Nct controller voiced concern regarding the absence of a castle sector controller present at the pos...

Narrative:

I was leaving the building and noticed the castle sector position was not being manned/worked by anyone. I noted the person shown working the position was in the center of the control room outside of hearing range of the position. No one in the area knew the controller stepped away; so they weren't even monitoring the position while he was away. I went and called him back to the position and asked why he left; he stated the supervisor required him to leave position even though he said he indicated he was working. Recommendation; don't leave a position unattended without someone monitoring the traffic and frequencies; especially during a point in time when there is still traffic in the airspace and surrounding airspace.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: NCT Controller voiced concern regarding the absence of a Castle Sector Controller present at the position even though one was assigned. The reporter noted positions should never be left unattended.

Narrative: I was leaving the building and noticed the Castle Sector position was not being manned/worked by anyone. I noted the person shown working the position was in the center of the control room outside of hearing range of the position. No one in the area knew the Controller stepped away; so they weren't even monitoring the position while he was away. I went and called him back to the position and asked why he left; he stated the Supervisor required him to leave position even though he said he indicated he was working. Recommendation; Don't leave a position unattended without someone monitoring the traffic and frequencies; especially during a point in time when there is still traffic in the airspace and surrounding airspace.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1014959
Time
Date	201206
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	NCT.TRACON
State Reference	CA
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	No Aircraft
Person 1
Function	Approach Departure
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types

Nct controller voiced concern regarding the absence of a castle sector controller present at the position even though one was assigned. The reporter noted positions should never be left unattended.