Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Retractable Gear
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 5.5
Confusion; Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification; Workload
ATC Issue All Types; Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Human Factors; Procedure
At approximately XX00 zulu time Aircraft X; called for an offshore transition. The controller was overwhelmed with light to moderate VFR workload and was unable to clear the aircraft through the airspace or to pass along an appropriate clearance to the aircraft. The aircraft then proceeded to go through the airspace without a clearance offshore at approximately 500 feet. The aircraft then proceeded to call the tower for a clearance through the bay for a transition and verified that they violated the airspace. Immediately following the aircraft; Aircraft Y; called for a similar transition. The request was denied by the controller on a clear VFR day. The controller does not understand or know the proper separation between two VFR aircraft. There was no altitude separation which could have been provided; visual separation on a clear VFR day; or radar separation. It was clearly unsafe nor order or expeditious to allow violators through the airspace and then to not be able to have the knowledge of the proper separation available.The controller needs to have remedial training. It is inexcusable for the controller to not know VFR separation rules or for the controller/pilot communication to get so bad that the aircraft simply violates the airspace due to the lack of proper communication from the tower controller. This isn't the first time this controller has had issues and it is a known issue. It is not the responsibility of the Controller-in-Charge to watch constantly what the Local Controller position is doing in order to avoid a possible incident or accident while not being able to focus on their own duties.
SAN Controller describes a session where the local controller does not issue a specific clearance to a VFR request; the aircraft does the request anyway and violates airspace.  Another aircraft does the same thing right afterward; and it doesn't affect the local controller.