Narrative:

Fighter X was an altrv (altitude reservation) coming through fl240b260. When I came into the sector he was in the middle of the sector and I asked the controller I was relieving if he was planning on holding or continuing down his flight plan while waiting for tanker Z to come (there was not any flight plan info in the computer at the time for tanker Z.) I had called our neighboring ARTCC to tell them that fighter X was just a flight of 4/F15 and did not have the tanker Z with him as indicated in the altrv paperwork. The paperwork stated that tanker Z would meet up with fighter X at the VOR or after. Once our neighboring ARTCC had the hand off; fighter X asked if I was in communication with tanker Z; I was not but told them that I would look into seeing where they were (I had noticed that when I looked up the flight plan in uret now; there was something in so he had departed.) after communicating with our neighboring ARTCC; we were trying to get fighter X to continue to meet up with tanker Z who had just departed. Fighter X decided that they were going to hold over the VOR once they had already passed it; since I had previously coordinated with both neighboring sectors that fighter X was possibly going to hold; I issued the delay at the VOR and gave an efc (expect further clearance) time. At that point fighter X told me that tanker Z was expected at the VOR at XA07. After fighter X had done about 2 turns in the hold; I observed a 7700 code at about the same time fighter X advised they had a couple situations going on and they were in communications with tanker Z. Fighter X stated that they were going to have to break into 2 separate flights and a 'new' fighter Y was going to have to go to the next VOR. I had a hard time understanding exactly where it was the 2 breaking off wanted to go at first. While all this was going on; a d-side came and sat with me and got control from both our neighboring ARTCC sectors since the flight was actually in our neighboring ARTCC airspace at this time. While breaking up the flight of 4 to two separate flights of 2; I was attempting to get reports from the leader that they were separated before I issued the clearance to fighter Y. I had the controller next to me telling me that since it was an emergency I did not need to get that report. After the d-side called our neighboring ARTCC and told them what was going on and got control; I cleared fighter Y to next VOR direct and was waiting for the d-side to get me a code so I could radar identify the new flight and also to get the flight plan in so we could 'flash' it to our neighboring ARTCC since at this time they were 40 miles in their airspace. D-side was having a hard time getting the flight plan in so I got a code for fighter Y and told him to squawk it. I was still observing him squawking 7700 once he broke away from the fighter X; and he continued to do so well into our neighboring ARTCC after I shipped him. During all the commotion; I forgot to officially radar identify the new flight of 2 fighter Y. Since flight plan still was not in; I called the our neighboring ARTCC sector and passed all the information and asked if I could just ship the fighter Y to them and have them put the flight plan in since it would be easier for them to do since in their airspace; the concurred with me and I shipped him. Fighter X and fighter Y never officially declared an emergency; but I assumed since he was squawking 7700 and told me they had a hydraulic malfunction; I treated them like an emergency. I also did not terminate marsa (military assumes responsibility for separation of aircraft) between the fighter X and fighter Y but I do not know if they had marsa since they were just operating as a formation flight. At about the same time I was shipping fighter Y to our neighboring ARTCC; tanker Z was approaching my airspace. Fighter X and tanker Z were planning on joining up and continuing on the altrv route. My d-side called our neighboring ARTCC and got control for both tanker Z and fighter X to join them up. Tanker Z and fighter X both said that they had marsa with each other and the tanker Z asked for a heading for the 'meet up.' tanker Z then asked for a 060 heading then flight plan route after the join up. I cleared them on a 060 when able direct to the next fix on the flight plan. I never used the altrv name when clearing them. I did call our neighboring ARTCC and reiterate that the new altrv that I was joining up was just 1 tanker and 2 fighters instead of 4 like the paperwork said. Since our neighboring ARTCC had already had the hand off on fighter X before all this happened; we had trouble getting the both of them to hand off. My d-side informed me that our neighboring ARTCC took radar contact on a manual hand off. Since I had requested the tanker Z to advise when they were proceeding on course I waited to ship communications to our neighboring ARTCC. I observed tanker Z turning to what appeared to be on course; so after not hearing from them; I asked them if they were indeed on course. They were so I switched communications to our neighboring ARTCC. Recommendation; as the event unfolded under my control; a fellow controller provided much distraction while telling me what to do. I feel as if he/she would have kept to their own sector I would not have forgotten some steps in breaking that flight up. Since they were telling me to hurry up and clear them since that emergency aircraft was 'going to crash.' I felt as though since I was a junior controller that person felt the need to tell me what and how to do things even though I have broken many formation flights up correctly. Also escalating the emergency by telling me he was going to crash even though it was not that imminent of a situation as the other controller was making it out to be. Here I was trying to work and take care of these issues and that person was constantly yelling things at me while they should have been concentrating on their own traffic. I know he/she was just trying to help; but actually made me worse off.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Controller described a confused military flight break up event involving several fighter aircraft and a tanker; the confusion escalating when one fighter experienced an emergency condition.

Narrative: Fighter X was an ALTRV (Altitude Reservation) coming through FL240B260. When I came into the sector he was in the middle of the sector and I asked the Controller I was relieving if he was planning on holding or continuing down his flight plan while waiting for Tanker Z to come (there was not any flight plan info in the computer at the time for Tanker Z.) I had called our neighboring ARTCC to tell them that Fighter X was just a flight of 4/F15 and did NOT have the Tanker Z with him as indicated in the ALTRV paperwork. The paperwork stated that Tanker Z would meet up with Fighter X at the VOR or after. Once our neighboring ARTCC had the hand off; Fighter X asked if I was in communication with Tanker Z; I was not but told them that I would look into seeing where they were (I had noticed that when I looked up the flight plan in URET now; there was something in so he had departed.) After communicating with our neighboring ARTCC; we were trying to get Fighter X to continue to meet up with Tanker Z who had just departed. Fighter X decided that they were going to hold over the VOR once they had already passed it; since I had previously coordinated with both neighboring sectors that Fighter X was possibly going to hold; I issued the delay at the VOR and gave an EFC (expect further clearance) time. At that point Fighter X told me that Tanker Z was expected at the VOR at XA07. After Fighter X had done about 2 turns in the hold; I observed a 7700 code at about the same time Fighter X advised they had a couple situations going on and they were in communications with Tanker Z. Fighter X stated that they were going to have to break into 2 separate flights and a 'new' Fighter Y was going to have to go to the next VOR. I had a hard time understanding exactly where it was the 2 breaking off wanted to go at first. While all this was going on; a D-side came and sat with me and got control from both our neighboring ARTCC sectors since the flight was actually in our neighboring ARTCC airspace at this time. While breaking up the flight of 4 to two separate flights of 2; I was attempting to get reports from the leader that they were separated before I issued the clearance to Fighter Y. I had the Controller next to me telling me that since it was an emergency I did not need to get that report. After the D-side called our neighboring ARTCC and told them what was going on and got control; I cleared Fighter Y to next VOR direct and was waiting for the D-side to get me a code so I could RADAR identify the new flight and also to get the Flight Plan in so we could 'flash' it to our neighboring ARTCC since at this time they were 40 miles in their airspace. D-side was having a hard time getting the flight plan in so I got a code for Fighter Y and told him to squawk it. I was still observing him squawking 7700 once he broke away from the Fighter X; and he continued to do so well into our neighboring ARTCC after I shipped him. During all the commotion; I forgot to officially RADAR identify the new flight of 2 Fighter Y. Since Flight Plan still was not in; I called the our neighboring ARTCC sector and passed all the information and asked if I could just ship the Fighter Y to them and have them put the Flight Plan in since it would be easier for them to do since in their airspace; the concurred with me and I shipped him. Fighter X and Fighter Y never officially declared an emergency; but I assumed since he was squawking 7700 and told me they had a hydraulic malfunction; I treated them like an emergency. I also did not terminate MARSA (Military Assumes Responsibility for Separation of Aircraft) between the Fighter X and Fighter Y but I do not know if they had MARSA since they were just operating as a formation flight. At about the same time I was shipping Fighter Y to our neighboring ARTCC; Tanker Z was approaching my airspace. Fighter X and Tanker Z were planning on joining up and continuing on the ALTRV route. My D-side called our neighboring ARTCC and got control for both Tanker Z and Fighter X to join them up. Tanker Z and Fighter X both said that they had MARSA with each other and the Tanker Z asked for a heading for the 'meet up.' Tanker Z then asked for a 060 heading then Flight Plan route after the join up. I cleared them on a 060 when able direct to the next fix on the flight plan. I never used the ALTRV name when clearing them. I did call our neighboring ARTCC and reiterate that the new ALTRV that I was joining up was just 1 Tanker and 2 Fighters instead of 4 like the paperwork said. Since our neighboring ARTCC had already had the hand off on Fighter X before all this happened; we had trouble getting the both of them to hand off. My D-side informed me that our neighboring ARTCC took RADAR contact on a manual hand off. Since I had requested the Tanker Z to advise when they were proceeding on course I waited to ship communications to our neighboring ARTCC. I observed Tanker Z turning to what appeared to be on course; so after not hearing from them; I asked them if they were indeed on course. They were so I switched communications to our neighboring ARTCC. Recommendation; as the event unfolded under my control; a fellow controller provided much distraction while telling me what to do. I feel as if he/she would have kept to their own sector I would not have forgotten some steps in breaking that flight up. Since they were telling me to hurry up and clear them since that emergency aircraft was 'going to crash.' I felt as though since I was a junior controller that person felt the need to tell me what and how to do things even though I have broken many formation flights up correctly. Also escalating the emergency by telling me he was going to crash even though it was not that imminent of a situation as the other Controller was making it out to be. Here I was trying to work and take care of these issues and that person was constantly yelling things at me while they should have been concentrating on their own traffic. I know he/she was just trying to help; but actually made me worse off.

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.