Enstrom Helicopter Undifferentiated or Other Model
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Confusion; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict NMAC; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Procedure; Human Factors
The airport is Class Delta airspace. I was training a developmental on Local Control 1. A C172 was inbound from the north and a helicopter was inbound from the northeast. Traffic was called by the developmental but neither reported the other aircraft in sight. At the time of the initial call; the RADAR showed the Cessna at 065 and the helicopter at 061 on a converging course. The helicopter made an unexpected climb to 065 with the other aircraft (at 065) within 1 mile proximity. The developmental than made a TRAFFIC ALERT call; by this time the targets were basically merging and as I looked out the window it appeared the helicopter had to make an evasive turn to avoid a collision. This was within Class Delta airspace about 3 miles northeast of the airport. It appeared the aircraft came within 100 FT of each other and the Cessna responded to the final traffic alert with 'you mean the helicopter behind me?' The trainee gave the wrong position of the helicopter when calling the traffic alert. This appeared to be a near mid air collision. This is an extremely difficult situation because the developmental was given an additional hours for training. The training plan he was put on does not reflect any standards in FAA publications. Rumor has it is that training is proceeding only to wash him out. It appears there is no hope of certification because he continues to do numerous things wrong; even after many hours. It also appears the developmental has just given up and really isn't willing to learn. It seems no one in management wants to take responsibility for what is happening. Meanwhile; the airport is being provided poor service while he trains and training him is taking a toll on his training team. A contributing factor in this incident was that I had not trained him for some time; so I had no idea of what level he was at and I thought he had skills he really didn't have. I think this was unfair for both of us. I recommend a training review board be convened and the whole situation be re-evaluated. If there is ho hope for check-out and the developmental has given up on training; why risk the safety of the flying public and why risk the certifications of those training him? In my opinion; management really dropped the ball on this one. Let it be said that the original training team consisted of people with dozens of years of experience and none of them think he has a chance for certification. So yesterday we had an almost mid-air over management's games?
Tower Controller providing OJT described a NMAC between two inbound aircraft; a C172 and a helicopter; both VFR; the reporter listing a number of facility training policies that contributed to this event.