Sct controller thought an aircraft that was on an IFR flight plan was on a VFR flight plan. The cont...

Attributes
ACN	1317902
Time
Date	201512
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	SCT.TRACON
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft Low Wing 1 Eng Fixed Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Other Holding Pattern
Route In Use	Other Instrument Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft High Wing 1 Eng Fixed Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Other Holding Pattern
Route In Use	Other Instrument Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Approach
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 4.5
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

There were multiple aircraft in holding patterns over ocn VORTAC. Some were VFR and some were IFR. When the data blocks would pass each other the digital targets would jump and move to the position of the other aircraft. While this was happening I took control of an IFR aircraft with the assumption that they were now VFR based off their position. I incorrectly gave an IFR aircraft an altitude restriction that would provide 500 feet with another IFR aircraft. I did so thinking the first aircraft was VFR. The two aircraft were both in holding over ocn VOR one at 2500 feet and the other aircraft at 3000 feet. There has been a lot of reports about the new stars equipment and the jumping targets. I do not fully blame the jumping on my failure to maintain situational awareness on the sector; but I do consider it the contributing distraction that caused my break in awareness. I recommend additional work on the new stars software to eliminate the jumping of digital targets.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SCT Controller thought an aircraft that was on an IFR flight plan was on a VFR flight plan. The controller used 500 feet vertical separation in a holding pattern instead of 1000 feet. The targets on the STARS radar display were jumping back and forth from their actual position.

Narrative: There were multiple aircraft in holding patterns over OCN VORTAC. Some were VFR and some were IFR. When the data blocks would pass each other the digital targets would jump and move to the position of the other aircraft. While this was happening I took control of an IFR aircraft with the assumption that they were now VFR based off their position. I incorrectly gave an IFR aircraft an altitude restriction that would provide 500 feet with another IFR aircraft. I did so thinking the first aircraft was VFR. The two aircraft were both in holding over OCN VOR one at 2500 feet and the other aircraft at 3000 feet. There has been a lot of reports about the new STARS equipment and the jumping targets. I do not fully blame the jumping on my failure to maintain situational awareness on the sector; but I do consider it the contributing distraction that caused my break in awareness. I recommend additional work on the new STARS software to eliminate the jumping of digital targets.

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.

Sct controller thought an aircraft that was on an IFR flight plan was on a VFR flight plan. The controller used 500 feet vertical separation in a holding pattern instead of 1000 feet. The targets on the stars radar display were jumping back and forth from their actual position.