2005-08 · NASA ASRS report 668117
ZFW CTLR EXPERIENCED OPERROR AT 17500 FT WHEN MODE ALT INFO WAS BLOCKED BECAUSE OF THE CLOSE PROX OF THE DATA BLOCKS.
ACFT X AND ACFT Y WERE WBOUND ON THE WORTH 4 DEP ON THE SAME RADIAL. I WAS STEPPING ACFT X UP IN HIS CLB DUE TO ACR Z ALSO CLBING WBOUND ON THE SAME DEP AND RADIAL. I HAD APPROVED A REQUEST FROM APCH TO STACK ACR Z AND ACFT X WITH ACR Z ON TOP. AT ONE POINT; I HAD ISSUED ACFT X FL200 AND ENTERED THAT ALT AS A TEMPORARY ALT IN THE DATA BLOCK. LATER; AFTER ACR Z WAS LEVEL AT FL230; I CLBED ACFT X TO FL220. AT THE TIME I WAS NOT RECEIVING MODE C ALT ON ACFT X BECAUSE OF THE CLOSENESS OF THE TARGETS OF ACFT X AND ACR Z. I CONSEQUENTLY ISSUED FL200 TO ACFT Y; THINKING ACFT X WAS OUT OF FL200 FOR FL220. AFTER ISSUING FL200 TO ACFT Y; ANOTHER ACR W CHKED ON FREQ WITH A SPD ASSIGNMENT WHICH I HAD TO CLARIFY WITH THE PLT. THIS TOOK MY ATTN AWAY FROM ACFT X AND ACFT Y. THERE WERE APPROX 3 RADAR HITS AFTER I ISSUED THE ACFT Y FL200; THAT I MIGHT HAVE REALIZED THE PROB; BUT MY ATTN WAS ON DEALING WITH ACR W THAT HAD JUST CHKED ON FREQ. THERE ARE SEVERAL CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WHICH I WOULD LIKE TO BRING FORWARD: 1) DEPS FROM THE DFW TERMINAL AREA GOING TO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO/HOUSTON; WERE BEING REROUTED OUT THE W DEP GATE DUE TO WX. THIS RESULTED IN SOME ADDITIONAL ISSUES: A) ADDED COMPLEXITY TO THE SECTOR; B) PLT REQUESTS FOR SHORTCUTS (MORE XMISSIONS); C) SOME ACFT DEPARTED WITH THE WRONG ROUTING AND HAD TO BE ISSUED CORRECT ROUTING; D) HVY VOLUME ON THAT PARTICULAR DEP RADIAL RESULTING IN DFW APCH REQUESTING TO STACK DEPS MORE THAN USUAL. 2) ACFT Y FLT PLAN WAS INCORRECTLY INPUT INTO THE SYS IDENTING THE FLT AS A T37 INSTEAD OF A T38. THESE 2 ACFT HAVE QUITE DIFFERENT FLT CHARACTERISTICS. 3) WITH FLTS TO AUS/SAT/IAH BEING SWAPPED OUT THE W GATE; THERE WAS NO ADDITIONAL SPACING PLACED ON THE DEP RTE; EVEN THOUGH THIS SIT INCREASES COMPLEXITY AS NOTED ABOVE.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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