Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure; Weather
I was working the PRM-O position. From earlier in the evening; the winds had turned from the SW to W at altitude; and when I plugged in for this session; I noticed the winds at the surface were out of the NW at 9 knots (30009kt). ATL was on an East operation. The bases appeared to be ragged as the ceiling came up at one point to about BKN020; but the low 400 feet layer was still there. Transfer of control point was 1 mile; and turnoffs were not visible from the Tower. In layman's terms; it was a crappy; dreary; rainy night. The PRM-V Controller called the Supervisor over and pointed out the winds. He said there simply wasn't a 'good time' to hold arrivals and turn the airport around. As the wind increased and turned to more of a complete tailwind; I announced it in hopes the TMC or Supervisor would finally turn the operation around. When the wind was 290 degrees at 13; the Supervisor came up to me on PRM-O and said; 'Stop it.' I replied this operation was unsafe.   I followed the Supervisor's instructions. I don't have a whole lot to add except to express my commentary. A few pilots questioned the wind. A few volunteered that there was a tailwind 'all the way down' the final. One pilot said; 'I can't do it'; and came off the final and held. One pilot complained it was hard to flare the aircraft and get it to settle on the wet runway. Many pilots were rolling to the end of the runway. At 300 at 9 knots; landing with a tailwind on a wet runway in the rain isn't safe. At 290 at 13; I couldn't believe pilots were even considering it. At what point does safety trump delay? No less than 5 managers standing around watching this operation. I can't believe not a single one of them said 'enough is enough.' As of the writing of this report; no one had slid off the runway. The operation tonight was nothing except dangerous. Recommendation; conduct a review of the ATL operation and discuss with ATL; A80; and ZTL if the operation was safe.
A80 Controller described an unsafe condition while providing PRM services to ATL; noting the tailwind factor was of concern but no one was willing to initiate a runway change to align with the existing wind conditions.