No Aircraft
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure; Human Factors
Sector 16 had lost its radios on the mid-shift due to a lightning strike; meaning that 6 and 16 had to remain combined up in order to use 6's frequencies. This presents no problem when traffic is light and controllers can change transmitters based on where the aircraft are in the sector. However; when traffic volume increases; frequency congestion becomes a problem. Add in some weather deviations and the situation becomes unsafe. The situation I was involved in was due to a culmination of all the above factors. When I sat down at the sector it was busy. The relief briefing took about 10 minutes due to the amount of transmissions the R-Side was giving. I took control of the sector and proceed to work the traffic. It was busy; but traffic was flowing. Meanwhile; the URET list began to increase which was no problem as long as nothing out of the ordinary happened. I had two Vegas arrivals coming in over CLARR about 10 in trail. There was a small weather cell so I informed both pilots that they could expect to deviate to the left. My D-Side called Granite Sector at Vegas to APREC this routing and they denied arrivals as requested; and said take them in over FUZZY or CADDY. I then issued them 320 heading to sequence them over FUZZY with another arrival coming in from BTY. Meanwhile; numerous airplanes are checking on; stepping on me while I try to last-minute sequence three arrivals. Then 17 and 38 hand me a stack of Vegas arrivals who; on initial check-in; both ask for deviations. Also; there was a stream of fighters coming from Sector 10; all aimed at a large cell. Each one of them was also asking for a change in altitude or deviations; continually stepping on me and all the other pilots. Meanwhile; the Supervisor was out of the area; which he had been most of the day. When he was in the area; he was giving skill checks to trainees. I am no expert on when skill checks need done; but it was the beginning of the month; not the last day. I was disappointed in this situation for three reasons: I was unable to provide quality service to our customers (airplanes); there was little help from surrounding sectors including Vegas; and a supervisor who is paid to lead was not leading also; the unsafe situation the pilots where in because I could not grant them their deviation requests in sufficient time. I left the sector feeling angry and embarrassed: the flying public deserves better service than what I gave them. I did the best I could; but I was angry that I was in the situation to begin with. There was a CIC. There were other things going on in the area. He should not have been in this situation either. He did the best he could. My recommendation would be simple: the Supervisor should lead; and the easiest way to lead is by being in the area watch what is going on. When I came in the morning and saw that the sectors were combined; I thought that the people in charge would take action to ease the workload of the sector. Senior controllers around me said 'Yeah right.' They were correct and I was left disappointed that we were not helped out more. In this situation; things would have been much manageable if several things had happened. It begins with an active supervisor watching the traffic and being proactive. I saw no reason why Vegas would not take the two arrivals over CLARR deviating. When I was forced to sequence them with the other FUZZY arrival; it created many; many more transmissions that I did not have time to make. Second; the fighter coming from 10 should have been rerouted over IGM. We could have taken point-outs on them and kept them out of the weather and off the frequencies. Third; 17 and 38 could have been courteous and not handed us a stack of arrivals heading right for weather. When uncommon situations occur; such as combined sectors with one frequency on a busy day; leaders should lead. Being pro active would have provided a safer and more efficient use of the airspace. It would also have been courteous of our fellowcontrollers to understand our circumstance and help us out.
ZLA Controller described an unsafe situation listing the lack of active supervision at the sector as a primary factor.