B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Ground Conflict; Less Severe
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors; Procedure
I was the FLM in the Tower. It was the last hour of the shift for the crew who was working. Traffic had picked up and we had just changed flows. The Controller working Local was certified through the Tower and training in RADAR; the Controller working Ground was only certified through Ground. Considering the experience level of these two controllers; I was being extremely attentive. The Local Controller approved an approach to an inactive runway; increasing the complexity and his own workload. He was also distracted by a low altitude pipeline aircraft off the departure end on Runway 21. A Mooney was between a half mile and a mile out for Runway 21 and the Local Controller told a B737 to line up and wait on Runway 21. A Controller who was not on position in the back of the cab and I both immediately spoke up and said 'No; no; no!' before the Local Controller had even unkeyed his mike. The Local Controller amended his instruction and a potential catastrophe was averted. There was no loss of separation. The Local Controller stated he was so focused on the utility aircraft that he had forgotten about the Mooney. This event really scared me. The Local Controller has been certified on Local for over a year and is always very conscientious. I was surprised he could have missed this. He has struggled in RADAR training and as his FLM; I try to get him as much quality training time as possible. While he gets his currency time every month; it is often during weekends or slower weekday traffic. I am going to try to ensure that he gets more time working tower positions during busier traffic. We all want developmentals to train as much as possible so they will certify sooner; but it does them a disservice to allow their skills to atrophy and place them in situations where they get overwhelmed. This event also highlighted to me the importance of a strong team and how vital it is for us to look out for each other.
Tower Supervisor described a 'corrected' conflict event unknowingly set up by the Local Controller; but caught by the reporter. The reporter indicated that the minimally experienced Controller was focused on another operation and failed to note the error.