OPDEV WHEN ACFT X ENTERED TERMINAL AIRSPACE WITHOUT COORD HDOF.
Synopsis
OPDEV WHEN ACFT X ENTERED TERMINAL AIRSPACE WITHOUT COORD HDOF.
Narrative
I WAS WORKING THE BFD RADAR SECTOR AT APPROX XX00 ON AUG/WED/95. ACFT X CALLED FROM BRADFORD ARPT REQUESTING CLRNC; AND WAS GIVEN A CLRNC. I INADVERTENTLY DID NOT DEPART THE FLT PLAN ON THE D-SIDE COMPUTER. ACFT X DEPARTED OFF BRADFORD ARPT AND CALLED ME ON 124.32. A PRIMARY TARGET BUT NO BEACON CODE WAS OBSERVED; AND WAS GIVEN HIS CODE TO SQUAWK AGAIN. I CANNOT RECALL OBSERVING HIS CODE. BECAUSE THE FLT PLAN WAS NOT DEPARTED; THE DATA BLOCK ON ACFT X DID NOT AUTO ACQUIRE. SEVERAL MINS LATER I WAS RELIEVED OF THE POS. I BELIEVE I TOLD THE RELIEVING CTLR TO START TRACK ON ACFT X. HE MAY HAVE TRIED TO START TRACK BUT; BECAUSE THE FLT PLAN WASN'T DEPARTED; NO DATA BLOCK EVER WAS STARTED. BECAUSE OF DISTR AND/OR OVERSIGHT ON MY PART AND POSSIBLY THE RELIEVING CTLR; ACFT X FLEW TO HIS DEST NEAR ACO WITHOUT A RADAR HDOF TO YNG APCH. THE PLT SUBSEQUENTLY CALLED ON 124.32 AND ASKED FOR LOWER. THE CTLR THEN INITIATED A POINT OUT TO YNG APCH WHICH WAS APPROVED. SHORTLY THEREAFTER; ACFT X CANCELED AND WENT VFR THE LAST 10 MI OR SO TO HIS DEST. THIS AND OTHER INCIDENTS SIMILAR TO THIS COULD BE PREVENTED IF OUR COMPUTER WAS PROGRAMMED TO SCAN FOR BEACON CODES ASSIGNED BY THE COMPUTER TO ACFT DEPARTING SMALL ARPTS WITHIN OUR AIRSPACE. THE COMPUTER SHOULD BE PROGRAMMED TO AUTOMATICALLY DEPART THESE FLT PLANS WHEN IT PICKS UP THE XPONDER CODES. THIS WOULD PREVENT A FLT PLAN FROM INADVERTENTLY NOT BEING DEPARTED.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.