ARTCC RADAR CTLR MISJUDGED SPACING BTWN AN ENRTE G2 AND A C550 THAT HE WAS CLBING AND HAD LTSS OCCUR. THE DATA MAN AT THE SECTOR WAS BUSY WITH FLT PROGRESS STRIPS AND COULD NOT HELP THE RADAR MAN WITH HIS SCAN OR PLANING. RADAR CTLR TRIED TO VECTOR THE G2; BUT IT WAS TOO LATE TO PREVENT THE SYS ERROR.

Narrative

A CITATION 550 HAD DEPARTED POU ARPT WBOUND; REQUESTING HIGH ALT AS A G2 ACFT WAS INBOUND TO TEB ARPT VIA V489. SECTOR COMPLEXITY WAS HIGH WITH EXPANDED IN-TRAIL SPACING OF NEWARK JETS IN EFFECT (20 MI) AND 6 NEWARK JETS IN THE SECTOR. AS THE MANUAL CTLR; I WAS NEEDLESSLY BUSY REQUESTING REPRINTS OF FLT STRIPS DUE TO THE POOR QUALITY OF THE FLT STRIP PAPER. THE PAPER THICKNESS (DENSITY) HAS RECENTLY BECOME SO THIN WHICH IS CAUSING THE TEARING OF THE PAPER DURING POSTING. OCCURRENCES OF THIS PHENOMENA AT THIS TIME INCREASED MY MANUAL DUTY WORKLOAD (ESTIMATED A 15-20 PERCENT INCREASE) IN TIME; THUS REDUCING THE TIME AVAILABLE TO MONITOR TFC. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 353497: I WAS VECTORING 5 JETS INBOUND EWR ARPT TO GIVE THE NEXT CTLR 20 MI IN-TRAIL. MY SECTOR WAS 40 MI LONG. TO ADD TO THE COMPLEXITY I HAD 2 ACFT PARALLELING THESE ACFT LNDG AT WHITE PLAINS. WITH ALL OF THIS GOING ON I HAD TO GET A C550 CLBED TO 17000 FT CUTTING ACROSS ALL OF THESE RTES AND A G2 DOWN TO 7000 FT XING THE PATH OF THE CITATION. ONCE I FELT I HAD THE LATERAL SEPARATION I CLBED THE CITATION AND DSNDED THE GULFSTREAM. I THEN DEALT FURTHER WITH THE EWR IN-TRAIL. WHEN I LOOKED BACK AT THESE ACFT I REALIZED THE SEPARATION WOULD NOT BE MAINTAINED AND TRIED TO STOP THE CLB OF THE CITATION AND TURNED THE GULFSTREAM AWAY; BUT IT WAS TOO LATE. AT THE TIME MY ASSISTANT CTLR WAS VERY BUSY WITH FLT PROGRESS STRIPS AND WAS UNABLE TO GIVE MUCH ASSISTANCE IN THIS EVENT. RADAR TARGET JUMPS ARE ALSO A PROB IN THIS SECTOR WHICH MAKES RUNNING ACFT CLOSE TO THE 5 MI MINIMUM SEPARATION MORE DIFFICULT.