A controller at ZME reported an aircraft needed emergency descent from FL380. He separated traffic t...

Narrative:

Air carrier X was enroute at FL380. The pilot advised me that they wanted to start down to FL320 for a pressurization problem. I had two aircraft which I had just taken the hand off on climbing to FL340. Air carrier Y was right under air carrier X and aircraft Z just in front of him. I cleared air carrier X to FL350 and issued the air carrier Y traffic right under him. Air carrier X then asked for lower; in the high twenties; [so] I re-cleared him to maintain FL350 and issued the traffic on aircraft Z. At this point I asked if this was an emergency. He said it could be. I then turned aircraft Z to the east to make sure the targets didn't merge and issued air carrier X a heading to maintain. Aircraft Z reported air carrier X in sight and that they were clear. Around this time air carrier X said he needed to keep coming down. I said roger; issued the traffic and told him to maintain FL350 unless this is an emergency. He said it was now an emergency. I told him to maintain FL240 so he wouldn't violate the lower stratum if he needed to continue down. After air carrier X got lower and the situation improved for him I asked him if FL260 would work for him. He requested FL280 for now. I re-cleared him to maintain FL280. This was an emergency situation. Aircraft Z had air carrier X in sight and said that they were clear of him. [The] targets weren't going to merge and I felt this was a dire enough situation that air carrier X needed to descend immediately or else the situation could get far worse. In the future I would probably not issue an altitude to the aircraft to maintain in case he needed to continue down for emergency reasons.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Controller at ZME reported an aircraft needed emergency descent from FL380. He separated traffic to the extent possible to clear the descent path using non standard procedures.

Narrative: Air Carrier X was enroute at FL380. The pilot advised me that they wanted to start down to FL320 for a pressurization problem. I had two aircraft which I had just taken the hand off on climbing to FL340. Air Carrier Y was right under Air Carrier X and Aircraft Z just in front of him. I cleared Air Carrier X to FL350 and issued the Air Carrier Y traffic right under him. Air Carrier X then asked for lower; in the high twenties; [so] I re-cleared him to maintain FL350 and issued the traffic on Aircraft Z. At this point I asked if this was an emergency. He said it could be. I then turned Aircraft Z to the east to make sure the targets didn't merge and issued Air Carrier X a heading to maintain. Aircraft Z reported Air Carrier X in sight and that they were clear. Around this time Air Carrier X said he needed to keep coming down. I said roger; issued the traffic and told him to maintain FL350 unless this is an emergency. He said it was now an emergency. I told him to maintain FL240 so he wouldn't violate the lower stratum if he needed to continue down. After Air Carrier X got lower and the situation improved for him I asked him if FL260 would work for him. He requested FL280 for now. I re-cleared him to maintain FL280. This was an emergency situation. Aircraft Z had Air Carrier X in sight and said that they were clear of him. [The] targets weren't going to merge and I felt this was a dire enough situation that Air Carrier X needed to descend immediately or else the situation could get far worse. In the future I would probably not issue an altitude to the aircraft to maintain in case he needed to continue down for emergency reasons.

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.

Attributes
ACN	928839
Time
Date	201101
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZME.ARTCC
State Reference	TN
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Beechjet 400
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A controller at ZME reported an aircraft needed emergency descent from FL380. He separated traffic to the extent possible to clear the descent path using non standard procedures.