Narrative:

Air carrier X was level at FL380 and stated they had lost cabin pressure and need to descend right away under 10;000. The track was already handed off to the next sector and I verbally asked the controller for control stating the situation. I first gave the descent all the way to 10;000 but was then made aware of possible traffic of a KC35 and C17 refueling at fl190bfl220 so I amended the altitude to FL230 to insure separation and gave air carrier X 30 degrees left for the traffic and then a clearance to 10;000 as they stated they needed [to start] down immediately. I gave the pilots time to address their situation and continued working heavy traffic with a flight split up; sequencing to nearby airports; and numerous overflights. I called for the flm who was in the process of leaving to help out as staffing was down to 2 in the area and is when I advised him of the situation and declared an emergency on behalf of the pilot. I then asked the pilots to state their intention and they advised they needed to divert to a nearby airport and all information was passed to the controlling facility via the flm. I gave radar vectors to the pilot and a clearance to the airport and turned out inbound traffic behind air carrier X to allow the airport's approach plenty of space to work the airplane in safely. Throughout the situation I used group form as that is what the pilot was using and to minimize any confusion on who I was addressing. I also used shortened phraseology to other pilots to keep them separated and controlled allowing as much time to address air carrier X. Air carrier X was handed off to approach and we confirmed a downtime with them shortly after. We often are left in the area with only 2 cpcs as we wait for the 2 cpc for the mid shift to arrive. Our area has a heavy traffic push for an hour every night. Fairly often we are left with no controller in charge/flm in the immediate area and when they depart early we are forced to combine up positions to early with heavy traffic. I strongly feel that an area flm needs to be in area until that hour is past as our traffic is too heavy not to have someone to over see the area until it is safe to combine positions. Our flms leave a half hour before it ends and really need not to flex in to stay where they are needed until it is over. Our area does not calm down like the rest as we stay busy.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Enroute Controller described an emergency event when traffic was required to initiate an immediate descent; the reporter suggesting additional staffing be provided during the late evening shift operations.

Narrative: Air Carrier X was level at FL380 and stated they had lost cabin pressure and need to descend right away under 10;000. The track was already handed off to the next sector and I verbally asked the Controller for control stating the situation. I first gave the descent all the way to 10;000 but was then made aware of possible traffic of a KC35 and C17 refueling at FL190BFL220 so I amended the altitude to FL230 to insure separation and gave Air Carrier X 30 degrees left for the traffic and then a clearance to 10;000 as they stated they needed [to start] down immediately. I gave the pilots time to address their situation and continued working heavy traffic with a flight split up; sequencing to nearby airports; and numerous overflights. I called for the FLM who was in the process of leaving to help out as staffing was down to 2 in the area and is when I advised him of the situation and declared an emergency on behalf of the pilot. I then asked the pilots to state their intention and they advised they needed to divert to a nearby airport and all information was passed to the controlling facility via the FLM. I gave RADAR vectors to the pilot and a clearance to the airport and turned out inbound traffic behind Air Carrier X to allow the airport's Approach plenty of space to work the airplane in safely. Throughout the situation I used group form as that is what the pilot was using and to minimize any confusion on who I was addressing. I also used shortened phraseology to other pilots to keep them separated and controlled allowing as much time to address Air Carrier X. Air Carrier X was handed off to Approach and we confirmed a downtime with them shortly after. We often are left in the area with only 2 CPCs as we wait for the 2 CPC for the mid shift to arrive. Our area has a heavy traffic push for an hour every night. Fairly often we are left with no CIC/FLM in the immediate area and when they depart early we are forced to combine up positions to early with heavy traffic. I strongly feel that an area FLM needs to be in area until that hour is past as our traffic is too heavy not to have someone to over see the area until it is safe to combine positions. Our FLMs leave a half hour before it ends and really need not to flex in to stay where they are needed until it is over. Our area does not calm down like the rest as we stay busy.

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.