Narrative:

An MD80 checked in with me off ZZZ on a RNAV departure southbound; climbing to 10000'. I climbed him to 17000'. Approximately 2 minutes later an E145; checked in with me on the same RNAV departure climbing to 10000'. I climbed him to 17000' and instructed him not to exceed 250 knots until advised for in-trail spacing. Approximately 8 south of the airport; the MD80 keyed up and said; 'I'm declaring an emergency.' I asked the MD80 the nature of the emergency and instructed him to turn to a heading of 270 degrees. The MD80 said that he had lost his left engine and needed to return to the airport. I stopped his climb at 8000' so as not to conflict with arrival traffic and turned him further northbound; towards the airport; to a heading of 330 degrees. The MD80 did not continue his climb to 8000' but stopped it at approximately 7600'. My intention was not actually have the MD80 continue his climb to 8000'; but rather just have him stop climbing at an altitude below the arrival traffic because I had previously given him a climb to 17000'. As he was on the 330 degree heading the MD80 may have conflicted with the E145 as he was passing him southbound on the RNAV. I did have a j-ring on the E145 for five miles as that is the minimum separation required between two aircraft on the same route. I am not sure that the two aircraft actually did get closer than 3 NM horizontally just that the MD80 was within the 5 mile j-ring I had on the E145. Recommendation; the only thing that I could suggest is that there should have been a flm (front line manager) present on the departure side of the TRACON as there normally is. It was later at night and the traffic may not have warranted it and I am unsure of the flm's staffing but I did have to yell about 3 or 4 times before tmu (traffic management unit) heard and summoned the flm to my scope.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TRACON controller described a possible loss of separation when a departure MD80 initiated an emergency return to the departure airport; possibly losing separation with an in trail E145.

Narrative: An MD80 checked in with me off ZZZ on a RNAV departure southbound; climbing to 10000'. I climbed him to 17000'. Approximately 2 minutes later an E145; checked in with me on the same RNAV departure climbing to 10000'. I climbed him to 17000' and instructed him not to exceed 250 knots until advised for in-trail spacing. Approximately 8 south of the airport; the MD80 keyed up and said; 'I'm declaring an emergency.' I asked the MD80 the nature of the emergency and instructed him to turn to a heading of 270 degrees. The MD80 said that he had lost his left engine and needed to return to the airport. I stopped his climb at 8000' so as not to conflict with arrival traffic and turned him further northbound; towards the airport; to a heading of 330 degrees. The MD80 did not continue his climb to 8000' but stopped it at approximately 7600'. My intention was not actually have the MD80 continue his climb to 8000'; but rather just have him stop climbing at an altitude below the arrival traffic because I had previously given him a climb to 17000'. As he was on the 330 degree heading the MD80 may have conflicted with the E145 as he was passing him southbound on the RNAV. I did have a J-ring on the E145 for five miles as that is the minimum separation required between two aircraft on the same route. I am not sure that the two aircraft actually did get closer than 3 NM horizontally just that the MD80 was within the 5 mile J-ring I had on the E145. Recommendation; the only thing that I could suggest is that there should have been a FLM (Front Line Manager) present on the departure side of the TRACON as there normally is. It was later at night and the traffic may not have warranted it and I am unsure of the FLM's staffing but I did have to yell about 3 or 4 times before TMU (Traffic Management Unit) heard and summoned the FLM to my scope.

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.