Narrative:

I was working liberty west when the supervisor advised me that I would be picking up liberty south to combine positions for another controller to get a break. I was busy because of big in-trail center restrictions; weather; and moderate turbulence in my airspace. I said that I wasn't sure about that to the supervisor and asked how busy south was. He informed that it was slow and that most of the white intersection departures weren't going because of weather over the white intersection and that if I got too busy that I could stop departures. I got the relief briefing; configured; and assumed the position. As soon as I assumed the position; the controller that relieved me immediately had to become my hand-off because several aircraft departed and began to flash for both west and south. There were at least four or five white intersections that began flashing as soon as I assumed the position. On liberty west; aircraft X was fed to me from lga departure at 12;000 (SOP) for a westbound biggy departure; approximately 10 miles north of ewr. Aircraft Y departed ewr runway 4 with turn to a westbound heading zimmz departure climbing to 10;000 (SOP). I had to make in-trail restrictions; so I climbed aircraft Y to 12;000 and 250KTS. There were so many targets and data blocks north of ewr; there were so many other things that I had to do; that I didn't realize that I climbed the aircraft Y to the same alt as the aircraft X. I noticed the aircraft Y climbing through 10;400 with aircraft X at 12;000 converging. I told aircraft Y stop climb at 11;000 and gave him the traffic call. He came back and questioned my instructions. I told to stop climb at 11;000 and gave another traffic call. I noticed aircraft Y hit 11;200 and was still climbing so I said aircraft Y stop your climb immediately; traffic alert; traffic 2-3 o'clock less than a mile at 12;000. Aircraft X then says I have aircraft Y in sight; I told aircraft X to turn right heading 270; then I observed aircraft Y at 12;000; less than a half a mile away from aircraft X . Then I immediately yelled out to the other controllers that this is exactly why I didn't want to combine positions. I told all the other aircraft to standby; made a few more transmissions; then the controller that I just relieved; had to jump in and take over for me. Prior to this event; I had made it known that I felt tired; stressed; and burnt out. I had work six days of evening shifts; had one day off; then back into day shifts. These positions shouldn't have been combined and I feel like I was set up for failure. It was too busy to be combined. The supervisor shouldn't have combined the positions. I am a junior controller with not as much experience. The break situation/staffing situation at N90 needs to be evaluated.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: New York TRACON Controller reported a loss of separation due to climbing an aircraft to the wrong altitude. Reporter blamed combined sectors; fatigue and traffic workload for the error.

Narrative: I was working Liberty West when the supervisor advised me that I would be picking up Liberty South to combine positions for another controller to get a break. I was busy because of big in-trail center restrictions; weather; and moderate turbulence in my airspace. I said that I wasn't sure about that to the supervisor and asked how busy south was. He informed that it was slow and that most of the WHITE intersection departures weren't going because of weather over the White intersection and that if I got too busy that I could stop departures. I got the relief briefing; configured; and assumed the position. As soon as I assumed the position; the controller that relieved me immediately had to become my hand-off because several aircraft departed and began to flash for both west and south. There were at least four or five WHITE intersections that began flashing as soon as I assumed the position. On Liberty West; Aircraft X was fed to me from LGA departure at 12;000 (SOP) for a westbound BIGGY departure; approximately 10 miles north of EWR. Aircraft Y departed EWR runway 4 with turn to a westbound heading ZIMMZ departure climbing to 10;000 (SOP). I had to make in-trail restrictions; so I climbed Aircraft Y to 12;000 and 250KTS. There were so many targets and data blocks north of EWR; there were so many other things that I had to do; that I didn't realize that I climbed the Aircraft Y to the same alt as the Aircraft X. I noticed the Aircraft Y climbing through 10;400 with Aircraft X at 12;000 converging. I told Aircraft Y stop climb at 11;000 and gave him the traffic call. He came back and questioned my instructions. I told to stop climb at 11;000 and gave another traffic call. I noticed Aircraft Y hit 11;200 and was still climbing so I said Aircraft Y stop your climb immediately; traffic alert; traffic 2-3 o'clock less than a mile at 12;000. Aircraft X then says I have Aircraft Y in sight; I told Aircraft X to turn right heading 270; then I observed Aircraft Y at 12;000; less than a half a mile away from Aircraft X . Then I immediately yelled out to the other controllers that this is EXACTLY why I didn't want to combine positions. I told all the other aircraft to standby; made a few more transmissions; then the controller that I just relieved; had to jump in and take over for me. Prior to this event; I had made it known that I felt tired; stressed; and burnt out. I had work six days of evening shifts; had one day off; then back into day shifts. These positions shouldn't have been combined and I feel like I was set up for failure. It was too busy to be combined. The supervisor shouldn't have combined the positions. I am a junior controller with not as much experience. The break situation/staffing situation at N90 needs to be evaluated.

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.