Narrative:

Aircraft X departed and was cleared on course; to 20000 feet. Approach east (ae) performed a point out to approach west (aw) on aircraft X. Aw advised 'traffic' for aircraft X was aircraft Y heading approximately 250 degrees climbing to 28000 feet. Ae and aw then attempted to de-conflict both flights as they were on the same course; climbing through each other's altitudes; and aircraft X was overtaking aircraft Y. Ae decided to take aircraft X off course and turned aircraft X left to heading 190; so as not to handoff both aircraft X and aircraft Y on the same course with conflicting altitudes to ZDC; per the ntk-ZDC letter of agreement. At that time there was approximately 10 miles lateral separation and decreasing between aircraft X and aircraft Y; however adequate vertical separation was maintained. While ae and aw were attempting to resolve the conflict; approach north (an) announced 'the atcaa (air traffic control assigned airspace) is active FL180 to FL230'. This activation was made without any prior notice or coordination with ae. At the same time aircraft X was approaching the lateral confines of the burner atcaa; on a course deeper into the burner atcaa and cleared to 20000 feet.there was no loss of separation between aircraft X and aircraft Y. The sector was within the lateral confines of the burner atcaa at the same time that aircraft X penetrated the burner atcaa climbing through 18000 feet. The procedure for activating the burner atcaa was disregarded in this case. Ae has control up to 23000 feet for aircraft within the lateral boundaries of ae airspace. This airspace is coincidental with the lateral boundaries of the burner atcaa; and for this reason an is required to request activation of the burner atcaa with ae prior to activating and initiating operations inside that airspace.ae verbally objected to this activation due to aircraft on an IFR clearance inside the burner atcaa. An made an unintelligible comment about coordinating with ZDC regarding aircraft X inside the burner atcaa; however this did not resolve the issue. This was clearly an inappropriate and unsafe activation of air traffic control assigned airspace with other non-participating IFR aircraft operating within the national airspace system.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: NKT TRACON Controller reported an ATCAA (Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspace) activated even though there was an aircraft within the airspace.

Narrative: Aircraft X departed and was cleared on course; to 20000 feet. Approach East (AE) performed a point out to Approach West (AW) on Aircraft X. AW advised 'traffic' for Aircraft X was Aircraft Y heading approximately 250 degrees climbing to 28000 feet. AE and AW then attempted to de-conflict both flights as they were on the same course; climbing through each other's altitudes; and Aircraft X was overtaking Aircraft Y. AE decided to take Aircraft X off course and turned Aircraft X left to heading 190; so as not to handoff both Aircraft X and Aircraft Y on the same course with conflicting altitudes to ZDC; per the NTK-ZDC Letter of Agreement. At that time there was approximately 10 miles lateral separation and decreasing between Aircraft X and Aircraft Y; however adequate vertical separation was maintained. While AE and AW were attempting to resolve the conflict; Approach North (AN) announced 'the ATCAA (Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspace) is active FL180 to FL230'. This activation was made without any prior notice or coordination with AE. At the same time Aircraft X was approaching the lateral confines of the Burner ATCAA; on a course deeper into the Burner ATCAA and cleared to 20000 feet.There was no loss of separation between Aircraft X and Aircraft Y. The sector was within the lateral confines of the Burner ATCAA at the same time that Aircraft X penetrated the Burner ATCAA climbing through 18000 feet. The procedure for activating the Burner ATCAA was disregarded in this case. AE has control up to 23000 feet for aircraft within the lateral boundaries of AE airspace. This airspace is coincidental with the lateral boundaries of the Burner ATCAA; and for this reason AN is required to request activation of the Burner ATCAA with AE prior to activating and initiating operations inside that airspace.AE verbally objected to this activation due to aircraft on an IFR clearance inside the Burner ATCAA. AN made an unintelligible comment about coordinating with ZDC regarding Aircraft X inside the Burner ATCAA; however this did not resolve the issue. This was clearly an inappropriate and unsafe activation of Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspace with other non-participating IFR aircraft operating within the National Airspace System.

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.