ZOB controller reports of an incident involving a skydiving aircraft that isn't pointed out to him a...

Narrative:

I was working d-side at lfd. OJT being conducted on r-side. Holding 5 aircraft at mizar for dtw and more on the way. Holding stack started at 120 and extended up to 170. Parachute operations are common occurrence at myers-divers airport; which is about 12 NM north/northeast of mizar. Procedure for para-jumps is spelled out in LOA. I observed code xzxy; which is one of the predetermined para-jumper codes; climbing out of about 080 near myers-divers. I assumed dtw would keep jumpers well north of mizar holding stack; this is also spelled out in LOA; that D21 ATCT will protect for holding pattern airspace while ZOB is holding at inbound fixes. As I scan a few moments later I observe code xzxy climbing out of 115 very close to holding aircraft. I called D21 (mizar position) and questioned whether para-jumpers were going up; he responded with something like; 'yeah; looks like it.' I asked who was working them and called D21 (departures position) and questioned him. Controller responded in the affirmative. I was shocked and began to issue traffic to dtw on at least four aircraft in holding pattern and the D21 controller said something to the effect of; 'do you want to talk to the jumpers?' I responded; 'no; I don't think they should be jumping right next to holding stack.' D21: 'they're VFR; you don't have to worry about them anyways.' I don't believe an official point out ever occurred and code xzxy was above 130 by the time I was communicating with dtw departures. More conversation transpired; but dtw did not follow procedure and then for dtw to treat this event as no big deal was shocking; especially since about 18 months ago a airliner almost collided with jump plane in same vicinity. If underlying facility is planning on using adjacent airspace they need to provide more notice. They also need to be prepared for ATC to say 'unable.'

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZOB Controller reports of an incident involving a skydiving aircraft that isn't pointed out to him and he has to find out what the aircraft is going to do.

Narrative: I was working D-side at LFD. OJT being conducted on R-side. Holding 5 aircraft at MIZAR for DTW and more on the way. Holding stack started at 120 and extended up to 170. Parachute operations are common occurrence at Myers-Divers airport; which is about 12 NM north/northeast of MIZAR. Procedure for para-jumps is spelled out in LOA. I observed code XZXY; which is one of the predetermined para-jumper codes; climbing out of about 080 near Myers-Divers. I assumed DTW would keep jumpers well north of MIZAR holding stack; this is also spelled out in LOA; that D21 ATCT will protect for holding pattern airspace while ZOB is holding at inbound fixes. As I scan a few moments later I observe code XZXY climbing out of 115 very close to holding aircraft. I called D21 (MIZAR position) and questioned whether para-jumpers were going up; he responded with something like; 'Yeah; looks like it.' I asked who was working them and called D21 (departures position) and questioned him. Controller responded in the affirmative. I was shocked and began to issue traffic to DTW on at least four aircraft in holding pattern and the D21 controller said something to the effect of; 'Do you want to talk to the jumpers?' I responded; 'No; I don't think they should be jumping right next to holding stack.' D21: 'They're VFR; you don't have to worry about them anyways.' I don't believe an official point out ever occurred and code XZXY was above 130 by the time I was communicating with DTW Departures. More conversation transpired; but DTW did not follow procedure and then for DTW to treat this event as no big deal was shocking; especially since about 18 months ago a airliner almost collided with jump plane in same vicinity. If underlying facility is planning on using adjacent airspace they need to provide more notice. They also need to be prepared for ATC to say 'Unable.'

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.

Attributes
ACN	1194057
Time
Date	201408
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZOB.ARTCC
State Reference	OH
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Operating Under FAR Part	Other 105
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 8
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

ZOB controller reports of an incident involving a skydiving aircraft that isn't pointed out to him and he has to find out what the aircraft is going to do.