Narrative:

I was working 'south' departure and had 2 surveillance aircraft on frequency in my airspace. I had government Y just off the departure end of sky harbor at 8;500 and government Z about 5-15 east of phx at 10;500. Government Z was orbiting but also moving between 5 and 20 miles east of the pxr VORTAC. I had the usual noon time departure push and would first stop all the departures at 8;000 for government Y and then after they cleared climbed them to 10;000 for government Z. After passing government Z I would climb them to FL210. If I observed any of the departures getting close to either aircraft I would issue a traffic call to both aircraft involved. About 20 minutes into the push I had air carrier X; a TFD2 departure and I issued him a turn to 190 to join the departure and climbed to 10;000. He acknowledged the altitude and then I advised him of the traffic that was orbiting at 10;500. He responded with; 'roger'; and I advised government Z of the traffic and he also acknowledged the traffic. I went back to looking at my other traffic and then back to air carrier X and government Z to see air carrier X climbing right through government Z. After they passed I told government Z I guess he climbed on me; and the pilot responded with 'that was awfully close' or something to that effect; but he appeared to be pretty shaken up. I then went to air carrier X and again told him he was assigned 10;000 for the traffic and he said 'TCAS climb; we need a number to call!' I again told him to turn to a heading to join the departure as he didn't take my initial turn and then went back to working my other aircraft and then just before shipping air carrier X to ZAB; I gave him our phone number. Our supervisor was behind me during this and he took the flight progress strip from me and then went back and listened to and watched the playback on the computer. I worked another 20 minutes or so and finished up the departure push and after it was all done I went back to government Z and asked him if he heard what air carrier X said about a TCAS climb; and he said he did; but he said he saw the aircraft and even though his TCAS was telling him to climb; he descended as he thought it was the more prudent move to do. I told him again that I was sorry it happened and he said 'no sweat not your fault'. I then was relived from position and walked back to find out the supervisor said he listened and watched the replay and I was correct in everything I did; air carrier X acknowledged the climb to 10;000 and then even though he was already at 8;000 he started climbing very rapidly even though he was only going up 2000 feet. He was at 9600 and the next sweep he was at 10300 then 10600 and then 11100 as he was passing government Z. The targets and data tags appeared to merge on my scope and then they were 500 feet apart after they passed. Recommendation; my most prudent move would have been to stop the departures at 9000 feet instead of 10;000 to allow a 1500 foot buffer; as I usually do with unverified VFR altitudes but I had to get these tfd departures up and above the arrival traffic that was descending out 11;000 and I thought that since I was talking to both and both aircraft knew about each other that it would be ok to use 10;000.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: P50 described a conflict event when an air carrier departure reportedly responded to a TCAS warning and climbed above assigned altitude causing a close encounter with issued traffic; faulty aircraft equipment listed by flight crew as possible causal factors.

Narrative: I was working 'S' Departure and had 2 surveillance aircraft on frequency in my airspace. I had Government Y just off the departure end of Sky Harbor at 8;500 and Government Z about 5-15 east of PHX at 10;500. Government Z was orbiting but also moving between 5 and 20 miles east of the PXR VORTAC. I had the usual noon time departure push and would first stop all the departures at 8;000 for Government Y and then after they cleared climbed them to 10;000 for Government Z. After passing Government Z I would climb them to FL210. If I observed any of the departures getting close to either aircraft I would issue a traffic call to both aircraft involved. About 20 minutes into the push I had Air Carrier X; a TFD2 departure and I issued him a turn to 190 to join the departure and climbed to 10;000. He acknowledged the altitude and then I advised him of the traffic that was orbiting at 10;500. He responded with; 'Roger'; and I advised Government Z of the traffic and he also acknowledged the traffic. I went back to looking at my other traffic and then back to Air Carrier X and Government Z to see Air Carrier X climbing right through Government Z. After they passed I told Government Z I guess he climbed on me; and the pilot responded with 'that was awfully close' or something to that effect; but he appeared to be pretty shaken up. I then went to Air Carrier X and again told him he was assigned 10;000 for the traffic and he said 'TCAS climb; we need a number to call!' I again told him to turn to a heading to join the departure as he didn't take my initial turn and then went back to working my other aircraft and then just before shipping Air Carrier X to ZAB; I gave him our phone number. Our Supervisor was behind me during this and he took the flight progress strip from me and then went back and listened to and watched the playback on the computer. I worked another 20 minutes or so and finished up the departure push and after it was all done I went back to Government Z and asked him if he heard what Air Carrier X said about a TCAS climb; and he said he did; but he said he saw the aircraft and even though his TCAS was telling him to climb; he descended as he thought it was the more prudent move to do. I told him again that I was sorry it happened and he said 'no sweat not your fault'. I then was relived from position and walked back to find out the Supervisor said he listened and watched the replay and I was correct in everything I did; Air Carrier X acknowledged the climb to 10;000 and then even though he was already at 8;000 he started climbing very rapidly even though he was only going up 2000 feet. He was at 9600 and the next sweep he was at 10300 then 10600 and then 11100 as he was passing Government Z. The targets and data tags appeared to merge on my scope and then they were 500 feet apart after they passed. Recommendation; my most prudent move would have been to stop the departures at 9000 feet instead of 10;000 to allow a 1500 foot buffer; as I usually do with unverified VFR altitudes but I had to get these TFD departures up and above the arrival traffic that was descending out 11;000 and I thought that since I was talking to both and both aircraft knew about each other that it would be OK to use 10;000.

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.