Narrative:

A C172 was performing aerial surveys on an east/west line starting 5 west of fll to 25 west of fll. Fll was west and the aircraft's turn around point was in the direct path of departures. The previous controller had coordinated with fll tower to stop departures at 2;000 ft. He had also coordinated fan heading to allow the tower to move some departures that had backed up due to an immediately prior arrival push. In a normal situation fll would launch jet departures on a 275 heading and props on a 320 heading. I apparently misunderstood the briefing or just assumed I heard something different. A C414 came off on a 275 heading. Being a prop I thought the heading was going to be 320 and I climbed him to 5;000. The C172 was eastbound toward fll 5 miles west of the airport. I immediately noticed that the aircraft was not northwest bound but westbound heading for the C172. There were a few miles between them and the C172 was in a left (northbound) turn. I called the traffic to the C414. He replied that he saw him and that it was too close. He also asked if I was talking to the aircraft. I replied that I was but that I had assumed the operation and did not approve of it. I could not turn the C414 to the northwest due to jet traffic that departed on a fan heading and was at the same altitude. The C172 responded that he had the C414 in sight and would maintain visual. I don't believe management should be approving aerial surveys so close to the airport at a proximity and altitude that puts almost every departure in conflict. I also should have immediately stopped the C414 at 2;000; but didn't because he was climbing through 2;300 and I thought that the C172 would execute his turn faster.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MIA Controller voiced concern regarding the management approval of aerial surveys near conflicting departure traffic.

Narrative: A C172 was performing aerial surveys on an east/west line starting 5 west of FLL to 25 west of FLL. FLL was west and the aircraft's turn around point was in the direct path of departures. The previous Controller had coordinated with FLL Tower to stop departures at 2;000 FT. He had also coordinated fan heading to allow the Tower to move some departures that had backed up due to an immediately prior arrival push. In a normal situation FLL would launch jet departures on a 275 heading and props on a 320 heading. I apparently misunderstood the briefing or just assumed I heard something different. A C414 came off on a 275 heading. Being a prop I thought the heading was going to be 320 and I climbed him to 5;000. The C172 was eastbound toward FLL 5 miles west of the airport. I immediately noticed that the aircraft was not northwest bound but westbound heading for the C172. There were a few miles between them and the C172 was in a left (northbound) turn. I called the traffic to the C414. He replied that he saw him and that it was too close. He also asked if I was talking to the aircraft. I replied that I was but that I had assumed the operation and did not approve of it. I could not turn the C414 to the northwest due to jet traffic that departed on a fan heading and was at the same altitude. The C172 responded that he had the C414 in sight and would maintain visual. I don't believe management should be approving aerial surveys so close to the airport at a proximity and altitude that puts almost every departure in conflict. I also should have immediately stopped the C414 at 2;000; but didn't because he was climbing through 2;300 and I thought that the C172 would execute his turn faster.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.