Narrative:

I was conducting OJT on the d-side at sector 46 (aluto). There were a lot of weather deviations taking place due to the massive amounts of convective activity. Aircraft X had requested deviations and to the best that I can remember they were cleared to deviated to the left of course. The aircraft was headed to the northwest. Air carrier Y was south of aircraft X climbing north-northwest-bound. I can't remember if air carrier Y was deviating; but most likely they were because pretty much everyone was deviating in that sector at that time. The r-side requested a tracker about 3 minutes before the operational error occurred. The problem started when aircraft X deviated more than expected. The r-side was aware of the situation; but I mentioned that I didn't think that it was going to work very soon. Right at that time; a tracker sat down which caused about a 15 second distraction to the sector. Almost immediately the tracker told the r-side to 'descend him;' meaning air carrier Y. Unfortunately; the air carrier Y was already at FL192 and by telling the aircraft to descend it still climbed to FL198 before it started back down. Air carrier Y also stated that they were responding to an RA. Air carrier Y descended to FL190 and then separation was recovered again. By telling the aircraft to descend when it was already in a climb; it had to slow its climb then transition to a descent. If air carrier Y was told to climb with an immediate; the result might have been better. Also; the sector was beginning to get out of had and the supervisor had just started looking at getting more en trail out the dta's. The problem with this sector with weather deviations is that you have pbi; fll; and mia departures so the en trail needs to be proactive and not reactive. Also; I feel that the r-side should have been relieved because following the situation the sector was not in full control for a while after because it seemed like they were a bit shaken up. During this time the supervisor was standing behind the sector.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZMA Controller providing OJT during a very busy and complex traffic period; complicated by multiple weather deviations; experienced a loss of separation event. Both controller and pilot reports provide excellent perspectives.

Narrative: I was conducting OJT on the D-Side at Sector 46 (Aluto). There were a lot of weather deviations taking place due to the massive amounts of convective activity. Aircraft X had requested deviations and to the best that I can remember they were cleared to deviated to the left of course. The aircraft was headed to the northwest. Air Carrier Y was south of aircraft X climbing north-northwest-bound. I can't remember if Air Carrier Y was deviating; but most likely they were because pretty much everyone was deviating in that sector at that time. The R-Side requested a tracker about 3 minutes before the Operational Error occurred. The problem started when aircraft X deviated more than expected. The R-Side was aware of the situation; but I mentioned that I didn't think that it was going to work very soon. Right at that time; a tracker sat down which caused about a 15 second distraction to the sector. Almost immediately the tracker told the R-Side to 'descend him;' meaning Air Carrier Y. Unfortunately; the Air Carrier Y was already at FL192 and by telling the aircraft to descend it still climbed to FL198 before it started back down. Air Carrier Y also stated that they were responding to an RA. Air Carrier Y descended to FL190 and then separation was recovered again. By telling the aircraft to descend when it was already in a climb; it had to slow its climb then transition to a descent. If Air Carrier Y was told to climb with an immediate; the result might have been better. Also; the sector was beginning to get out of had and the Supervisor had just started looking at getting more en trail out the DTA's. The problem with this sector with weather deviations is that you have PBI; FLL; and MIA departures so the en trail needs to be proactive and not reactive. Also; I feel that the R-Side should have been relieved because following the situation the sector was not in full control for a while after because it seemed like they were a bit shaken up. During this time the supervisor was standing behind the sector.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.