ZAB controller described a conflict event between two IFR aircraft at altitude when attention was di...

Narrative:

There was a flg departure and a jet that I was trying to make room for in the maier arrivals. Things were not working out as planned; so I started to vector additional aircraft. I had a sdl landing aircraft cutting across my arrival stream that I had started down to 19;000 ft. He was issued; '30 degrees left'; for traffic and the vector did not work as I intended either. When I vectored aircraft X off the arrival; I forgot to assign him an altitude to maintain. Just about then; I had aircraft Y depart prc airport; as his data block auto acquired; he started flashing with the aircraft surrounding prc airport. There were about 5 other aircraft that I was not working. I told him about the multiple targets in his vicinity but did not suppress the C/a's. I could hardly see what I was doing due to the amount of flashing; I ended up highlighting aircraft to see what was going on. At that time aircraft X asked what altitude to maintain; I assigned 23;000 ft. He started to flash with aircraft Z who was out of 22;000 ft. Aircraft Z was then given an additional left turn for the traffic to go further behind aircraft X. At the time the flashing caused by aircraft Y's departure; took most of my attention and covered up the rest of my traffic; he was flashing with an aircraft that prc tower was working. Maybe something could be done so that I know what the tower has issued as far as traffic goes.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZAB Controller described a conflict event between two IFR aircraft at altitude when attention was distracted to an IFR departure in apparent conflict with PRC traffic.

Narrative: There was a FLG departure and a jet that I was trying to make room for in the MAIER arrivals. Things were not working out as planned; so I started to vector additional aircraft. I had a SDL landing aircraft cutting across my arrival stream that I had started down to 19;000 FT. He was issued; '30 degrees left'; for traffic and the vector did not work as I intended either. When I vectored Aircraft X off the arrival; I forgot to assign him an altitude to maintain. Just about then; I had Aircraft Y depart PRC airport; as his Data Block auto acquired; he started flashing with the aircraft surrounding PRC airport. There were about 5 other aircraft that I was not working. I told him about the multiple targets in his vicinity but did not suppress the C/A's. I could hardly see what I was doing due to the amount of flashing; I ended up highlighting aircraft to see what was going on. At that time Aircraft X asked what altitude to maintain; I assigned 23;000 FT. He started to flash with Aircraft Z who was out of 22;000 FT. Aircraft Z was then given an additional left turn for the traffic to go further behind Aircraft X. At the time the flashing caused by Aircraft Y's departure; took most of my attention and covered up the rest of my traffic; he was flashing with an aircraft that PRC Tower was working. Maybe something could be done so that I know what the tower has issued as far as traffic goes.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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	997341
Time
Date	201203
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZAB.ARTCC
State Reference	NM
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict

ZAB controller described a conflict event between two IFR aircraft at altitude when attention was distracted to an IFR departure in apparent conflict with prc traffic.