ZDV controller reports of confusion from a briefing he received on whether an aircraft is VFR or IFR...

Narrative:

I relieved a controller from sectors 31/32; I was briefed that he had approved a VFR aircraft VFR at 10;000 from ZMP. Traffic was pretty busy with a lot of military operations going on. Aircraft X wasn't on frequency very long before I handed the aircraft off to sector 19 and switched him. After I was pulled aside later on in the evening I listened to the recording that revealed that aircraft wanted to pick up his IFR flight plan after exiting an MOA in ZMP airspace. What the ZMP controller coordinated was 'VFR in the MOA; going to pick up his IFR climbing to 100.'. I wasn't briefed any of this; and was unaware he wanted IFR. ZMP put VFR in his data block. They claim that it auto flashed to us but didn't call to confirm they had in fact given the clearance. We only became aware of the situation when the pilot asked for lower and was instructed to maintain VFR. The pilot then informed sector 19 he was IFR. I'm not sure a procedure change is necessary; but coordination between ZMP and ZDV should have been accomplished simply because the data block shall reflect what the aircraft is doing per the LOA. Also the briefing should have been more specific when I took the sector.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZDV Controller reports of confusion from a briefing he received on whether an aircraft is VFR or IFR. He treated the aircraft as VFR while the aircraft was actually IFR.

Narrative: I relieved a controller from sectors 31/32; I was briefed that he had approved a VFR aircraft VFR at 10;000 from ZMP. Traffic was pretty busy with a lot of military operations going on. Aircraft X wasn't on frequency very long before I handed the aircraft off to sector 19 and switched him. After I was pulled aside later on in the evening I listened to the recording that revealed that aircraft wanted to pick up his IFR flight plan after exiting an MOA in ZMP airspace. What the ZMP controller coordinated was 'VFR in the MOA; going to pick up his IFR climbing to 100.'. I wasn't briefed any of this; and was unaware he wanted IFR. ZMP put VFR in his data block. They claim that it auto flashed to us but didn't call to confirm they had in fact given the clearance. We only became aware of the situation when the pilot asked for lower and was instructed to maintain VFR. The pilot then informed sector 19 he was IFR. I'm not sure a procedure change is necessary; but coordination between ZMP and ZDV should have been accomplished simply because the data block shall reflect what the aircraft is doing per the LOA. Also the briefing should have been more specific when I took the sector.

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	1214026
Time
Date	201410
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZDV.ARTCC
State Reference	CO
Environment
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-32 Cherokee Six/Lance/Saratoga/6X
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 7
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

ZDV controller reports of confusion from a briefing he received on whether an aircraft is VFR or IFR. He treated the aircraft as VFR while the aircraft was actually IFR.