Narrative:

I was working departure east and received a hand off from departure west (Y sector) on an aircraft X inbound to rnt. He was looking for the GPS approach; and then the controller released aircraft Y off of rnt northbound. I was asked if I could take another one and responded 'yes' thinking that the controller meant off of bfi (rnt is not in the subject airspace and the controller should not be answering the rnt line). So I cleared aircraft X for the rnt GPS RNAV Y approach; and shortly after he had started his descent on the approach; aircraft Y tagged up. I radar identified the aircraft and thought that I would only make it worse if I canceled the approach clearance to aircraft X; and climbed him; so I told aircraft Y to expedite his climb and turned him in the diverse vectoring area to keep him along the 2;700 ft MVA so that I could keep them apart. I believe I was able to keep separation between the two; but it was close. I also talked the controller who was on hy at the time about it; they said that they think rnt took more than their 4 minutes of allotted time to release the aircraft. The flm here tells someone to go and work hand off for a sector; but then expects them to do it for both departures. This is unfair; you can't expect someone to monitor 2 frequencies and keep it all straight. Also people should not be releasing aircraft in someone else's airspace. Let the line ring; or answer and tell them you have them call you back.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: S46 Controller described a near loss of separation event when release coordination with an adjacent sector was incomplete and confused.

Narrative: I was working Departure East and received a hand off from Departure West (Y sector) on an Aircraft X inbound to RNT. He was looking for the GPS approach; and then the Controller released Aircraft Y off of RNT northbound. I was asked if I could take another one and responded 'yes' thinking that the Controller meant off of BFI (RNT is not in the subject airspace and the Controller should not be answering the RNT line). So I cleared Aircraft X for the RNT GPS RNAV Y approach; and shortly after he had started his descent on the approach; Aircraft Y tagged up. I RADAR identified the aircraft and thought that I would only make it worse if I canceled the approach clearance to Aircraft X; and climbed him; so I told Aircraft Y to expedite his climb and turned him in the diverse vectoring area to keep him along the 2;700 FT MVA so that I could keep them apart. I believe I was able to keep separation between the two; but it was close. I also talked the Controller who was on HY at the time about it; they said that they think RNT took more than their 4 minutes of allotted time to release the aircraft. The FLM here tells someone to go and work hand off for a sector; but then expects them to do it for both departures. This is unfair; you can't expect someone to monitor 2 frequencies and keep it all straight. Also people should not be releasing aircraft in someone else's airspace. Let the line ring; or answer and tell them you have them call you back.

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.