Narrative:

I came in to relieve the r-side; he had no d-side at the time. However; the r-side was too busy to give a relief briefing. I asked if he could use the help of a d-side and he said yes. I stepped in on the d-side to help out; but was never given a real briefing. At the time a B-52 was breaking off from his flight with his partner who was refueling. The B-52 was requesting the local MOA. The airspace was scheduled to be active on the hour. The r-side asked me to coordinate the use of the airspace and make the airspace active right then; and also request the MOA to be active on the hour since it wasn't scheduled until then. I called the surrounding sectors and got the airspace; at the same time I was trying to update the B-52's flight plan so that he was routed into the airspace and so that he had a delay in the flight plan. Around 10 past the hour an adjacent sector called to ask if subject area was active. I replied that it was; and at that moment realized that during the confusion I neglected to coordinate the use of the airspace with them. I would dare say that most; if not all controllers; have done like I did and just stepped in on the d-side to help out without receiving a proper briefing. I also know that I will no longer do that; and I will be sure to receive a proper briefing before doing any coordination or any other control function.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Enroute Controller described an airspace infraction event alleging a hurried attempt to help a R-Side Controller by assisting at the D-Side without a proper briefing caused the event.

Narrative: I came in to relieve the R-Side; he had no D-Side at the time. However; the R-Side was too busy to give a relief briefing. I asked if he could use the help of a D-Side and he said yes. I stepped in on the D-Side to help out; but was never given a real briefing. At the time a B-52 was breaking off from his flight with his partner who was refueling. The B-52 was requesting the local MOA. The airspace was scheduled to be active on the hour. The R-Side asked me to coordinate the use of the airspace and make the airspace active right then; and also request the MOA to be active on the hour since it wasn't scheduled until then. I called the surrounding sectors and got the airspace; at the same time I was trying to update the B-52's flight plan so that he was routed into the airspace and so that he had a delay in the flight plan. Around 10 past the hour an adjacent sector called to ask if subject area was active. I replied that it was; and at that moment realized that during the confusion I neglected to coordinate the use of the airspace with them. I would dare say that most; if not all controllers; have done like I did and just stepped in on the D-Side to help out without receiving a proper briefing. I also know that I will no longer do that; and I will be sure to receive a proper briefing before doing any coordination or any other control function.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.