Narrative:

I was working bosox and providence (47 and 34) sectors combined early in the afternoon. Traffic volume started to increase a little; but workload was already elevated because of deviations and pilots asking for route and weather information. I had several aircraft in the vicinity of nelie and hfd; most needing to move through each other; of course. I recall aircraft X was landing ash and was direct gdm at 17;000. Aircraft Y aircraft in question was destined for hpn and flying direct nelie and descending to 16;000. I had cleared aircraft X direct to gdm to ensure he crossed behind the path of another aircraft which was descending to cross wipor at 11;000. Another aircraft; aircraft Z; I believe; had just crossed in front of the path of aircraft X at 16;000; destined for teb. That aircraft had been shortcut to sages intersection for weather avoidance; and I remember wondering whether or not aircraft Z would go fast enough to remain in front of aircraft Y aircraft until their paths diverged. Aircraft Z remained sufficiently in front; and the aircraft descending towards wipor was about to leave 15;000. At that moment; I apparently forgot about aircraft Y I had been watching just a moment ago; because I instructed aircraft X to descend to 16;000. (I had to eventually get them to 11;000.) a second or two later; I realized I had issued a descent right into the path of aircraft Y and for the same altitude. Aircraft X either had not yet started down or had only begun to descend when I came up with something like 'don't descend; maintain 17;000.' I was shaken in the immediate aftermath of that clearance because it was an obvious traffic conflict that would have resulted in the aircraft possibly passing within a mile of each other; and I completely blanked for a long enough to issue a clearance to 16;000; regardless of the fact that I resolved the situation just a few seconds later. It was around that time the supervisor had a returning controller take sector 34 from me; which brings us to part ii. The briefing to the controller taking sector 34 was broken and interrupted. There were a few calls while I was trying to give the brief; and long story short; I apparently forgot to inform the new controller about a tfr over oqu. I don't recall any of this except there were calls during the briefing. Subsequently; bos went into a hold over provi/pvd; and the controller at 34 issued holding instructions through active tfr airspace.a d-side may have been helpful.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZBW Controller describes an almost loss of separation between two aircraft he was working that he catches and saves at the last minute. Controller was working a combined sector and aircraft were deviating because of weather. When the sector get splits he forgets to tell the relieving Controller about a TFR; and later that Controller violates the TFR.

Narrative: I was working Bosox and Providence (47 and 34) sectors combined early in the afternoon. Traffic volume started to increase a little; but workload was already elevated because of deviations and pilots asking for route and weather information. I had several aircraft in the vicinity of NELIE and HFD; most needing to move through each other; of course. I recall Aircraft X was landing ASH and was direct GDM at 17;000. Aircraft Y aircraft in question was destined for HPN and flying direct NELIE and descending to 16;000. I had cleared Aircraft X direct to GDM to ensure he crossed behind the path of another aircraft which was descending to cross WIPOR at 11;000. Another aircraft; Aircraft Z; I believe; had just crossed in front of the path of Aircraft X at 16;000; destined for TEB. That aircraft had been shortcut to SAGES intersection for weather avoidance; and I remember wondering whether or not Aircraft Z would go fast enough to remain in front of Aircraft Y aircraft until their paths diverged. Aircraft Z remained sufficiently in front; and the aircraft descending towards WIPOR was about to leave 15;000. At that moment; I apparently forgot about Aircraft Y I had been watching just a moment ago; because I instructed Aircraft X to descend to 16;000. (I had to eventually get them to 11;000.) A second or two later; I realized I had issued a descent right into the path of Aircraft Y and for the same altitude. Aircraft X either had not yet started down or had only begun to descend when I came up with something like 'Don't descend; maintain 17;000.' I was shaken in the immediate aftermath of that clearance because it was an obvious traffic conflict that would have resulted in the aircraft possibly passing within a mile of each other; and I completely blanked for a long enough to issue a clearance to 16;000; regardless of the fact that I resolved the situation just a few seconds later. It was around that time the supervisor had a returning controller take sector 34 from me; which brings us to part II. The briefing to the controller taking sector 34 was broken and interrupted. There were a few calls while I was trying to give the brief; and long story short; I apparently forgot to inform the new controller about a TFR over OQU. I don't recall any of this except there were calls during the briefing. Subsequently; BOS went into a hold over PROVI/PVD; and the controller at 34 issued holding instructions through active TFR airspace.A d-side may have been helpful.

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.