Date: 201409
Local time of day: 1801-2400
Location: BUR.Airport, CA
Light: Dusk
Aircraft: Light Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Operator: Corporate
Operating under: Part 91
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Final Approach
Airspace: Class C BUR
ATC / advisory: Tower BUR
Reporter organization: Government
Reporter function: Local
Reporter qualification: Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Human factors: Confusion; Distraction; Situational Awareness; Troubleshooting; Workload
Anomaly: ATC Issue All Types; Airspace Violation All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation - Speed All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control
When detected: In-flight
Result: Air Traffic Control Separated Traffic; Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Executed Go Around / Missed Approach
Contributing factors: Airspace Structure; Procedure
Primary problem: Procedure

Narrative: I was working Local Control with light traffic.  Aircraft X was on a Visual Approach to Rwy 8 and was shipped to me from SCT on about a ten-mile final.  I cleared him to land on initial contact.  When the aircraft was on short final the pilot informed me that he had to go around due to having too much airspeed.  I have filed reports before about how unsafe BUR's procedures (or lack thereof; actually) are in the event of any IFR missed approach or Visual Approach go-around.  Up until last year; the procedure was to issue the aircraft the departure SID and altitude at the MAP which safely got the aircraft away from the airport and allowed Tracon to re-sequence the aircraft.  Since that has been determined to be illegal; we are left with a ridiculously unsafe situation every time an IFR aircraft goes around.  If the aircraft is on the ILS; we have been instructed to issue the aircraft the published missed approach; which is basically a 180-degree climbing turn.  This will place the aircraft in direct conflict with any other aircraft on approach behind it. We have been instructed to ship the aircraft to SCT right away so that they can fix the conflict. That is abhorrently dangerous on so many levels.  I should not have to wager the lives of two planes' worth of passengers on whether the pilot will change the radio to SCT quickly enough; whether the pilot will get the frequency right on the first try; whether SCT will not be busy with something else when the pilot checks in; etc.  In the event of an IFR aircraft on a visual approach that goes around; like today; we have been instructed that we must keep the aircraft in the pattern.  That means that whether it's a C152 or a H/A306 that goes around; we have to keep it in the pattern. Due to terrain; our only option is to issue the aircraft a right downwind back to the runway (this is true of both Rwy 8 and Rwy 15).  There are Class D airports both 5 miles west (VNY) and 5 miles northwest (WHP) of BUR.  It is not possible to miss these airports' Class D with a jet in the pattern and what are we supposed to do when there are three planes behind the guy who goes around? According to our procedures I must keep the plane in my pattern; so I guess I'm supposed to extend this IFR plane's downwind ten miles out of my Class C airspace; that's what our procedure demands.  In today's go-around; I issued Aircraft X right traffic back to Rwy 8 and had to point him out to two SCT sectors.  At the same time; a VNY IFR departure had just departed and was possible traffic for the aircraft that I had to keep in my pattern.  The VNY departure ended up not being a conflict due to altitude separation; but that was just out of luck.  There was no positive separation since I had to issue my IFR go-around right traffic; which pointed him right toward VNY while they had an IFR aircraft released off Rwy 16 that was turning eastbound on departure. We need to return to the prior procedure of issuing all IFR missed approaches/Visual approach go-a-rounds the SID heading and altitude.  If this requires DVAs; then we need to get them; and we need to get them now. This is a dangerous situation.  Every single time we have two aircraft on approach at the same time; they will by default be in conflict with each other if one goes around.  I grant permission for a de-identified copy of this report to be shared.




Synopsis: BUR Tower Controller describes a situation where an aircraft goes missed approach due to its speed on final.  The Controller describes an unsafe situation where the aircraft has to be told to remain in the traffic pattern which is too small to handle this type of aircraft.  The close proximity of VNY airport and other IFR arrivals to BUR add to the complex situation.