Zan controller described an unsafe equipment issued noting due to the mearts software an aircraft tr...

Narrative:

A beech 1900 departed ani on an IFR flight plan to anc assigned altitude of FL210. All appeared normal. The aircraft data block showed the aircraft climbing and displayed a normal speed yet the data block did not move off of ani. The aircraft traveled over one hundred thirty miles and was approximately 30 miles northeast of sqa before there was any indication of a target on the radar display. Sector 5 had a strip and a flight plan but was waiting for a radar handoff from sector 13. The beech 1900 was level at FL210 and should have been tracked on radar. The mearts software has a problem that prevented even a limited data block from being displayed at the actual location of the aircraft. This was unexpected and allowed the aircraft to enter sector 5 for nearly 35 miles without being detected. There was no traffic at FL210 in that area of sector 5. Do not allow the mearts software to block the raw radar data from being displayed. An indication of a mode C intruder or limited data block is better than thinking you have good radar coverage and having a blocked target.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZAN Controller described an unsafe equipment issued noting due to the MEARTS software an aircraft traversed a sector for about 35 miles without being detected.

Narrative: A Beech 1900 departed ANI on an IFR flight plan to ANC assigned altitude of FL210. All appeared normal. The aircraft data block showed the aircraft climbing and displayed a normal speed yet the data block did not move off of ANI. The aircraft traveled over one hundred thirty miles and was approximately 30 miles Northeast of SQA before there was any indication of a target on the RADAR display. Sector 5 had a strip and a flight plan but was waiting for a RADAR handoff from Sector 13. The Beech 1900 was level at FL210 and should have been tracked on RADAR. The MEARTS software has a problem that prevented even a limited data block from being displayed at the actual location of the aircraft. This was unexpected and allowed the aircraft to enter Sector 5 for nearly 35 miles without being detected. There was no traffic at FL210 in that area of Sector 5. Do not allow the MEARTS software to block the raw RADAR data from being displayed. An indication of a Mode C intruder or limited data block is better than thinking you have good RADAR coverage and having a blocked target.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1104232
Time
Date	201307
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZAN.ARTCC
State Reference	AK
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Beech 1900
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Supervisor / CIC
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Zan controller described an unsafe equipment issued noting due to the mearts software an aircraft traversed a sector for about 35 miles without being detected.