Narrative:

Aircraft 1 was northeastbound climbing to 9;000 MSL. Aircraft 2 was inbound from the northeast at 8;000 MSL per the LOA with ZFW. After taking the automated handoff from ZFW; I intended to descend aircraft 2 to 6;000 MSL on his initial call to be well below aircraft 1 but was distracted working 3 T38s; 1 T45; and 2 additional aircraft doing practice approaches at maf. Additionally I had an E145; and another VFR aircraft inbound to maf for a full stop as well as a VFR departure off maf to the southwest. I 'rogered' aircraft 2 on his initial call to take care of other approach clearances and neglected to go back to aircraft 2 for descent. I scanned back to the northeast to see aircraft 1 and aircraft 2 on converging courses approximately 2.8-3NM apart. Aircraft 1 was climbing through 8;800 MSL and aircraft 2 was still level at 8;000 MSL. I immediately turned aircraft 2 right to a heading of 330 and turned aircraft 1 right to a heading of 180. I then started issuing the traffic to aircraft 1 who reported aircraft 2 in sight. Aircraft 1 was instructed to maintain visual separation and was turned back on course. Aircraft 2 was advised that aircraft 1 had them in sight and was maintaining visual. The two aircraft carried on without further incident.this event occurred after several hours of OJT on arrival/departure in the first 6 hours of my shift. I feel that mental fatigue along with the volume and complexity of the traffic at the time contributed. I still needed to ensure that my separation was accomplished before being concerned with approach clearances. I should have maintained better situational awareness to ensure that the required separation existed before tending to other duties. I feel that better situational awareness as well as more time to 'digest' previous training sessions will prevent this from happening again

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MAF ATCS reports minor loss of separation due to controller technique; situational awareness; and possibly fatigue.

Narrative: Aircraft 1 was northeastbound climbing to 9;000 MSL. Aircraft 2 was inbound from the northeast at 8;000 MSL per the LOA with ZFW. After taking the automated handoff from ZFW; I intended to descend Aircraft 2 to 6;000 MSL on his initial call to be well below Aircraft 1 but was distracted working 3 T38s; 1 T45; and 2 additional aircraft doing practice approaches at MAF. Additionally I had an E145; and another VFR aircraft inbound to MAF for a full stop as well as a VFR departure off MAF to the southwest. I 'rogered' Aircraft 2 on his initial call to take care of other approach clearances and neglected to go back to Aircraft 2 for descent. I scanned back to the northeast to see Aircraft 1 and Aircraft 2 on converging courses approximately 2.8-3NM apart. Aircraft 1 was climbing through 8;800 MSL and Aircraft 2 was still level at 8;000 MSL. I immediately turned Aircraft 2 right to a heading of 330 and turned Aircraft 1 right to a heading of 180. I then started issuing the traffic to Aircraft 1 who reported Aircraft 2 in sight. Aircraft 1 was instructed to maintain visual separation and was turned back on course. Aircraft 2 was advised that Aircraft 1 had them in sight and was maintaining visual. The two aircraft carried on without further incident.This event occurred after several hours of OJT on arrival/departure in the first 6 hours of my shift. I feel that mental fatigue along with the volume and complexity of the traffic at the time contributed. I still needed to ensure that my separation was accomplished before being concerned with approach clearances. I should have maintained better situational awareness to ensure that the required separation existed before tending to other duties. I feel that better situational awareness as well as more time to 'digest' previous training sessions will prevent this from happening again

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.