Date: 201401
Local time of day: 1801-2400
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Aircraft: Citation III; VI; VII (C650)
Flight plan: IFR
Flight phase: Landing
ATC / advisory: Tower ZZZ
Second aircraft: EMB ERJ 135 ER/LR
Reporter organization: Government
Human factors: Situational Awareness
Anomaly: ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control
Result: General None Reported / Taken
Contributing factors: Human Factors
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: Citation traffic landed Runway 31 and was rolling out. Local Control told the Citation; 'Turn left at Juliet; contact Ground.'  Local Control then cleared the EMB135 jet for departure; 'EMB135; fly runway heading; Runway 31; cleared for takeoff; no delay; Challenger traffic on a 5 mile final'  The EMB135 departure was halfway down the runway before the Citation had exited at Juliet. There was no attempt made to cancel takeoff clearance and there was ample time to do so. There was a breakdown in scan of the Local Controller and a lack of action once the runway separation had been violated. By the time the CIC recognized the situation; the departure was at too fast to abort takeoff. The Local Controller needed to scan the runway more efficiently. The wind was 310 at 16 gusting 24; and the Challenger was going to slow down on final approach. There was no need to depart the EMB135 with no delay. Overall; it was a lack of judgment and experience that resulted in an unsafe situation.


Second narrative: A newly certified controller; was working the Local Control position with a business jet; a Challenger I believe; on a 5 mile final. He had a Citation that just landed and missed the high speed exit that he was assigned; he also had an EMB135 aircraft waiting for takeoff on the taxiway. As soon as the Citation landed and missed the high speed he gave takeoff clearance to the EMB135 resulting in an unsafe situation.  By the time the EMB135 was past midfield the Citation was still on the runway.  The Developmental took no corrective action and ignored the CIC prompting him to take action. He watched it all unfold and almost caused a serious accident. Management  was alerted of the situation [the next day] and took no corrective action. It seems that at this facility there is extreme favoritism.  If you are well liked by management they will sweep any screw ups you make under the rug; if you are not liked they will come down on you like a ton of bricks.  This whole incident could have been avoided; part of this is being a new controller of course; but when your ego is so huge you ignore your CIC there is an issue. When management likes you and takes no corrective action this leads to errors in the future because you realize you are not accountable. There are serious issues at this facility with certain controller's actions being swept under the rug. The Developmental's trainer has been pushing for certification for quite a while wearing rose tinted glasses. Others in similar situations have been thrown into skill enhancement. It seems we are waiting for an accident here before we take action.


Synopsis: Tower Controller described a loss of separation event when an arrival and departure aircraft were not afforded the required separation.