ZMA controllers reported that an aircraft took a heading as a climb instruction and became a conflic...

Attributes
ACN	1419010
Time
Date	201701
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZMA.ARTCC
State Reference	FL
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Next Generation Undifferentiated
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Super King Air 200
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 11
Person 2
Function	Enroute Handoff / Assist Instructor
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 5
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Working sector 26 had just combined back with sector 6. Aircraft Y was level at FL240 over tadpo and about to land at mth which is close to tadpo. Aircraft X was coming from havana over tadpo at FL200. My d-side told me I had control from havana to turn and climb aircraft X. I climbed aircraft X to FL230 which the pilot read back. I needed to start aircraft Y down and keep aircraft X climbing. Around tadpo I told aircraft X to fly heading 310. Apparently he read back climbing to FL310 which I missed. A little later I observed aircraft X hadn't turned and I told him again to turn. In the read back aircraft X acknowledged the turn but also told me he was responding to an RA. I thought the RA was because he was under aircraft Y now and maybe he had climbed to fast and the RA was forcing him down. I was able to turn him away from aircraft Y and started aircraft Y down to get my separation back.the sector was really busy and probably should not have been recombined but we had no staffing. Also there was a lot of frequency congestion adding to the problem. I missed the read back when I told aircraft X to turn and he took it as a climb clearance.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZMA Controllers reported that an aircraft took a heading as a climb instruction and became a conflict for another aircraft. Controllers reported the sector was combined and busy.

Narrative: Working sector 26 had just combined back with sector 6. Aircraft Y was level at FL240 over TADPO and about to land at MTH which is close to TADPO. Aircraft X was coming from Havana over TADPO at FL200. My D-side told me I had control from Havana to turn and climb Aircraft X. I climbed Aircraft X to FL230 which the pilot read back. I needed to start Aircraft Y down and keep Aircraft X climbing. Around TADPO I told Aircraft X to fly heading 310. Apparently he read back climbing to FL310 which I missed. A little later I observed Aircraft X hadn't turned and I told him again to turn. In the read back Aircraft X acknowledged the turn but also told me he was responding to an RA. I thought the RA was because he was under Aircraft Y now and maybe he had climbed to fast and the RA was forcing him down. I was able to turn him away from Aircraft Y and started Aircraft Y down to get my separation back.The sector was really busy and probably should not have been recombined but we had no staffing. Also there was a lot of frequency congestion adding to the problem. I missed the read back when I told Aircraft X to turn and he took it as a climb clearance.

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.

ZMA controllers reported that an aircraft took a heading as a climb instruction and became a conflict for another aircraft. Controllers reported the sector was combined and busy.