAST WEEK TO ANOTHER CTLR. THIS IS VERY MUCH A CRITICAL SAFETY ISSUE!CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE REPORTER INDICATED THAT THE RING LANDLINE IN QUESTION DOES NOT ALLOW MULTIPLE USERS TO HEAR ONE ANOTHER; A FACTOR THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THIS INCIDENT. THE CONTROLLER ALSO INDICATED THAT VERY LIMITED BRIEFINGS WERE PROVIDED TO THE WORKFORCE REGARDING LANDLINE FUNCTIONALITIES WHEN CONTRACTOR TOOK OVER THE FSS FUNCTION.

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

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.