Narrative:

I was working the richmond departure sector. San francisco was departing runway 28 shorelines. A B777 was a straight out departure off runway 28. He checked on and I climbed him to 10000. I was aware of a PA31 who was over the golden gate bridge and was about 15 miles away at 6500 feet. My assumption was that the PA31 would transition southbound along the coastline at 6500 feet; so my plan was to turn the B777 up the coast and then inland away from the PA31. It looked like the PA31 was heading southbound at the time that I turned the B777 to heading 010. Unknown to me; the sutro controller who was working the PA31 had put him on heading 140 to get inside of the B777 because he/she assumed that I was going to go up the coastline and go behind his/her traffic. We didn't communicate as well as we could have because he/she was on the land line coordinating with oakland center on a totally unrelated matter that occupied part of the controller's attention. I noticed that the two aircraft were getting closer; 5 miles apart; and I coordinated a turn heading 040. The other controller immediately turned the PA31 to the right heading 200. Apparently; she was still on the land line coordinating; and did not hear that PA31 did not get the instruction. I saw them coming together and I turned the B777 further right heading 060. The conflict alert went off; and B777's TCAS must have kept him from climbing; because he leveled off at 6000 for 10 seconds. Richmond and sutro are two departure sectors at nct that share airspace in that one or the other's aircraft's are always departing in the others airspace. It is a complex configuration that requires constant coordination between the two sectors. I should've communicated my plans better with the sutro controller and not made assumptions about what she was going to do with her traffic. Also; I should have stopped my traffic below the conflicting aircraft until I had a clear picture of what was happening.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: NCT controller described a conflict that occurred in shared SFO departure airspace between an IFR SFO air carrier departure and a VFR transitioning aircraft; failed coordination and assumptions were listed as contributory.

Narrative: I was working the Richmond Departure Sector. San Francisco was departing Runway 28 Shorelines. A B777 was a straight out departure off Runway 28. He checked on and I climbed him to 10000. I was aware of a PA31 who was over the Golden Gate Bridge and was about 15 miles away at 6500 feet. My assumption was that the PA31 would transition southbound along the coastline at 6500 feet; so my plan was to turn the B777 up the coast and then inland away from the PA31. It looked like the PA31 was heading southbound at the time that I turned the B777 to heading 010. Unknown to me; the Sutro Controller who was working the PA31 had put him on heading 140 to get inside of the B777 because he/she assumed that I was going to go up the coastline and go behind his/her traffic. We didn't communicate as well as we could have because he/she was on the land line coordinating with Oakland Center on a totally unrelated matter that occupied part of the Controller's attention. I noticed that the two aircraft were getting closer; 5 miles apart; and I coordinated a turn heading 040. The other Controller immediately turned the PA31 to the right heading 200. Apparently; she was still on the land line coordinating; and did not hear that PA31 did not get the instruction. I saw them coming together and I turned the B777 further right heading 060. The conflict alert went off; and B777's TCAS must have kept him from climbing; because he leveled off at 6000 for 10 seconds. Richmond and Sutro are two departure sectors at NCT that share airspace in that one or the other's aircraft's are always departing in the others airspace. It is a complex configuration that requires constant coordination between the two sectors. I should've communicated my plans better with the Sutro Controller and not made assumptions about what she was going to do with her traffic. Also; I should have stopped my traffic below the conflicting aircraft until I had a clear picture of what was happening.

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.