ZSU controller reports of saving a loss of separation by using altitude. Tower controller did not pr...

Narrative:

While working R1-R5 positions combined; aircraft X departs sju on a 350 heading climbing to 5;000 ft. As soon as he leaves the sju tower airspace I cleared him direct jaaws to join the JAAWS9 departure. X miles behind the tower sends aircraft Y on the same heading; climbing to 5;000ft. As soon as I have communication with aircraft Y; I stop him at 3;000ft because he climbs much faster than the aircraft X.when I stopped him; aircraft X was still climbing out of 4;000 ft. Within the minute; aircraft Y was less than 3 miles behind aircraft X. Because I stopped his climb; they maintained radar separation. A few months back our LOA with sju tower provided us with 5 miles in trail separation for same headings departures. Even though 3 miles is radar separation approved by the 7110.65; our airspace configuration is a little complicated; there is a lot of crossing traffic even for departures; and we have to provide the center 5 miles in trail separation. We have numerous times asked management to change the LOA back as it was before; but our request have been ignored multiple times.we obviously have a safety issue here. Whether is the LOA or training cpcs at the sju tower. But this situation has happened more than once in less than a week. Clearly something needs to be done. Had I been busy; distracted; frequency failure; they would have lost separation. Either we change the LOA or train cpc's better with aircraft characteristics and radar separation. It took me a few days to complete this report; my password was reset but took a few days to receive email.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZSU Controller reports of saving a loss of separation by using altitude. Tower Controller did not provide enough spacing to allow faster climbing departure following slower climbing departure.

Narrative: While working R1-R5 positions combined; Aircraft X departs SJU on a 350 heading climbing to 5;000 ft. As soon as he leaves the SJU tower airspace I cleared him direct JAAWS to join the JAAWS9 departure. X miles behind the tower sends Aircraft Y on the same heading; climbing to 5;000ft. As soon as I have communication with Aircraft Y; I stop him at 3;000ft because he climbs much faster than the Aircraft X.When I stopped him; Aircraft X was still climbing out of 4;000 ft. Within the minute; Aircraft Y was less than 3 miles behind Aircraft X. Because I stopped his climb; they maintained radar separation. A few months back our LOA with SJU tower provided us with 5 miles in trail separation for same headings departures. Even though 3 miles is radar separation approved by the 7110.65; our airspace configuration is a little complicated; there is a lot of crossing traffic even for departures; and we have to provide the center 5 miles in trail separation. We have numerous times asked management to change the LOA back as it was before; but our request have been ignored multiple times.We obviously have a safety issue here. Whether is the LOA or training CPCs at the SJU tower. But this situation has happened more than once in less than a week. Clearly something needs to be done. Had I been busy; distracted; frequency failure; they would have lost separation. Either we change the LOA or train CPC's better with aircraft characteristics and radar separation. It took me a few days to complete this report; my password was reset but took a few days to receive email.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1232228
Time
Date	201501
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZSU.ARTCC
State Reference	PR
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Vectors SID JAAWS9
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Large Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 6
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Clearance

ZSU controller reports of saving a loss of separation by using altitude. Tower controller did not provide enough spacing to allow faster climbing departure following slower climbing departure.