Narrative:

New york TRACON approved aircraft X over lendy. Aircraft X was inbound to frg. New york TRACON requested that aircraft X be separated with other lendy traffic by altitude. I descended aircraft X to FL180. FL180 was usable. Aircraft X was flashing to the TRACON in order to effect the handoff. When aircraft X was about 2 miles from lendy I called the TRACON over the landline for a handoff. I got no response. I called the TRACON again over the landline when aircraft X was over lendy. I got no response. At that time I vectored aircraft X to a 330 heading and I advised the pilot it was because I was unable to affect the handoff with the TRACON. The TRACON did accept the handoff on aircraft Y which was currently about 5 miles northwest of lendy. Aircraft Y was tracking to lendy at FL190. The TRACON was in communication with aircraft Y. When aircraft Y was just passed lendy I observed aircraft Y descend out of FL190. At this point I called the TRACON again and yelled over the line that there was traffic just southeast of aircraft Y. Aircraft Y and aircraft X came within 3 miles and a thousand feet of each other. I asked aircraft X if he sees the traffic. Aircraft X advised me that the traffic was abeam his position. The TRACON later called me over the landline and asked me to call them over the landline for a line check. They said they were now able to hear me. This event happened for one of two reasons. The TRACON did not hear me when I called them over the landline and the aircraft was not flashing on their end due to some kind of equipment misuse or malfunction. Or the TRACON ignored my calls over the landline and ignored the aircraft that was flashing to them to affect the handoff. In either case aircraft Y should not have been descended thru aircraft X. Clearly there was some kind of lack of awareness of aircraft X position when the descent clearance was issued to aircraft Y. This is human error. Aircraft should not be descended through other aircraft regardless if you have the handoff on them or not. Controllers need to be aware of any target on their scope that could affect the operation. If there was an equipment malfunction and the landline was faulty it needs to be addressed as soon as possible as verbal communication between facilities is vital to our operation. If the TRACON could not see the aircraft flashing at them due to some kind of equipment malfunction; it needs to be addressed why they were not able to see the aircraft flashing at them.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: New York Center and New York TRACON Controllers reported a loss of separation due to a handoff not being made to the correct sector and the landline speaker being muted.

Narrative: New York TRACON approved Aircraft X over LENDY. Aircraft X was inbound to FRG. New York TRACON requested that Aircraft X be separated with other LENDY traffic by altitude. I descended Aircraft X to FL180. FL180 was usable. Aircraft X was flashing to the TRACON in order to effect the handoff. When Aircraft X was about 2 miles from LENDY I called the TRACON over the landline for a handoff. I got no response. I called the TRACON again over the landline when Aircraft X was over LENDY. I got no response. At that time I vectored Aircraft X to a 330 heading and I advised the pilot it was because I was unable to affect the handoff with the TRACON. The TRACON did accept the handoff on Aircraft Y which was currently about 5 miles northwest of LENDY. Aircraft Y was tracking to LENDY at FL190. The TRACON was in communication with Aircraft Y. When Aircraft Y was just passed LENDY I observed Aircraft Y descend out of FL190. At this point I called the TRACON again and yelled over the line that there was traffic just southeast of Aircraft Y. Aircraft Y and Aircraft X came within 3 miles and a thousand feet of each other. I asked Aircraft X if he sees the traffic. Aircraft X advised me that the traffic was abeam his position. The TRACON later called me over the landline and asked me to call them over the landline for a line check. They said they were now able to hear me. This event happened for one of two reasons. The TRACON did not hear me when I called them over the landline and the aircraft was not flashing on their end due to some kind of equipment misuse or malfunction. Or the TRACON ignored my calls over the landline and ignored the aircraft that was flashing to them to affect the handoff. In either case Aircraft Y should not have been descended thru Aircraft X. Clearly there was some kind of lack of awareness of Aircraft X position when the descent clearance was issued to Aircraft Y. This is human error. Aircraft should not be descended through other aircraft regardless if you have the handoff on them or not. Controllers need to be aware of any target on their scope that could affect the operation. If there was an equipment malfunction and the landline was faulty it needs to be addressed ASAP as verbal communication between facilities is vital to our operation. If the TRACON could not see the aircraft flashing at them due to some kind of equipment malfunction; it needs to be addressed why they were not able to see the aircraft flashing at them.

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.