Narrative:

My trainee and I were scheduled to relieve another controller and trainee at the sector d-side. My trainee and I returned from a break and noticed that the previous controller that we were to relieve was working another radar position. The sector had no radar assist at the time and the sector was very busy and very complex. My trainee and I jumped in with no briefing; as the radar-side trainer and trainee were too busy to give a briefing. The military airspace appeared on our radar scope. Aircraft X was in the airspace at the time climbing out of 18;000 feet for 20;000 feet. We coordinated a climb to 28;000 feet to get out of the airspace which was capped at 26;000 feet.we did then notice two messages which stated the times the airspace would be in use. There was no evidence of any previous messages stating the airspace would be going active. Neither ourselves nor the radar trainer or trainee had any other prior notification that the airspace was going active. It was apparently listed on the big board; but we did not notice it due to the volume and complexity of the traffic.there are several possible solutions to the notification of airspace going active that I could recommend:having the airspace appear on the radar scope 15 minutes prior to it actually going active. This could be displayed in either yellow or broken coral lines.having printed strips distributed to each sector as was previously the practice.having mandatory reminders from the supervisor 1 hour; 30 minutes; and 5 minutes prior to the airspace going active.there are currently sheets printed which lists all of the airspace that is going active over a long period of time. These sheets are rarely seen; and are very difficult to read as the organization is confusing and the printing is very small.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ATC reported allowing an aircraft to be routed through Military Special Use Airspace at the time it went active.

Narrative: My trainee and I were scheduled to relieve another Controller and trainee at the sector D-side. My trainee and I returned from a break and noticed that the previous Controller that we were to relieve was working another radar position. The sector had no Radar Assist at the time and the sector was very busy and very complex. My trainee and I jumped in with no briefing; as the Radar-Side trainer and trainee were too busy to give a briefing. The military airspace appeared on our radar scope. Aircraft X was in the airspace at the time climbing out of 18;000 feet for 20;000 feet. We coordinated a climb to 28;000 feet to get out of the airspace which was capped at 26;000 feet.We did then notice two messages which stated the times the airspace would be in use. There was no evidence of any previous messages stating the airspace would be going active. Neither ourselves nor the Radar trainer or trainee had any other prior notification that the airspace was going active. It was apparently listed on the big board; but we did not notice it due to the volume and complexity of the traffic.There are several possible solutions to the notification of airspace going active that I could recommend:Having the airspace appear on the radar scope 15 minutes prior to it actually going active. This could be displayed in either yellow or broken coral lines.Having printed strips distributed to each sector as was previously the practice.Having mandatory reminders from the Supervisor 1 hour; 30 minutes; and 5 minutes prior to the airspace going active.There are currently sheets printed which lists all of the airspace that is going active over a long period of time. These sheets are rarely seen; and are very difficult to read as the organization is confusing and the printing is very small.

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.