Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 9
Workload; Distraction; Time Pressure
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance
Procedure; Human Factors; Company Policy
This could be called a systemic problem; as it happens all the time. I filed it as an event since you can specifically look at this event. Aircraft X departed and did not tag up. The Tower controller called to coordinate the 'no tag'; but failed to recognize from Clearance Delivery; Ground Control and Local Control that the flight plan had timed out completely. They launched an aircraft with no flight plan in the system. I called the tower to ask them if they could re-enter the flight plan as they had all the information in front of them via the flight plan; they told me 'we don't do that'. So in one of the most critical phases of flight; we have to ask the IFR commercial jet; where he is going; off one of the busiest airports in the country. This is not only embarrassing; but unprofessional that a tower is unwilling or worse incapable of entering a basic flight plan into the FDIO. This happens daily and is unacceptable and unsafe.Force Tower controllers to DO THEIR JOB. Entering clearances is basic air traffic and should be mastered before they work any actual air traffic.
TRACON Supervisor reported that Tower allowed an aircraft to depart IFR without a flight plan on file.