Enroute Controller described a very busy/complex traffic period during the transition from DARC to HOST that resulted in an unexpected data block jump/swap that confused all involved.
Synopsis
Enroute Controller described a very busy/complex traffic period during the transition from DARC to HOST that resulted in an unexpected data block jump/swap that confused all involved.
Narrative
I was working the D-Side immediately after a session on the R-Side where we came out of DARC. An A319 entered Sector X's airspace at FL370 around the time where we were transitioning back to HOST from DARC. We don't believe a flight plan was entered into the computer by that sector; but had found a hand written sheet with its flight information. When the A319 was within the eastern 15 miles of our sector; the Data Block of a second Air Carrier acquired on its track and the neighboring ARTCC immediately took the hand off. We saw the swap take place; as the data block jumped approximately 70 miles. After asking the second Air Carrier to IDENT; we confirmed the flight was just east of the VOR. I went through our strips and did not find a strip on the A319; so I called the originating ARTCC and asked them to look up the code; they still had it in their system; and they passed flight information. We believe that the A319 was never on our frequency. I was able to reach the A319 on guard and confirmed with an IDENT that the flight was in fact the same code that the other Air Carrier had tracked-up on. Recommendation; I believe that the fatigue of the midnight shift and complications with the transition from DARC to HOST contributed to this situation. I am not sure what caused the data blocks to swap or acquire at such a far distance; I have never seen anything like that.
Second reporter narrative
This event took place on the midnight shift when our area was combined up at one RADAR scope. Sometime after midnight; our facility went to DARC-only mode because ERAM testing was taking place. Shortly after coming back from my break I was on the D-Side position for Sector X. Both the R-Side and I were taking flight plans; passing flight plans and taking/receiving manual hand offs with the adjacent ARTCCs. We were expecting to be transitioning back to HOST mode soon. I overheard the ERAM cohorts in the area mentioning that we would be. A prompt transition back to HOST at this time would have been ideal because our area's busy time was later and currently there were probably 10 airplanes that we were working. Soon no one was in the area besides the R-Side and me and we no longer received 'flush strips.' We were now exchanging flight plans and hand offs and felt like there was not enough time due to the volume of the traffic. We wrote many flight plans on standard strips. However; I was also writing flight plans on photocopied pieces of paper that had several blank templates of flight strips on them. These pieces of paper were at the sector console when I had originally arrived. These at the time seemed more time efficient to use (easier to write on) because Centers were giving flight plans 4 at a time and I was expecting us to transition to HOST at any minute. I was even telling other facilities that we were transitioning at any minute because I was holding them off from passing more flight plans that they had. This also gave me more opportunity to pick up the other 'Shout Lines' that the other controllers were calling on to pass flight plans on aircraft that were near our boundary. However; we did not begin to transition for quite awhile longer. Later on; our URET began to populate with flight plans. We were accepting hand offs and flight plans after reviewing what was stored in the URET because otherwise we felt there was not enough time to take/receive hand offs and point outs without someone violating another's airspace. Not all flight plans were sent to HOST however from what was seen on the URET. Some had dropped out of the system because we had not highlighted them or used the 'Keep' function. We were almost completely transitioned back to HOST. There were three aircraft; however; that we could not find flight plans on that were in the middle of our sector. We suspect that either the R-Side and/or I accepted hand offs from the neighboring Center by going off information on URET without using the 'keep' function. Subsequently; the flight plan information dropped out of the system. We had to ask the three aircraft for their appropriate flight plan information.An A319 was an aircraft that transitioned through our airspace. I received this flight plan from the neighboring Center. I wrote it on one of the photocopied strip templates. I noticed that there was a beacon code in another sector without a track target. I later found out from the air traffic controllers working that sector that there had been a data block swap with an aircraft that was in an adjacent Center's airspace. They also did not have any flight plan information on this aircraft because we had not taken a strip over to them when we made the automated hand off. When the data block swap occurred; from my understanding they no longer knew who the beacon code (Mode C intruder) was for sure and also did not have any flight plan information on them when I positively identified the aircraft. The main contributing factor to the above events was workload. Both the R-Side and I could not keep up with giving and receiving flight plans/hand offs during DARC operations. A secondary contributing factor was our lack of proficiency in DARC controlling. I would say it was not understanding the software system; but rather being proficient at using strips in a team environment. Recommendations: 1. Transition back to HOST from DARC at a time when traffic volume is low: Once we completed the transition to HOST; the 'number board' showed that our sector was 'red' and had a volume of 23 aircraft. We were busier during the actual transition but we had not looked to see what the volume was at the time because we were preoccupied with passing information Inter-facility. 2. Encourage other facilities to help reduce workload; many controllers were calling with flight plans that consisted for 10 plus fixes on the routes of the aircraft. If they would clear the aircraft to the last fix it would save time both in receiving the flight plan and entering the flight plan into HOST during the transition. 3. Provide sufficient staffing a tracker could have been very helpful because most of the workload consisted of flight plans and not on traffic conflictions.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.