Narrative:

I had aircraft Z off of apa who I was going to climb up and over den. When he came off I had a CRJ2 come off of den so I climbed aircraft Z to 12;000. I climbed the CRJ2 to FL230 thinking he would top him easy. For some reason I then climbed aircraft Z to 14;000 thinking it would still work fine. When I realized it was not going to work like I thought it would; I stopped aircraft Z back at 12;000 and told the CRJ2 to expedite through 15;000. Well for some reason I tried it again with air carrier X off of den. I turned aircraft Z to a 010 heading to kind of get him on course. When I realized that air carrier X wasn't going to top him either I turned him to a 240 heading to miss him; which he did. Air carrier X then came on the frequency with an RA. I said; 'yea the traffic is 4 miles off your left side.' he said; 'what about the other aircraft to our right side [the small transport turboprop - aircraft Y]?' I then realized I had an error. Recommendation; I know exactly what I did wrong. Firstly; I do not feel that I came to work ready to work. When I took the position there was a lot of out of the ordinary things occurring. I reluctantly said I have it and began to work. About 10 minutes later the error happened. Operationally; I bet on the come line way to much. I gave up vertical in a very bad way. I should have kept air carrier X below aircraft Z and kept aircraft Z climbing. I was starting to feel overwhelmed so I got the attitude of get everyone up and out; which bit me. I also had some distractions on the land line and some aircraft that were not answering me; which took away from my more important priorities. The biggest thing I have learned from this is to keep a bigger eye out for the arrivals that have not been taken off the STAR. And most importantly never give up vertical like I did. Next time if that situation comes up I'm going to pick altitudes where everyone is separated and then take a good look to see if I can do anything further. I should have asked for help to. Even though it wasn't that busy I wasn't in the proper mindset. I've learned a lot from this one.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: D01 Controller described operational error when trying to climb above a Small Aircraft overflight with two different aircraft; noting interim altitudes should have been assigned.

Narrative: I had Aircraft Z off of APA who I was going to climb up and over DEN. When he came off I had a CRJ2 come off of DEN so I climbed Aircraft Z to 12;000. I climbed the CRJ2 to FL230 thinking he would top him easy. For some reason I then climbed Aircraft Z to 14;000 thinking it would still work fine. When I realized it was not going to work like I thought it would; I stopped Aircraft Z back at 12;000 and told the CRJ2 to expedite through 15;000. Well for some reason I tried it again with Air Carrier X off of DEN. I turned Aircraft Z to a 010 heading to kind of get him on course. When I realized that Air Carrier X wasn't going to top him either I turned him to a 240 heading to miss him; which he did. Air Carrier X then came on the frequency with an RA. I said; 'yea the traffic is 4 miles off your left side.' He said; 'what about the other aircraft to our right side [The Small Transport Turboprop - Aircraft Y]?' I then realized I had an error. Recommendation; I know exactly what I did wrong. Firstly; I do not feel that I came to work ready to work. When I took the position there was a lot of out of the ordinary things occurring. I reluctantly said I have it and began to work. About 10 minutes later the error happened. Operationally; I bet on the come line way to much. I gave up vertical in a very bad way. I should have kept Air Carrier X below Aircraft Z and kept Aircraft Z climbing. I was starting to feel overwhelmed so I got the attitude of get everyone up and out; which bit me. I also had some distractions on the land line and some aircraft that were not answering me; which took away from my more important priorities. The biggest thing I have learned from this is to keep a bigger eye out for the arrivals that have not been taken off the STAR. And most importantly never give up vertical like I did. Next time if that situation comes up I'm going to pick altitudes where everyone is separated and then take a good look to see if I can do anything further. I should have asked for help to. Even though it wasn't that busy I wasn't in the proper mindset. I've learned a lot from this one.

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.