TRACON ATC specialist has possible operational error and is concerned about lack of proficiency.

Attributes
ACN	837885
Time
Date	200906
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Piper Aircraft Corp Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Vectors
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Piper Twin Piston Undifferentiated or Other Model
Person 1
Function	Approach
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Non Radar 7 Air Traffic Control Radar 7 Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 7
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Other / Unknown

Narrative:

I work as a support specialist and I am required to maintain less hours on position (8hrs) for currency purposes than a controller (16hrs). After 3 years I have lost a lot of practice. I had two aircraft practicing instrument approaches. The PA28 (VFR) was cleared for a VOR 8 approach; the PA27 (IFR) was cleared for an ILS 10 approach. The PA28 was 4 miles ahead. I vectored the PA27 more; to insure separation but as the PA28 got closer to the runway; his airspeed reduced even more. When I estimated that they had exactly 3 miles; I called the tower for them to break the first aircraft. They did. I was not sure if the tower would break any of them; so I took action but from the time I called and the tower issued the instruction; the separation could have decreased to less than 3.0 miles.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TRACON ATC Specialist has possible operational error and is concerned about lack of proficiency.

Narrative: I work as a Support Specialist and I am required to maintain less hours on position (8hrs) for currency purposes than a Controller (16hrs). After 3 years I have lost a lot of practice. I had two aircraft practicing instrument approaches. The PA28 (VFR) was cleared for a VOR 8 approach; the PA27 (IFR) was cleared for an ILS 10 approach. The PA28 was 4 miles ahead. I vectored the PA27 more; to insure separation but as the PA28 got closer to the runway; his airspeed reduced even more. When I estimated that they had exactly 3 miles; I called the Tower for them to break the first aircraft. They did. I was not sure if the Tower would break any of them; so I took action but from the time I called and the tower issued the instruction; the separation could have decreased to less than 3.0 miles.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.