Large Transport
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 3.1
Situational Awareness; Confusion; Communication Breakdown; Workload
Airspace Violation All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Human Factors; Procedure; Weather
Due to weather; traffic was going around at ATL. I was working TAR D and had sent Aircraft X to TUNDR to hold at 070. This puts the aircraft in SAT F airspace. I called SAT F to point out the aircraft. SAT F responded with; 'Traffic observed.' In the heat of the moment I didn't catch the fact that he didn't say point out approved. Aircraft X traveled approximately 3 miles and a small prop aircraft was made yellow on my scope. This aircraft was west bound at 070 feet. I turned Aircraft X to a 030 heading to go behind the aircraft but separation was lost. The SAT F controller was less than a mile and a half from my boundary and I was more than a mile and a half from the boundary in my airspace. Because of poor phraseology or a miss use of terms the incident occurred. Had the SAT F controller informed my of the traffic at the time of the point out I would have turned Aircraft X to the southwest and remained with in my airspace. I believe the incident occurred because of a miss use of terms; and the fact that we keep too many aircraft in our airspace during thunderstorm conditions. At A80 it seems that we always fill the airspace when thunderstorms are going to affect the airport. When the weather does close down the airport we have a situation where we have 15-20 aircraft that have to come off the finals and be held. This creates unsafe situations on a daily basis.
A80 Controller describes a conflict in which he gives a sector a point out. The other Sector Controller says traffic observed. A conflict happens later between the aircraft he was trying to point out and an opposite direction aircraft displayed in yellow on his scope.