B737-700
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
Due to weather we had a higher volume than normal on the midnight shift. The Center started flashing arrivals at us. It is normal to take a handoff expecting the Center to at least de-conflict the traffic from our departures. They should arrive at the corners while the departures go out through the middle boxes. I took two handoffs and the Center immediately shipped them to me direct the airport and descending out of flight levels. I had to turn them to avoid our departures. I thought it was a fluke. No harm no foul. Then they did it several more times with arrivals to other sectors. At this point I was talking to a climbing B737 who was a Departure. I saw that the Center was flashing an arrival at me that would be a conflict for the climbing B737. I called the Center and said 'I can not take a handoff on a descending B737 with him pointed right at my departure'. The Controller took the handoff on the climbing B737 so I shipped him figuring that they would at the least separated their own aircraft. I noticed that the descending B737 and the climbing B737 were still converging. I called the Center and said 'you need to turn the descending B737'. The Controller wanted to argue with me. The Controller would not take action and would not take any responsibility for the situation. The Controller finally turned the aircraft but it was much too close for comfort. You really have to watch the playback and listen to the tapes to get the full picture. The thing that really scares me is that two airplanes where pointed at each other and the Center Controller was unwilling to take action.
TRACON Controller described a developing conflict event when the Center Controller failed to take timely action on two aircraft converging.