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.

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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.