Narrative:

We were working a day involving a lot of weather resulting in numerous point outs to other sectors/facilities and coordination. My right side and I were both on and off the line coordinating. At one of these times I had just turned my receiver back on and my right side was coordinating with another controller and I heard aircraft X was calling. When my right side finished coordinating I told him I heard aircraft X calling. My right side then climbed aircraft X and we both continued working. A few minutes later sector 23 that owns below our altitude stratum called asking if we were showing we had track control of aircraft X. I said that we did and she asked if he was climbing and I said he was. She then said that they must have skipped her and he was our control. I didn't understand what she meant at the time and the controller in charge from her area later came over and explained that they were having an automation area with orlando approach. The controller in charge explained this was a systemic issue they had had in the past and eram had caused it to start happening again where we auto acquire the aircraft. I do not know how he was shipped to us because I know orlando approach wouldn't have our frequency or if any other sectors worked him after orlando and prior to us acquiring the hand off. This situation definitely should be further investigated and I believe all employees should be briefed of the possibility of it happening again if this is truly a systematic error that may or has happened before/again. Also we as a radar team were wrong by not verifying aircraft X's assigned altitude at check in.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZMA controllers describe situation where the sector has an aircraft that they have control of that never talked to the lower sector and are wondering how the aircraft got on his frequency.

Narrative: We were working a day involving a lot of weather resulting in numerous point outs to other sectors/facilities and coordination. My R side and I were both on and off the line coordinating. At one of these times I had just turned my receiver back on and my R side was coordinating with another controller and I heard Aircraft X was calling. When my R side finished coordinating I told him I heard Aircraft X calling. My R side then climbed Aircraft X and we both continued working. A few minutes later sector 23 that owns below our altitude stratum called asking if we were showing we had track control of Aircraft X. I said that we did and she asked if he was climbing and I said he was. She then said that they must have skipped her and he was our control. I didn't understand what she meant at the time and the CIC from her area later came over and explained that they were having an automation area with Orlando Approach. The CIC explained this was a systemic issue they had had in the past and ERAM had caused it to start happening again where we auto acquire the aircraft. I do not know how he was shipped to us because I know Orlando Approach wouldn't have our frequency or if any other sectors worked him after Orlando and prior to us acquiring the hand off. This situation definitely should be further investigated and I believe all employees should be briefed of the possibility of it happening again if this is truly a systematic error that may or has happened before/again. Also we as a radar team were wrong by not verifying Aircraft X's assigned altitude at check in.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.