Large Transport
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2
Situational Awareness; Distraction; Confusion; Training / Qualification; Workload; Troubleshooting
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance
Procedure; Airspace Structure
I have filed reports in the past about how ridiculously unsafe the IFR missed approach procedures at BUR are. As of last year; we have been instructed that we are only allowed to issue the aircraft the published missed approach in the event of a go-around while on the ILS. This is apparently due to the fact that BUR does not have a DVA [Diverse Vector Areas]. The published missed approach for ILS Rwy 8 is a climb to 1;300; then a climbing right turn to 4;000 direct VNY. That is basically a 180-degree right turn and a climb through the localizer to Rwy 8. This ensures that any aircraft that executes a missed approach for Rwy 8 will be in direct conflict with any other aircraft on the approach behind it.At the time I entered for this ATSAP; I had three aircraft on the ILS (Aircraft X; Aircraft Y; and Aircraft Z). There are many instances when we have numerous planes on approach at once; but this stands out in my mind as the time I was the most scared last night. They were about six miles in trail and all performing an ILS approach; as the weather was MVFR (12015G26KT; SCT021; BKN028; OVC036). As you can see; I had a 40-degree crosswind with gusts up to 26 knots. I was incredibly concerned that one of the aircraft would go around; and in the event of a go-around I would have had absolutely no way to separate the planes from each other. We have been instructed to ship the plane to SCT immediately and let them handle the traffic conflict. That is ridiculous. I will say this again to drive the point home: The missed approach procedure at BUR is to point the plane that's on a missed approach right into the face of the planes on approach behind it and knowingly place them in conflict; then ship the plane to TRACON and let them handle it. That goes against everything we do as controllers. What if the pilot changes to the wrong frequency? What if he takes too long to flip the switch over to TRACON? A missed approach in MVFR is a very high workload time. This procedure is absolutely ludicrous. In all my years as a controller I have never seen anything as dangerous as this. I don't mean to sound melodramatic; but I personally will not fly out of BUR and won't allow my family to fly out of BUR because I am not confident that the plane can make it in safely. The previous procedure was to turn a missed approach to a 210 heading and issue a climb to 4;000; which is the SID procedure. This effectively turned the plane into a 'departure' that was shipped back to TRACON and re-sequenced. Last year; this procedure was deemed to be illegal since BUR doesn't have a DVA. We have been told that we are getting a DVA; but from the front line it appears that no progress has been made. Meanwhile; we land hundreds of planes every day with absolutely no way to separate them in the event of a missed approach. Get us our DVA if that's what it will take to go back to the old procedure; and do it now. It's just a matter of time until we have a serious event due to this procedure.
BUR Controller describes a situation where and aircraft might go-around and the problem that ensues if the aircraft does go-around due to BUR not having a Diverse Vector Areas [DVA].