Narrative:

I was working on sector and watching the controller at another sector quickly falling behind. He was put into the hold for jets first then satellite airports. There was not many planes in the sector; but the controller could not handle the holding and answering the lines at the same time. I began answering the lines for him from my sector. The controller tried to put aircraft in the hold at weard but didn't know how. It is a published hold north. He told the aircraft to hold west. I told him it is off the HUO019 radial. He then question an aircraft where they were going when they were trying to enter the hold and hold west. He then told a second aircraft to hold west at weard. I told him its north that's why the first one went west. He still didn't understand. Meanwhile; he put another area in the hold because he was so backed up with normal traffic while only holding one aircraft at helon. Normally; 5 to 7 aircraft are held there. While this was going on; he let an aircraft come right up to the TRACON approach boundary without a point out. He had lost control of the sector that was not busy because he didn't know simple procedures. I had to coach him through many situations to prevent more unsafe situations. The controller did ask for an assist position and one was eventually provided. The traffic level for an average controller was manageable without an assist. Controllers should not be allowed to work alone if they are unsafe or should be brought back to be retrained. This type of situation with this controller is not uncommon.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZBW Center controllers reported a Controller requested their Assist Position be opened; but was initially denied due to lack of staffing.

Narrative: I was working on sector and watching the controller at another sector quickly falling behind. He was put into the hold for jets first then satellite airports. There was not many planes in the sector; but the controller could not handle the holding and answering the lines at the same time. I began answering the lines for him from my sector. The controller tried to put aircraft in the hold at WEARD but didn't know how. It is a published hold north. He told the aircraft to hold west. I told him it is off the HUO019 radial. He then question an aircraft where they were going when they were trying to enter the hold and hold west. He then told a second aircraft to hold west at WEARD. I told him its north that's why the first one went west. He still didn't understand. Meanwhile; he put another area in the hold because he was so backed up with normal traffic while only holding one aircraft at HELON. Normally; 5 to 7 aircraft are held there. While this was going on; he let an aircraft come right up to the TRACON approach boundary without a point out. He had lost control of the sector that was not busy because he didn't know simple procedures. I had to coach him through many situations to prevent more unsafe situations. The controller did ask for an Assist position and one was eventually provided. The traffic level for an average controller was manageable without an Assist. Controllers should not be allowed to work alone if they are unsafe or should be brought back to be retrained. This type of situation with this controller is not uncommon.

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.