An aircraft was issued a clearance to cross a fix at 14000 feet to avoid parachute jumping activity ...

Narrative:

I had to vector out aircraft X on the arrival into ZZZ for spacing. I turned him back towards ZZZZ intersection and descended him to 14000 feet. I had taken a point out on a jump aircraft climbing up VFR to 13000 feet to drop jumpers near ZZZZ intersection. I had asked a controller to stop his aircraft at 16000 feet so I can get 2 arrivals down to 14000 feet. I pointed out an aircraft to the controller climbing out of ZZZ1. I gave aircraft X cross ZZZZ intersection at 14000 feet (he read back 12000 feet garbled but readable on playback). While he was reading that back I noticed that the other sector had begun descending his [aircraft] to cross ZZZ VOR at 14000 feet. I immediately told him to stop that plane at 15000 feet (he apologized later). I noticed it took aircraft X almost 10 miles to begin his turn to ZZZZ intersection. A few minutes later I saw aircraft X data block update to 13800 feet. Next update was 13400 feet about 7 miles from ZZZZ intersection. I verified he was crossing ZZZZ intersection at 14000 feet. He said 'no; you cleared us to 12000 feet'. My clearance on playback was extremely clear and was ZZZZ intersection at 14000 feet. I issued a 30 degree left turn and climb to 14000 feet and issued the traffic 1 o'clock 10 miles a jump aircraft. 4 miles later I saw aircraft X turning right to join the arrival. I told him I gave that 30 degrees prior to ZZZZ intersection to ensure distance between him and the jump aircraft who was now at altitude and jumpers could be in the air (currently aircraft X was still below 13000 feet). I finally got prompt compliance from aircraft X.these jump aircraft should not be allowed to drop on an arrival route into a major airport; or should be restricted to 11000 feet. The arrival descends to 12000 feet at ZZZ VOR. Also; I recommend this incident be 'pulled' and a falcon radar replay made to be distributed to the airline safety groups to show how lack of prompt compliance could lead to catastrophic problems.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An aircraft was issued a clearance to cross a fix at 14000 feet to avoid parachute jumping activity along its route at 13000 feet. The pilot readback 12000 feet. The Controller did not detect the erroneous readback.

Narrative: I had to vector out Aircraft X on the arrival into ZZZ for spacing. I turned him back towards ZZZZ intersection and descended him to 14000 feet. I had taken a point out on a jump aircraft climbing up VFR to 13000 feet to drop jumpers near ZZZZ intersection. I had asked a controller to stop his aircraft at 16000 feet so I can get 2 arrivals down to 14000 feet. I pointed out an aircraft to the controller climbing out of ZZZ1. I gave Aircraft X cross ZZZZ intersection at 14000 feet (He read back 12000 feet garbled but readable on playback). While he was reading that back I noticed that the other sector had begun descending his [aircraft] to cross ZZZ VOR at 14000 feet. I immediately told him to stop that plane at 15000 feet (He apologized later). I noticed it took Aircraft X almost 10 miles to begin his turn to ZZZZ intersection. A few minutes later I saw Aircraft X data block update to 13800 feet. Next update was 13400 feet about 7 miles from ZZZZ intersection. I verified he was crossing ZZZZ intersection at 14000 feet. He said 'no; YOU cleared us to 12000 feet'. My clearance on playback was extremely clear and was ZZZZ intersection at 14000 feet. I issued a 30 degree left turn and climb to 14000 feet and issued the traffic 1 o'clock 10 miles a jump aircraft. 4 miles later I saw Aircraft X turning right to join the arrival. I told him I gave that 30 degrees prior to ZZZZ intersection to ensure distance between him and the jump aircraft who was now at altitude and jumpers could be in the air (currently Aircraft X was still below 13000 feet). I finally got prompt compliance from Aircraft X.These jump aircraft should not be allowed to drop on an arrival route into a major airport; or should be restricted to 11000 feet. The arrival descends to 12000 feet at ZZZ VOR. Also; I recommend this incident be 'pulled' and a Falcon Radar replay made to be distributed to the airline safety groups to show how lack of prompt compliance could lead to catastrophic problems.

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	1326921
Time
Date	201601
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Small Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 21
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

An aircraft was issued a clearance to cross a fix at 14000 feet to avoid parachute jumping activity along its route at 13000 feet. The pilot readback 12000 feet. The controller did not detect the erroneous readback.