Narrative:

I was working at ZNY area F south atlantic (D16-D20) sectors with moderate traffic. I had a surface to FL340 block in my airspace called 'air drop'. The map showed that the aircraft entering the block would be at FL340 descending out of controlled airspace to establish contact with a warship. The aircraft call sign was aircraft X. We had received inbound coordination from santa maria center at FL320. This was different from the FL340 that was shown on the map for the operation. As the aircraft entered my airspace the protected block of airspace in ocean 21 dropped out of the system. The map for the operation had handwritten times of 1130Z-1500Z. However the 1500Z also looked like it was 1300Z. Whoever entered the block into ocean 21 made the mistake of entering 1300Z instead of 1500Z. I informed the supervisor of the situation; the supervisor re-entered the block with the correct time (1500Z). Ocean 21 showed that I now had 2 imminent losses of separation and 1 future conflict with the block. A flight was 5 minutes away from entering the protected airspace of the block. I climbed the aircraft to FL350 and he reported level a couple of minutes before separation was lost. A second flight was re-routed to the north and well as another flight. Once I had ensured that all my other traffic was now clear of the block I asked aircraft X to advise intentions. He informed me that he would be descending in 16 minutes to 100 feet above the water and that the navy warship was in control. I did not like this situation at all. I cleared the aircraft to the bottom of my airspace and to depart controlled airspace. I requested the flight to advise how long they intended to be on station and what their planned routing and altitude were on return. Aircraft X advised that they would be on station for approximately 20 minutes and then would be returning to lpla and climbing to FL390. The FL390 was contradictory to the map which showed the flight returning at FL360 even though the block was only protecting up to FL340. I asked the flight to advise me when he started his descent and to report leaving controlled airspace. I received a message from the flight that he was at FL030 and in contact with the warship. Approximately 15 minutes later I received a message from the flight with a random lat/long out of FL130 climbing to FL390 heading eastbound. I immediately constructed a routing clearance and altitude clearance to ensure a protected profile in ocean 21. My clearance was for aircraft X to stop at FL310 until I could establish his exact position to ensure he was separated from the many westbound flights. At this point the flight plan had a cpar failure; which means he was no longer being probed or protected by ocean 21. I had to do a delete and replace to get the flight plan back in the system. Once that was completed I realized that I had not received a read back of the clearance to FL310. I called arinc to find out the status of the clearance. Arinc told me the flight received the clearance as he was leaving FL280 and had leveled at FL310. Once I established aircraft X's exact position I was able to climb the aircraft to FL390 and he safety exited my airspace back to santa maria centers airspace. Recommendation; this block and military operation was poorly planned; poorly executed and poorly explained to the controllers who had to work the operation. Over the last several months the military liaison office (MLS) has been dismantled. The controllers who had years of experience have been placed in other offices and the duties and responsibilities of this office have been placed in the hands of the traffic management unit. It took years for the MLS controllers to develop and understand the intricate workings of military operations in the oceanic non-radar environment and ocean 21. Now we get tmc supervisors wandering into the area asking controller in charge's and flm's to help them with the blocks or dropping the half completed packages in the area. This is just one of several issues we have had with the MLS office over the last several weeks. Multiple qar's have been filed by area-F flm's.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZNY controller experienced a probable loss of separation event when procedures covering a military exercise were poorly briefed/coordinated; the reporter commenting that the closure of the Military Liaison Office was a causal factor in the event.

Narrative: I was working at ZNY Area F South Atlantic (D16-D20) Sectors with moderate traffic. I had a surface to FL340 Block in my airspace called 'Air Drop'. The map showed that the aircraft entering the block would be at FL340 descending out of controlled airspace to establish contact with a warship. The aircraft call sign was Aircraft X. We had received inbound coordination from Santa Maria Center at FL320. This was different from the FL340 that was shown on the map for the operation. As the aircraft entered my airspace the protected block of airspace in Ocean 21 dropped out of the system. The map for the operation had handwritten times of 1130Z-1500Z. However the 1500Z also looked like it was 1300Z. Whoever entered the block into OCEAN 21 made the mistake of entering 1300Z instead of 1500Z. I informed the supervisor of the situation; the supervisor re-entered the block with the correct time (1500Z). OCEAN 21 showed that I now had 2 imminent losses of separation and 1 future conflict with the block. A flight was 5 minutes away from entering the protected airspace of the block. I climbed the aircraft to FL350 and he reported level a couple of minutes before separation was lost. A second flight was re-routed to the North and well as another flight. Once I had ensured that all my other traffic was now clear of the block I asked Aircraft X to advise intentions. He informed me that he would be descending in 16 minutes to 100 feet above the water and that the navy warship was in control. I did not like this situation at all. I cleared the aircraft to the bottom of my airspace and to depart controlled airspace. I requested the flight to advise how long they intended to be on station and what their planned routing and altitude were on return. Aircraft X advised that they would be on station for approximately 20 minutes and then would be returning to LPLA and climbing to FL390. The FL390 was contradictory to the map which showed the flight returning at FL360 even though the block was only protecting up to FL340. I asked the flight to advise me when he started his descent and to report leaving controlled airspace. I received a message from the flight that he was at FL030 and in contact with the warship. Approximately 15 minutes later I received a message from the flight with a random lat/long out of FL130 climbing to FL390 heading Eastbound. I immediately constructed a routing clearance and altitude clearance to ensure a protected profile in OCEAN 21. My clearance was for Aircraft X to stop at FL310 until I could establish his exact position to ensure he was separated from the many Westbound flights. At this point the flight plan had a CPAR failure; which means he was no longer being probed or protected by OCEAN 21. I had to do a delete and replace to get the flight plan back in the system. Once that was completed I realized that I had not received a read back of the clearance to FL310. I called ARINC to find out the status of the clearance. ARINC told me the flight received the clearance as he was leaving FL280 and had leveled at FL310. Once I established Aircraft X's exact position I was able to climb the aircraft to FL390 and he safety exited my airspace back to Santa MAria Centers airspace. Recommendation; this block and military operation was poorly planned; poorly executed and poorly explained to the controllers who had to work the operation. Over the last several months the Military Liaison Office (MLS) has been dismantled. The controllers who had years of experience have been placed in other offices and the duties and responsibilities of this office have been placed in the hands of the Traffic Management Unit. It took years for the MLS controllers to develop and understand the intricate workings of military operations in the oceanic Non-RADAR environment and OCEAN 21. Now we get TMC Supervisors wandering into the area asking CIC's and FLM's to help them with the blocks or dropping the half completed packages in the area. This is just one of several issues we have had with the MLS office over the last several weeks. Multiple QAR's have been filed by Area-F FLM's.

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.