Center controller reported clearing an aircraft for visual approach and handoff to tower prior to re...

Attributes
ACN	1563446
Time
Date	201807
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZLC.ARTCC
State Reference	UT
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 10.0
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

I was on the sector for a long time and every aircraft I spoke with deviated around weather the entire time. For 2 months now we've been working up to 2 hours at a time; sometimes over. We're fried mentally. A controller comes in to relieve me and I tell him to work my assist for a minute while I get caught up. He sits there and doesn't help; so now I'm really behind. We released the first arrival and a departure while I leave the aircraft direct to downwind to build in space. I cleared the aircraft for a visual approach and I thought the first aircraft was about to land so I cleared the second aircraft for the visual approach and shipped him to tower but I think the first aircraft had flown around the airport to lose altitude or something while I was trying to get my deviating route lines caught up. I shipped the second aircraft to tower when the first aircraft wasn't on the ground but tower used visual separation so it was okay; but we are operating on a razors edge with not nearly enough staffing and we're getting killed. Help us. Staff our area and facility! We are keeping airplanes apart in impossible conditions every day and being set up to fail. We're all sick of it. You should have an assist position any time there are jac arrivals and weather but we are pressured to run without one due to low staffing. Unacceptable!

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Center Controller reported clearing an aircraft for visual approach and handoff to Tower prior to receiving a landing assured call for previous aircraft.

Narrative: I was on the sector for a long time and every aircraft I spoke with deviated around weather the entire time. For 2 months now we've been working up to 2 hours at a time; sometimes over. We're fried mentally. A controller comes in to relieve me and I tell him to work my Assist for a minute while I get caught up. He sits there and doesn't help; so now I'm really behind. We released the first arrival and a departure while I leave the aircraft direct to downwind to build in space. I cleared the aircraft for a visual approach and I thought the first aircraft was about to land so I cleared the second aircraft for the visual approach and shipped him to Tower but I think the first aircraft had flown around the airport to lose altitude or something while I was trying to get my deviating route lines caught up. I shipped the second aircraft to Tower when the first aircraft wasn't on the ground but Tower used visual separation so it was okay; but we are operating on a razors edge with not nearly enough staffing and we're getting killed. Help us. Staff our area and facility! We are keeping airplanes apart in impossible conditions every day and being set up to fail. We're all sick of it. You should have an Assist position any time there are JAC arrivals and weather but we are pressured to run without one due to low staffing. Unacceptable!

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.

Center controller reported clearing an aircraft for visual approach and handoff to tower prior to receiving a landing assured call for previous aircraft.