Narrative:

I took the hand off on a BE10 routed direct the VOR. Around the time he checked on our frequency; we realized that he was drifting south of course; possibly due to winds? Although his equipment suffix was (/G) and toward restricted airspace; which was active. The right controller vectored him 15 or 20 degrees right; to the north of the restricted airspace. I had some land line calls and had missed whatever happened on the frequency and with the right controller while my attention was on other calls. I noticed the BE10 was turning back toward the VOR and updated the route line. He would be cutting into sector 27's airspace on his way to the neighboring center's airspace. I debated for a moment in my head whether to point him out to 27 (and hand off to the neighboring center) or hand him off to 27. My right controller looked at me; pointed to the BE10 and said; '27's watching him.' I nodded; and flashed the hand off to the neighboring center. After the BE10 was in 27's airspace; the right controller quick looked 27 and noticed they didn't have the full data block pulled up. He asked me if they had ever gotten the point out on him. I was confused and said I thought he had told me that he had pointed him out to 27. A point out was made to 27 at that time; after we had violated their airspace. In retrospect; I now understand that my right controller had been asking me a question: '27's watching him?' I would recommend; as a radar associate; if you believe your right is telling you that he already coordinated something; to question it and to reiterate to clarify that that is what he is actually telling you.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Enroute Assistant Controller described an unauthorized airspace entry event when coordination with the RADAR Controller was confused.

Narrative: I took the hand off on a BE10 routed direct the VOR. Around the time he checked on our frequency; we realized that he was drifting south of course; possibly due to winds? Although his equipment suffix was (/G) and toward restricted airspace; which was active. The R Controller vectored him 15 or 20 degrees right; to the north of the restricted airspace. I had some land line calls and had missed whatever happened on the frequency and with the R Controller while my attention was on other calls. I noticed the BE10 was turning back toward the VOR and updated the route line. He would be cutting into Sector 27's airspace on his way to the neighboring Center's airspace. I debated for a moment in my head whether to point him out to 27 (and hand off to the neighboring Center) or hand him off to 27. My R Controller looked at me; pointed to the BE10 and said; '27's watching him.' I nodded; and flashed the hand off to the neighboring Center. After the BE10 was in 27's airspace; the R Controller quick looked 27 and noticed they didn't have the full data block pulled up. He asked me if they had ever gotten the point out on him. I was confused and said I thought he had told me that he had pointed him out to 27. A point out was made to 27 at that time; after we had violated their airspace. In retrospect; I now understand that my R Controller had been asking me a question: '27's watching him?' I would recommend; as a Radar Associate; if you believe your R is telling you that he already coordinated something; to question it and to reiterate to clarify that that is what he is actually telling you.

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.