Caravan Undifferentiated
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 3
Confusion; Distraction; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Separated Traffic
Human Factors; Procedure; Weather
I was the Front Line Manager (FLM) in the area. We were in the middle of the [afternoon] arrival bank after a thunderstorm and cold front moved through. The winds at ZZZ were 210@18G33KT. The winds aloft at 2000' were 230@40KT. My coordinator came to me around XA05 and explained that the controller was concerned that ZZZ tower launched successive aircraft on the same heading. The problem being that the lead aircraft was Aircraft X and the successive departure was Aircraft Y. I looked at the radar and there was adequate separation but I reviewed the DALR [Digital Audio Legal Recorder] to double check. I was able to listen to Local Controller (LCL) at ZZZ tower. He cleared Aircraft X for takeoff of Runway XY and assigned runway heading. A moment later he told Aircraft Y to Line up and Wait (LUAW) on Runway XY. A few moments later LCL cleared Aircraft Y for take-off Runway XY on a heading of 320. Because of the strong winds out of the Southwest; Aircraft X was well right of the Runway XY centerline. When Aircraft Y got airborne and checked in; it looked like both aircraft were on 320 headings. The controller turned Aircraft X left to a 270 heading to avoid the targets merging and then told the coordinator. I understand that ZZZ tower complied with the 7110.65 in this incident. But this is not the first time that I have been told by my controllers of unsafe situations concerning aircraft types and tower assigned headings similar to this. I would like this report to make all controllers aware of this potential unsafe situation. It is my goal for Local Controllers to be aware of winds and the effects on small aircraft. I would also like ZZZ tower to know that they can call and APPREQ different headings for situations like this. I know it probably looked worse on our radar than it did out the window of the tower; but I feel this is an unsafe practice. We are restricted from the Letter of Agreement (LOA) not being able to turn aircraft until out of 3000' and are sometimes handed aircraft on poor headings for our sequencing. Even though ZZZ tower can assign those headings; we the departure controllers are stuck having to deal with consequences sometimes.
Front Line Manager reported that there were high winds causing drift of aircraft on departure. This lead to an unsafe situation when the faster aircraft departed behind the slower aircraft.