APCH CTLR HAD LESS THAN STANDARD SEPARATION BETWEEN AN MLT IN HOLDING PATTERN AND AN MLT ON MISSED APCH. SECOND MLT WAS ON WRONG FREQ.

Date: 1988-11 · Aircraft: Military Transport

Anomalies: atc-issue-all-types|conflict-nmac|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance

Synopsis

APCH CTLR HAD LESS THAN STANDARD SEPARATION BETWEEN AN MLT IN HOLDING PATTERN AND AN MLT ON MISSED APCH. SECOND MLT WAS ON WRONG FREQ.

Narrative

WHILE WORKING THE APCH CTL POS WITH MODERATE ACFT; I HAD A NAVY MLT X HOLDING SE OF THE VORTAC AT 3000'. THE VORTAC IS LOCATED 7.2 NM NE OF THE ARPT. AFTER TAKING A HDOF ON A COAST GUARD MLT Y ON THE ILS APCH I WAS CONTINUING TO WORK ANOTHER MLT N OF THE ARPT FOR A VISUAL APCH TO RWY 17. THE COAST GUARD ACFT'S MISSED APCH INSTRUCTIONS WERE HDG 030 DEGS; CLB TO 3000' AND RETURN TO MY FREQ. THE COAST GUARD ACFT MISSED APCH AND CONTACTED THE S CTLR ON THE WRONG FREQ. THE S CTLR THEN SWITCHED THE MLT Y TO MY FREQ. THE ACFT FAILED TO MAKE INITIAL CONTACT WITH ME. AT THAT POINT I WAS CLRING THE MLT Z N OF THE ARPT FOR A VISUAL APCH. HE ACKNOWLEDGED THE CLRNC. AFTER HE MADE HIS LAST XMISSION; I STARTED SCANNING THE SCOPE TO SEE THE MLT X HOLDING AT THE VORTAC AND THE MLT Y NE BOUND ON CONVERGING COURSES. THE MLT X WAS TURNING WBOUND TO NWBOUND WITH THE MLT Y STILL HDG 030 DEGS. ISSUED TFC TO THE MLT Y; 11 O'CLOCK; 1 MI AND HE REPLIED HE WAS IMC. HE THEN CAME BACK AND SAID HE SAW THE MLT X BEHIND HIM. AFTER APPROX 30 SECS THE MLT X SAID HE HAD TO RETURN TO NAVY CORPUS TO FILE A NEAR MISS WITH THE MLT Y. I FEEL THAT FREQ CONGESTION; WORKLOAD AND THE FACT THE ACFT (MLT Y) NEVER MADE INITIAL CONTACT WITH ME WERE THE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS IN THE INCIDENT.

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