Narrative:

I was working dag and med combined at a time that is known to be busy for departures. I noticed the OM [operations manager] come into the room and ask to have 2 people from the floor removed for a meeting of some sort. This happens on a regular basis and leaves the room short usually. I was asked to pull in another sector (cyn) and I said that I was not comfortable with it and it was going to get busy and probably was not a good idea. Within a couple minutes the cyn controller was told to give me the position. I again expressed concern. Several minutes later I had a BE58 off of hnd that was VFR and turning towards the final traffic. I worked on getting that pilot away from other traffic and out of the way. At about the same time I took radar on aircraft Y east of las airspace from ZLA. Aircraft Z [airbus A320 series] then reported a pressure problem and needed to return to land. I issued aircraft X [an A321] a freq change to ZLA when they were out of 13000; currently climbing through 11000. I went back to the other traffic and continued dealing with the issues of aircraft Z and the BE58. I also at some point gave aircraft Y the hnd ATIS info but did not issue a control instruction. They normally have the info but couldn't get the ATIS for some reason. As I was working I heard the ca/ca go off and noticed the situation and that aircraft X was already above 13k. I went to aircraft Y and issued traffic and they got visual on aircraft X. I went on with my traffic but was not comfortable with what had happened at all. Do not use the staffing in the room to support things outside of the room. Do not combine positions that are known to be busy during known busy times.I know I messed up! I have never felt like this in over 20 years doing this job. I also knew that it was not good to combine when we did.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Las Vegas TRACON Controller reported an uncomfortable situation between a VFR and IFR aircraft. Controller reported that staffing was a problem along with the combined sectors.

Narrative: I was working DAG and MED combined at a time that is known to be busy for departures. I noticed the OM [Operations Manager] come into the room and ask to have 2 people from the floor removed for a meeting of some sort. This happens on a regular basis and leaves the room short usually. I was asked to pull in another sector (CYN) and I said that I was not comfortable with it and it was going to get busy and probably was not a good idea. Within a couple minutes the CYN controller was told to give me the position. I again expressed concern. Several minutes later I had a BE58 off of HND that was VFR and turning towards the final traffic. I worked on getting that pilot away from other traffic and out of the way. At about the same time I took radar on Aircraft Y east of LAS airspace from ZLA. Aircraft Z [Airbus A320 series] then reported a pressure problem and needed to return to land. I issued Aircraft X [an A321] a freq change to ZLA when they were out of 13000; currently climbing through 11000. I went back to the other traffic and continued dealing with the issues of Aircraft Z and the BE58. I also at some point gave Aircraft Y the HND ATIS info but did not issue a control instruction. They normally have the info but couldn't get the ATIS for some reason. As I was working I heard the CA/CA go off and noticed the situation and that Aircraft X was already above 13k. I went to Aircraft Y and issued traffic and they got visual on Aircraft X. I went on with my traffic but was not comfortable with what had happened at all. Do not use the staffing in the room to support things outside of the room. Do not combine positions that are known to be busy during known busy times.I know I messed up! I have never felt like this in over 20 years doing this job. I also knew that it was not good to combine when we did.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.