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Center controller reported working a combined overloaded sector with no assist or supervisor in their area.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1677237 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201908 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZDC.ARTCC |
| State Reference | VA |
| Environment | |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer |
| Flight Phase | Climb Cruise Descent |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Enroute |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Experience | Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 4.5 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
On a regular basis I see situations get out of control late at night. On this particular night; I was left working an overloaded sector by myself when tmu (traffic management unit); and all facility management had gone home for the night. I returned from my last break at xa:00 pm [late at night] to find my supervisor gone and another controller working the sector. Almost exactly at that time; the sector was shut off for all ewr and lga traffic. There was a lot of ewr and lga traffic still in the air because of all the weather delays from the afternoon. I opened the d-side (radar assist) and we proceeded to hold 14 aircraft and work over flights at the sector. The map (monitor alert parameters) value for this sector is 15. At xa:30 pm the controller working the radar was going to hit 10 hours of duty; so the midnight shift supervisor instructed me to relieve her at the radar and work the sector myself. When I took over the sector at xa:34 pm; we had 18 aircraft in the sector. 14 of them were holding. I proceeded to work it out of the hold by myself for the next 50 minutes when it calmed down enough to combine to the midnight scope. I would recommend that tmu and management be more proactive in planning for weather and overload situations that could occur late at night. Also; I would appreciate it if the area supervisor wouldn't leave for the night if the area were still busy.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Center Controller reported working a combined overloaded sector with no Assist or Supervisor in their area.
Narrative: On a regular basis I see situations get out of control late at night. On this particular night; I was left working an overloaded sector by myself when TMU (Traffic Management Unit); and all facility management had gone home for the night. I returned from my last break at XA:00 pm [late at night] to find my supervisor gone and another controller working the sector. Almost exactly at that time; the sector was shut off for all EWR and LGA traffic. There was a lot of EWR and LGA traffic still in the air because of all the weather delays from the afternoon. I opened the D-Side (Radar Assist) and we proceeded to hold 14 aircraft and work over flights at the sector. The MAP (Monitor Alert Parameters) value for this sector is 15. At XA:30 PM the controller working the Radar was going to hit 10 hours of duty; so the Midnight shift supervisor instructed me to relieve her at the Radar and work the sector myself. When I took over the sector at XA:34 PM; we had 18 aircraft in the sector. 14 of them were holding. I proceeded to work it out of the hold by myself for the next 50 minutes when it calmed down enough to combine to the midnight scope. I would recommend that TMU and management be more proactive in planning for weather and overload situations that could occur late at night. Also; I would appreciate it if the area supervisor wouldn't leave for the night if the area were still busy.
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.