Narrative:

I was working departure. A B737 departed on a 030 heading. I immediately climbed him to 150 anticipating him passing behind the arrival traffic a CL65. I first turned him to a 070 heading to pass behind the CL65; then further assessed the situation and put him direct to the VOR which still had him passing behind the traffic. Due to the wind; the B737 turned faster than I had expected; and also the CL65 slowed faster on the arrival than I expected. Once the B737 was established direct the VOR; I saw that he would pass behind the CL65; although the distance was 6.5 miles decreasing between the two. I continued to watch the separation decreasing. At 4.6 miles separation; I pointed out the traffic to the B737. He saw the traffic; I advised to maintain visual separation; and he responded 'will do' without using his callsign. I let the arrival controller know that the B737 had visual on the CL65; which alerted the supervisor in the room. The B737 passed behind the CL65 with divergence and 2.9 miles; 100 ft. I believe I had divergence the whole time. I would like to make it known that after this occurred I was left on position for approximately 45 minutes while the supervisor investigated what she believed to be a possible incident. During her investigation; while I was on position; I had to continue to work traffic while hearing her in the background discussing the events. I found myself distracted during this; especially when I overheard her saying something about how the call sign wasn't properly used (by the pilot during the read back) when applying visual. This left me believing that I hadn't used the call sign properly although I had. I realize I should have been paying full attention to my 'scope' but found this hard to do seeing that it was apparent that I was being investigated for a possible error that I hadn't believe; and still don't believe occurred. Recommendation; when applying visual separation rules; don't make it necessary for the pilot to read back his call sign with saying he will comply; when it is clearly obvious that it is the correct pilot responding.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TRACON Controller experienced a significant distraction when a supervisor was discussing his involvement in a possible operational error that had just occurred while within earshot of the conversation.

Narrative: I was working departure. A B737 departed on a 030 heading. I immediately climbed him to 150 anticipating him passing behind the arrival traffic a CL65. I first turned him to a 070 heading to pass behind the CL65; then further assessed the situation and put him direct to the VOR which still had him passing behind the traffic. Due to the wind; the B737 turned faster than I had expected; and also the CL65 slowed faster on the arrival than I expected. Once the B737 was established direct the VOR; I saw that he would pass behind the CL65; although the distance was 6.5 miles decreasing between the two. I continued to watch the separation decreasing. At 4.6 miles separation; I pointed out the traffic to the B737. He saw the traffic; I advised to maintain visual separation; and he responded 'will do' without using his callsign. I let the arrival controller know that the B737 had visual on the CL65; which alerted the supervisor in the room. The B737 passed behind the CL65 with divergence and 2.9 miles; 100 FT. I believe I had divergence the whole time. I would like to make it known that after this occurred I was left on position for approximately 45 minutes while the supervisor investigated what she believed to be a possible incident. During her investigation; while I was on position; I had to continue to work traffic while hearing her in the background discussing the events. I found myself distracted during this; especially when I overheard her saying something about how the call sign wasn't properly used (by the pilot during the read back) when applying visual. This left me believing that I hadn't used the call sign properly although I had. I realize I should have been paying full attention to my 'scope' but found this hard to do seeing that it was apparent that I was being investigated for a possible error that I hadn't believe; and still don't believe occurred. Recommendation; when applying visual separation rules; don't make it necessary for the pilot to read back his call sign with saying he will comply; when it is clearly obvious that it is the correct pilot responding.

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.