Narrative:

I was working the right side at sector 66/67. There was scattered weather throughout the entire sector; with moderate; heavy and extreme precipitation that was impacting all of the arrivals and departures. In addition; the eastern half of my sector was impacted heavily by active military airspace which was active placid east at 7000-FL400; placid west 7000-15000 and R2901 sfc-FL400. This leaves me with approximately a 27 mile wide corridor in which all of my traffic needs to run north & south. I had an ojti d-side. Controller who was training developmental controller. The supervisor in charge who was standing behind me observing the sector closely. He had already gone to tmu twice to ask them to slow the sector down and they replied that 'it will only be red for approximately 3 minutes.'at approximately xa:35 I asked for a tracker; as I recognized that the sector was going to go completely out of control otherwise. I had 18 aircraft in or about to enter my sector. The overhead screen showed red at 26 aircraft at this early point; and I have no idea how high it got as I was completely involved. The normal map value without restricted airspace or weather is 15. I had both weather and restricted airspace/moas active but ZMA does not have negotiated map values; and has not updated these values in several years. At approximately xb:41Z I cleared aircraft X direct ralph; which I thought would clear the southern portion of placid east/west; however; I was mistaken. This aircraft would pass 2 miles south of the airspace. I had to reach out retroactively and call R47 to ask him to turn him; which he was limited in doing due to the weather to his south. I believe we turned him south in time to miss the military airspace; and I asked my tracker/D-side to coordinate; if needed; with the military to block the airspace (we cannot point out aircraft to the R2901/placid area controller because they're not in fact controllers; but civilian contractors who do not have radar).shortly thereafter this time; the sector got completely and unconditionally out of hand and overwhelming. My d-side called fort myers approach to stop all departures; which caused the operations manager to come around the corner and question what we were doing. Shortly after doing so; he went back to his desk and called the military and told them that we were taking the airspace back. I truly mean this; and I'm not sure how; but the sector was so out of control that I was just trying to separate airplanes 'in the moment'. No one; be it myself; my d-side or tracker had a long term picture with where to put the airplanes; we just put them and vectored them wherever was safe at the time. I have never been this overwhelmed before at the sector; and afterwards my d-side said he wasn't sure how we didn't have any aircraft come together. My tracker went home sick since she was so distraught. I was unable to fulfill my duty priority of issuing weather advisories and disseminating weather in a timely manner. In fact; numerous times I had to tell aircraft 'unable' for deviations because the added complexity would have made the sector even more uncontrolled.there were numerous times that I descended someone; and then had to amend their altitude since I couldn't see the traffic anymore. I attempted to alleviate this through liberal use of vectors in order to separate aircraft.after it slowed down (approximately 30-45 mins later); I got relieved and I unplugged. I asked my supervisor what happened; and he said that tmu refused to give us any help at the sector. I stated to him that I would like a tmr/ssr done; and he stated that he wasn't sure if the OM would put that request in because the OM didn't think we were 'that busy.' I wanted to document my concerns here; and am also doing so by email to my supervisor and OM because I do not believe that sector has ever gotten out of control since I have been here a s either a cpc or a deviation. At the peak; I had 28 aircrafton frequency; which means it's impossible to do anything except try to separate aircraft.the amount of airplanes at the sector cannot be overstated. It was the most unsafe situation that I've ever been involved with as an air traffic controller. I'm completely amazed that no aircraft got together.I believe that the preventative course of action would have been appropriate tmis due to the active military airspace and weather in our airspace. My supervisor stated that there were none in place at the time of any of these incidents; even though he had requested it both 15 minutes and 30 minutes prior. I believe that tmu was putting the movement of airplanes over the safety of the traffic. Often times the R2901/placid east/west moas are released to the military airspace on a long time frame rather than on demand. In this case; the airspace was released to the military for 6+ hours; even though for the vast majority of this time; there were no actual aircraft in the restricted airspace; moas; or atcas. I really believe that a more fluid operation in which the aircraft turns on when needed and off when not being used would have alleviated this problem but not solved it completely. I'm not sure what else could have been done.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZMA Controller reported working a combined sector during weather deviations and active restricted areas with very heavy traffic volume. TMU and facility management would not make an effort to help until the complexity reached an unworkable level.

Narrative: I was working the R Side at Sector 66/67. There was scattered weather throughout the entire sector; with moderate; heavy and extreme precipitation that was impacting all of the arrivals and departures. In addition; the eastern half of my sector was impacted heavily by Active Military Airspace which was active Placid East at 7000-FL400; Placid West 7000-15000 and R2901 SFC-FL400. This leaves me with approximately a 27 mile wide corridor in which all of my traffic needs to run North & South. I had an OJTI D-Side. Controller who was Training Developmental Controller. The supervisor in charge who was standing behind me observing the sector closely. He had already gone to TMU twice to ask them to slow the sector down and they replied that 'it will only be red for approximately 3 minutes.'At approximately XA:35 I asked for a tracker; as I recognized that the sector was going to go completely out of control otherwise. I had 18 aircraft in or about to enter my sector. The overhead screen showed red at 26 aircraft at this early point; and I have no idea how high it got as I was completely involved. The normal MAP value without restricted airspace OR weather is 15. I had both weather and restricted airspace/MOAs active but ZMA does not have negotiated MAP values; and has not updated these values in several years. At approximately XB:41Z I cleared Aircraft X direct RALPH; which I thought would clear the southern portion of PLACID E/W; however; I was mistaken. This aircraft would pass 2 miles south of the airspace. I had to reach out retroactively and call R47 to ask him to turn him; which he was limited in doing due to the weather to his south. I believe we turned him south in time to miss the military airspace; and I asked my Tracker/D-side to coordinate; if needed; with the military to block the airspace (we cannot point out aircraft to the R2901/Placid Area controller because they're not in fact controllers; but civilian contractors who do not have radar).Shortly thereafter this time; the sector got completely and unconditionally out of hand and overwhelming. My D-Side called Fort Myers approach to stop all departures; which caused the Operations Manager to come around the corner and question what we were doing. Shortly after doing so; he went back to his desk and called the Military and told them that we were taking the airspace back. I truly mean this; and I'm not sure how; but the sector was so out of control that I was just trying to separate airplanes 'in the moment'. No one; be it myself; my D-Side or tracker had a long term picture with where to put the airplanes; we just put them and vectored them wherever was safe at the time. I have never been this overwhelmed before at the sector; and afterwards my D-side said he wasn't sure how we didn't have any aircraft come together. My tracker went home sick since she was so distraught. I was unable to fulfill my duty priority of issuing weather advisories and disseminating weather in a timely manner. In fact; numerous times I had to tell aircraft 'unable' for deviations because the added complexity would have made the sector even more uncontrolled.There were numerous times that I descended someone; and then had to amend their altitude since I couldn't see the traffic anymore. I attempted to alleviate this through liberal use of vectors in order to separate aircraft.After it slowed down (approximately 30-45 mins later); I got relieved and I unplugged. I asked my supervisor what happened; and he said that TMU refused to give us any help at the sector. I stated to him that I would like a TMR/SSR done; and he stated that he wasn't sure if the OM would put that request in because the OM didn't think we were 'that busy.' I wanted to document my concerns here; and am also doing so by email to my supervisor and OM because I do not believe that sector has ever gotten out of control since I have been here a s either a CPC or a DEV. At the peak; I had 28 aircrafton frequency; which means it's impossible to do anything except try to separate aircraft.The amount of airplanes at the sector cannot be overstated. It was the most unsafe situation that I've ever been involved with as an Air Traffic Controller. I'm completely amazed that no aircraft got together.I believe that the preventative course of action would have been appropriate TMIs due to the active military airspace and weather in our airspace. My supervisor stated that there were none in place at the time of any of these incidents; even though he had requested it both 15 minutes and 30 minutes prior. I believe that TMU was putting the movement of airplanes over the safety of the traffic. Often times the R2901/Placid East/West MOAs are released to the military airspace on a long time frame rather than on demand. In this case; the airspace was released to the military for 6+ hours; even though for the vast majority of this time; there were no actual aircraft in the Restricted Airspace; MOAs; or ATCAs. I really believe that a more fluid operation in which the aircraft turns on when needed and off when not being used would have alleviated this problem but not solved it completely. I'm not sure what else could have been done.

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.