Narrative:

An altrv came through ZAU; fl240b260; 4/military fighters. I was working the first low altitude sector in ZAU for their arrival; so I had my 'all primaries' selected. I noticed by the primaries that the flight was 'non-standard'; I confirmed with the pilot and was told that the flight was 6 miles in trail; meaning that I needed to provide 11 miles lateral separation to the flight. This information is required to be verbally coordinated from sector to sector; but was not. I called the two previous high altitude sectors to see if they were aware of the expanded separation standard; and they were not. This flight flew for 300+ miles in ZAU; while it appears that the high controllers were providing only 5 mile separation; when the aircraft were actually 6 miles in trail. This would result in -1 mile of actual separation if need; which could have resulted in a mid-air collision; but we were lucky this time! Unfortunately; current management expressed very little concern for this incident; and took no action to review it. In short; it was swept under the carpet; 'no harm no foul'. Recommendation; see that controller's are well briefed on the requirements and review the necessary requirements when an incident confirms that certain controllers are deficient. But since we don't review incidents; and would prefer to live the 'no harm on foul' philosophy; this trend will only continue to degrade the system until someone is harmed.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZAU Controller voiced concern regarding facility's handling of a military flight claiming separation standards were compromised; highlighting facility management's lack of concern and failure to brief the controller workforce.

Narrative: An ALTRV came through ZAU; FL240B260; 4/military fighters. I was working the first low altitude sector in ZAU for their arrival; so I had my 'all primaries' selected. I noticed by the primaries that the flight was 'non-standard'; I confirmed with the pilot and was told that the flight was 6 miles in trail; meaning that I needed to provide 11 miles lateral separation to the flight. This information is required to be verbally coordinated from sector to sector; but was not. I called the two previous high altitude sectors to see if they were aware of the expanded separation standard; and they were not. This flight flew for 300+ miles in ZAU; while it appears that the high controllers were providing only 5 mile separation; when the aircraft were actually 6 miles in trail. This would result in -1 mile of actual separation if need; which could have resulted in a mid-air collision; but we were lucky this time! Unfortunately; current management expressed very little concern for this incident; and took no action to review it. In short; it was swept under the carpet; 'no harm no foul'. Recommendation; see that controller's are well briefed on the requirements and review the necessary requirements when an incident confirms that certain controllers are deficient. But since we don't review incidents; and would prefer to live the 'no harm on foul' philosophy; this trend will only continue to degrade the system until someone is harmed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.