Date: 201410
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: ATL.Airport, GA
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Flight plan: IFR
Flight phase: Descent
Airspace: Class E A80
ATC / advisory: TRACON A80
Reporter organization: Government
Reporter function: Approach
Reporter qualification: Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Human factors: Confusion; Distraction; Situational Awareness
Anomaly: ATC Issue All Types; Deviation - Speed All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control
When detected: In-flight
Result: Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance
Contributing factors: Human Factors; Procedure
Primary problem: Procedure

Narrative: ATL has a runway closure on one of its runways.  This forces a situation where arrivals and departures have to share a runway.  Controllers at ATL ATCT don't shoot gaps on a regular basis.  Some FPL's haven't done it since at a previous facility; and the many that came to ATL from off the street have never shot gaps in their life.  The spacing and speeds on final are completely unreasonable and create a situation that isn't needed.  There are a few things we need to understand.  1) There aren't true high speed taxiways on 8R/26L.  That does require a little more room than normal.  2) When you don't use a skill (or never had it); the ability or discretion to use the skill deteriorates.  3) The users aren't used to rolling immediately when they get their takeoff clearance at ATL because we have dedicated arrival and departure runways.  4) Tower supervisors in the tower are 'hovering' over the position increasing the anxiety of the position.  They're also hell-bent on insuring the speeds are exactly what they want; regardless of the space behind the aircraft.  This needs to stop immediately.  On this day; I was told by the controller I was relieving that the tower wanted 6 miles at 160 knots for a single departure gap.  When I sat down; demand wasn't that bad; so I proceeded to apply a little common sense to the position {gasp}.  160 knots requires most aircraft to drop their landing gear to hold that speed.  Today we were shooting ILS approaches; which mean a 22+ mile final.  That's roughly 25 miles an aircraft would have to fly with their gear down.  I'm throwing the 'BS' flag. From years of doing the job of a tower controller; there is rarely a situation where such a slow speed and HUGE amount of room is required.  I was running 5 miles at 170 knots; and noticed I had a skilled tower controller who was running (when there was departure demand) two departures out in those gaps.  I did have one or two roll to the end; and STILL had no go arounds.  There is no need for this and it really needs to stop.  The users are getting used to the operation.  They're rolling quicker than when we started.  The FLM's in the tower need to let the controllers control; and if they aren't getting room; coordinate with the TRACON; or (as its been my experience); the tried and true method of 'giving one back to radar' instantly fixes the 'too tight' scenarios they're afraid of.  I will not do things that are meant to be punitive; and I will not put flight crews in the bad; high workload situation the tower is requiring.  If I'm removed from position; so be it.  I know I'll be helping the users by standing up against this instead of contributing to the delusional tower supervisors need to 'not have to watch it' (meaning; making the controllers sweat a little bit and do the job controllers all over the country do on a daily basis).  There's a time we need to use speeds less than 170 knots on final.  'Controller comfort?' isn't one of them.   Thank you.  Share this report with anyone you see fit.




Synopsis: A80 Controller describes a situation where he feels the separation required by Approach to give the Tower is too much.