Narrative:

Aircraft X entered sector eastbound level at FL370. Aircraft X made a request for climb to FL390. After a traffic scan; I asked the pilot if they could be level at FL390 in less than two minutes to avoid westbound traffic at FL380; to which he replied affirmative. I climbed the aircraft to FL390; and asked him to 'hurry up'. A few moments later; I cleared aircraft X direct crl; about a five degree left turn. He read back the clearance; but still had not shown out of FL370. I waited a few more moments and then observed the aircraft leaving FL370. I asked him if they could now be level in one minute and they replied that they were distracted putting clearance into the computer; hadn't started up in time; and could not be level at 390 in one minute. I turned aircraft X twenty five degrees to the left. I then told aircraft Y; a westbound aircraft at FL380; to turn twenty degrees to their left for the climbing traffic. I called the traffic for both aircraft; and aircraft X told me that they had aircraft Y in sight. However; a loss of separation occurred when they passed 4.3 miles and 600ft. I feel that this situation could have been avoided by both ATC and the pilots. The phraseology; we as controllers are required to issue for a time to climb clearance; is far too complicated and verbose to be effectively utilized. Therefore; I think we typically just expedite aircraft; and expect compliance from the cockpit. In this case; it seems the pilot was distracted by the clearance issued after the expedited climb; and forgot to climb for almost a full minute. I have almost no knowledge of what happens inside a cockpit once I give a pilot a clearance; because familiarization flights have not been available. I really believe I would benefit greatly from having the experience of seeing how pilots handle these situations inside the cockpit. I believe that would be a great training tool for the newer generation of controllers that have no means to understand what goes on in the air. Beyond that; I would also recommend a change in the time climb clearance. Currently; it is not a useful tool to prevent this type of incident. I choose to not even attempt to use that phraseology as it is currently written; because it is confusing and unnecessarily long. Had I been able to give the pilot a time to be level in a simple and clear manner; it may have been an extra reminder to the flight deck that they needed to start up right away.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A ZAU controller described a loss of separation event that occurred when a time to climb instruction was issued using required phraseology that he contended may be outdated and ineffective.

Narrative: Aircraft X entered sector eastbound level at FL370. Aircraft X made a request for climb to FL390. After a traffic scan; I asked the pilot if they could be level at FL390 in less than two minutes to avoid westbound traffic at FL380; to which he replied affirmative. I climbed the aircraft to FL390; and asked him to 'hurry up'. A few moments later; I cleared Aircraft X direct CRL; about a five degree left turn. He read back the clearance; but still had not shown out of FL370. I waited a few more moments and then observed the aircraft leaving FL370. I asked him if they could now be level in one minute and they replied that they were distracted putting clearance into the computer; hadn't started up in time; and could not be level at 390 in one minute. I turned Aircraft X twenty five degrees to the left. I then told Aircraft Y; a westbound aircraft at FL380; to turn twenty degrees to their left for the climbing traffic. I called the traffic for both aircraft; and Aircraft X told me that they had Aircraft Y in sight. However; a loss of separation occurred when they passed 4.3 miles and 600ft. I feel that this situation could have been avoided by both ATC and the pilots. The phraseology; we as controllers are required to issue for a time to climb clearance; is far too complicated and verbose to be effectively utilized. Therefore; I think we typically just expedite aircraft; and expect compliance from the cockpit. In this case; it seems the pilot was distracted by the clearance issued after the expedited climb; and forgot to climb for almost a full minute. I have almost no knowledge of what happens inside a cockpit once I give a pilot a clearance; because familiarization flights have not been available. I really believe I would benefit greatly from having the experience of seeing how pilots handle these situations inside the cockpit. I believe that would be a great training tool for the newer generation of controllers that have no means to understand what goes on in the air. Beyond that; I would also recommend a change in the time climb clearance. Currently; it is not a useful tool to prevent this type of incident. I choose to not even attempt to use that phraseology as it is currently written; because it is confusing and unnecessarily long. Had I been able to give the pilot a time to be level in a simple and clear manner; it may have been an extra reminder to the flight deck that they needed to start up right away.

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.