Date: 201407
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: DEN.Airport, CO
Light: Daylight
Reporter organization: Government
Reporter function: Other / Unknown
Reporter qualification: Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Human factors: Communication Breakdown; Confusion
Second reporter function: Other / Unknown
Anomaly: ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control
Contributing factors: Airspace Structure; Procedure
Primary problem: Procedure

Narrative: [It was] kind of a murky day here in Denver; but decent visibility. I guess there was trouble getting visuals so the decision was made to go to simos [slang for simultaneous approaches]. This would normally mean Runway 35L and Runway 35R. However; someone made the decision that we would run simos to 34R and 35L and continue running visuals to 35R. How you can get visuals to 35R but not the 35L is beyond me. I question the legality of the operation; but even if legal; why would we go against the norm?In monitors; we are responsible for separation only on the last mile of final. We are responsible for the FAF in when not in monitors. I had no idea exactly where the lateral delineation was between the monitored approaches on 35L and the visuals on 35R for purposes of separation as there was no NTZ [No Transgression Zone]. The contention was that the aircraft on the visual to 35R was maintaining visual separation. How? How can he maintain visual with an aircraft on a parallel final that is at his 8 o'clock on a monitored approach? Who is responsible for the separation if he blows through the final? We didn't even know if Local Control 1 or Local Control 2 should work them; and there are still differing opinions. He isn't being monitored; nor is he procedurally separated from the monitored aircraft. If I see him blowing through (I have lots of other things to watch) I have no authority to move the monitored aircraft; and no idea if the aircraft on visual is even on my frequency. And what if the monitor overrides me as I'm trying to fix the situation? Making matters worse; the FLM couldn't answer even the most basic questions of how or why; and when challenged by two of the most senior controllers in the facility said 'we'll talk about it later.' Isn't the time to talk about it before we get in trouble; not after? I have never seen this configuration before; nor can I find a single controller that can say that they have either. Funny thing is that the TRACON TMC said that we do it 'all the time' (absolutely incorrect) and our OM said 'I've seen it before (I doubt it).This highlights two of the biggest problems in the Denver District. The first is staffing. I would be willing to bet that the TRACON simply didn't have the staffing to run monitors to the 35s as that would have required opening another scope. I have certainly seen shifts run here at the Tower with absurdly low staffing levels and no attempt to call overtime. I realize that the budgets are tight; but safety is safety. We have been repeatedly told that if staffing gets low; services will be curtailed. I've yet to see that happen. I just sat in on an SSR about a bad weather shift that was run with very poor staffing; resulting in one person working a position that should have been worked by two for most of the night. This resulted in lengthy delays that don't get reported because they happen at the gate. I'm sure you got reports on that one. The other issue here; which I have reported here numerous times; is the dumbing down of the controllers here. The responsible party is the now retired who had the rare opportunity to screw up the TRACON and then come screw up the Tower with his 'dumb it down' philosophy. The specific problem here is that the TRACON has completely abandoned staggered ILS approaches; which would have been an ideal solution to the situation described in this report. I sat in on a meeting with the airlines once when one of the chief pilots asked a staffer from the TRACON why they didn't run staggered approaches; the response was 'because we're not very good at it.' I don't know about you; but I'd be embarrassed to have to make that kind of admission to the airlines. Staggered approaches are a valuable tool that should be in any radar controller's bag of tricks; and now no one at D01 knows how to run them. So they can't run staggers; and they won't staff the facility to run SIMOS. Bottom line: Staff the facilities appropriately; even ifit means overtime. Do whatever is necessary training wise so the TRACON can once again run staggers. Oh yeah; listen to your controllers when they express concern about an operation rather than ignore them and forge ahead full speed.


Second narrative: When operating in simos or Trips operations the Tower's airspace responsibility is reduced from a 5 mile final to a 1 mile final. There is also a monitor at D01 that has override capabilities on the Local Control positions. For that reason we split off the runways that Local Control 1 and 2 control. This is all spelled out in the DEN/D01 LOA. It was coordinated to run SIMO ILS approaches to Runway 35L and 34R and visual approaches to Runway 35R. There are no procedures to run this operation. Local Control 2 was working Runway 35L/R. The monitor can override Runway 35L and block needed transmissions to Runway 35R. Would Local Control 2 be responsible for a 5 mile final on Runway 35R and a 1 mile final on Runway 35L? Where laterally does the area of responsibility change from 1 to 5 mile? These were all questions that could not be answered by management.There appears to be an unofficial no overtime policy. I believe we were running this operation to save D01 a position that needed manned. This was further demonstrated on two earlier days of this same week at DEN Air Traffic Control. On [the first day] during the East Push; the busiest push of the day; 3 positions were staffed with a Staff Specialist; FLM and TMC. The FLM and TMC only get their currency during periods of light or less traffic. The staff specialist did not have enough time to stay current in June. On [the next] morning they were given an 'over the shoulder' to become current so they could work the East Push that morning as well.Do not run configurations that have no procedures. Safety should be the first priority of air traffic not the budget. If there is a need to cut expenses; there are plenty of ways outside of the operations. This is where the cuts should be made first.


Synopsis: DEN Tower controllers report of a session where the facility was running simultaneous approaches to non standard runways; along with visual approaches to another runway; and no transgression zone delineated on the radar scope for the simls.