Narrative:

I was working the santan departure sector on east flow. Adjacent departure (navajo) sector conducting OJT (on the job training) and working a small aircraft on a VFR photo mission that would be crossing the departure paths repeatedly approximately 5 miles east of the airport. Navajo had pointed out the photo mission airplane to me and the other affected sectors. As an air carrier was departing I identified it and instructed it to climb to FL210 which is normal. I noticed the small aircraft southbound towards the departure path of the air carrier but not within the coordinated path/box that was depicted on our displays. The small aircraft was west of the displayed and anticipated path and closer to the primary airport. I issued traffic to the air carrier and advised him to make an immediate right turn and expedite his climb to avoid a possible loss of separation. The pilot did not see the small aircraft and complied with my instructions; but was not upset at all. In fact; he said they had no issues when casually asking later if everything was all right on our end. I asked in return if they had received an alert regarding the small aircraft and he said that they'd received a traffic alert but not a TCAS resolution. I would recommend that there be no photo missions within close proximity to any major airport unless each departure is coordinated for release. I was under the impression that this was the case here as I had heard such conversation from the neighboring sector with the controller in charge (controller in charge) and tower. I would also recommend that there be more explicit procedures in place for such operations and will be ensuring that I not take point outs on such operations in the future. I will be working such aircraft on my frequency so I can cancel/suspend their photo mission as needed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: P50 controller experienced a near conflict event involving a B757 departure and a photo mission aircraft operating on a different frequency and outside coordinated airspace.

Narrative: I was working the Santan Departure Sector on east flow. Adjacent departure (Navajo) Sector conducting OJT (on the job training) and working a small aircraft on a VFR photo mission that would be crossing the departure paths repeatedly approximately 5 miles east of the airport. Navajo had pointed out the photo mission airplane to me and the other affected sectors. As an Air Carrier was departing I identified it and instructed it to climb to FL210 which is normal. I noticed the small aircraft southbound towards the departure path of the Air Carrier but not within the coordinated path/box that was depicted on our displays. The small aircraft was west of the displayed and anticipated path and closer to the primary airport. I issued traffic to the Air Carrier and advised him to make an immediate right turn and expedite his climb to avoid a possible loss of separation. The pilot did not see the small aircraft and complied with my instructions; but was not upset at all. In fact; he said they had no issues when casually asking later if everything was all right on our end. I asked in return if they had received an alert regarding the small aircraft and he said that they'd received a traffic alert but not a TCAS resolution. I would recommend that there be no photo missions within close proximity to any major airport unless each departure is coordinated for release. I was under the impression that this was the case here as I had heard such conversation from the neighboring sector with the CIC (Controller in Charge) and Tower. I would also recommend that there be more explicit procedures in place for such operations and will be ensuring that I not take point outs on such operations in the future. I will be working such aircraft on my frequency so I can cancel/suspend their photo mission as needed.

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.