Narrative:

I had the crj on a 330 heading off of sli VOR for a vector to the runway 25L final. Simultaneous approaches were in progress to runway 25L and 24R. The weather was at minimums at both lax and smo. The ar-2 controller had 2 aircraft in the class B; a PA-28 on a 4 mile final at smo; another smo arrival on downwind plus several lax arrivals straight in and on downwind. The ar-2 controller yelled for a hand off. I hear smo tower calling over the speaker to speak to arrivals and I can hear urgency in the voice; since the ar-2 controller is too busy I'm going to help and answer the line for him. Smo tower says the VOR just went out; can the PA-28 on final do a contact approach; I said no; just send him around; smo tower then says the VOR is OTS there is no missed approach what should they do; I said put the PA-28 on a 220 heading climb to 3000 and give him to departures when they take the handoff; smo says 'roger'. Then I start coordinating with departures; who handle the smo go arounds when smo calls back and says the PA-28 has the airport in sight he's going to land. I said 'roger'. Keep in mind smo is IFR. Now! I look at my scope and I see a crj crossing the finals at 3500; I look at ar-2 traffic and he has a B737 at 2500 and a B747 on downwind descending thru 5400; I tell ar-2 to stop the B747; he does but he uses 4000; I'm telling the crj to turn left immediately to 180 heading and now I'm forced to descend the crj to 3000 but the B737 is on base about 2 miles from the crj at 2500. The B747 and the crj are no longer a factor; (I believe there was no loss of separation) now the crj and B737 are a factor. I see the controller descended B737 to 2200 so I climbed the crj to 3200. The ar-2 controller also got the B737 to see the crj. The ar-2 controller said he got visual before we lost separation. I then cleared the crj for the ILS 25L; and everyone landed without any further ado. Recommendation; we are not as busy as we used to be; but there are sessions when we are just as busy; it's just that the duration of the session is shorter. A handoff person would have helped; in fact I believe this wouldn't have happened.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SCT controller described a loss of separation event when the SMO VOR failed; causing a missed approach. Controller instructions resulted in a loss of separation with LAX arrival traffic.

Narrative: I had the CRJ on a 330 heading off of SLI VOR for a vector to the Runway 25L final. Simultaneous approaches were in progress to Runway 25L and 24R. The weather was at minimums at both LAX and SMO. The AR-2 Controller had 2 aircraft in the Class B; a PA-28 on a 4 mile final at SMO; another SMO arrival on downwind plus several LAX arrivals straight in and on downwind. The AR-2 Controller yelled for a hand off. I hear SMO Tower calling over the speaker to speak to arrivals and I can hear urgency in the voice; since the AR-2 Controller is too busy I'm going to help and answer the line for him. SMO Tower says the VOR just went out; can the PA-28 on final do a contact approach; I said no; just send him around; SMO Tower then says the VOR is OTS there is no missed approach what should they do; I said put the PA-28 on a 220 heading climb to 3000 and give him to departures when they take the handoff; SMO says 'roger'. Then I start coordinating with departures; who handle the SMO go arounds when SMO calls back and says the PA-28 has the airport in sight he's going to land. I said 'roger'. Keep in mind SMO is IFR. NOW! I look at my scope and I see a CRJ crossing the finals at 3500; I look at AR-2 traffic and he has a B737 at 2500 and a B747 on downwind descending thru 5400; I tell AR-2 to stop the B747; he does but he uses 4000; I'm telling the CRJ to turn left immediately to 180 heading and now I'm forced to descend the CRJ to 3000 but the B737 is on base about 2 miles from the CRJ at 2500. The B747 and the CRJ are no longer a factor; (I believe there was no loss of separation) now the CRJ and B737 are a factor. I see the Controller descended B737 to 2200 so I climbed the CRJ to 3200. The AR-2 Controller also got the B737 to see the CRJ. The AR-2 Controller said he got visual before we lost separation. I then cleared the CRJ for the ILS 25L; and everyone landed without any further ado. Recommendation; we are not as busy as we used to be; but there are sessions when we are just as busy; it's just that the duration of the session is shorter. A handoff person would have helped; in fact I believe this wouldn't have happened.

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.