Narrative:

Aircraft X departed airport ZZZ climbing to FL230 per LOA. I climbed the aircraft to FL260 and he requested to stay at FL230. I advised him to let me know when he wanted to climb; called approach and told him he would be leveling off. Shortly after he requested to return to ZZZ I asked if he had an emergency and he said no. I told him to stand by and called approach because he was still in their airspace to coordinate direct ZZZ. While on the line the aircraft started a left turn and decent. I told the other controller I would call him back on what was going on. I told aircraft X that he did not have a clearance to turn and to state the nature of his [situation]. He said flaps. The aircraft was cleared direct ZZZ and descended to 140 with a [local] altimeter. The aircraft requested an initial heading; and I issued 075. The pilot voice sounded very shaky. The aircraft was not able to be handed off to approach; and when I tried to coordinate if approach had radar they said just ship him. I shipped the aircraft to [frequency] and he took it. Approach had called to talk to him again. I tried the aircraft and he was still on my frequency so I issued [frequency] again. At the time the controller working the airspace adjacent to me was doing the coordination with approach.no recommendations specifically; except automation was a problem that might need to be looked at. A reroute to ZZZ did not work. A reroute to ZZZ and a hard altitude of 140 did not work and the RF command did not work to hand off the aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Center Controller reports of an aircraft returning to departure airport; which could not be handed off to Approach automatically; and had to be handed off manually.

Narrative: Aircraft X departed Airport ZZZ climbing to FL230 per LOA. I climbed the aircraft to FL260 and he requested to stay at FL230. I advised him to let me know when he wanted to climb; called approach and told him he would be leveling off. Shortly after he requested to return to ZZZ I asked if he had an emergency and he said no. I told him to stand by and called Approach because he was still in their airspace to coordinate direct ZZZ. While on the line the aircraft started a left turn and decent. I told the other controller I would call him back on what was going on. I told Aircraft X that he did not have a clearance to turn and to state the nature of his [situation]. He said flaps. The aircraft was cleared direct ZZZ and descended to 140 with a [local] altimeter. The aircraft requested an initial heading; and I issued 075. The pilot voice sounded very shaky. The aircraft was not able to be handed off to approach; and when I tried to coordinate if Approach had Radar they said just ship him. I shipped the aircraft to [frequency] and he took it. Approach had called to talk to him again. I tried the aircraft and he was still on my frequency so I issued [frequency] again. At the time the controller working the airspace adjacent to me was doing the coordination with approach.No recommendations specifically; except automation was a problem that might need to be looked at. A reroute to ZZZ did not work. A reroute to ZZZ and a hard altitude of 140 did not work and the RF command did not work to hand off the aircraft.

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.