Narrative:

After at least one frequency change in kansas city center; [the] captain commented we had not heard from center for a number of minutes. I immediately looked at our navigation display and saw des moines about 5 to 10 miles to the north. From flying this trip several times; I realized we probably should be with chicago center if not minneapolis. We listened for about another 20 seconds to the frequency and only heard other aircraft speaking; not ATC. Immediately upon confirming this with [the] captain; I pulled up the enroute chart on the efb and tried to get a frequency for our location. I was able to find a list of about 30 frequencies for msp center (we had flown by dsm at this point). We tried a few of these frequencies with no luck so [the] captain attempted to have another airplane relay our position and get the proper frequency. After what seemed like about 10 minutes to me; and several back and forths between the relay aircraft and center about our callsign and position; we received a frequency from the relay aircraft; contacted minneapolis center; and pressed on to [our destination]. At no time prior to our self-discovery of being on an old frequency did we hear ATC query our position on the frequency we were on or on guard. We heard no guard calls period. At no time was the safety of the flight or ability to reach grand forks in doubt.from my perspective; ATC missed our handoff and forgot about us. I never heard our callsign (obviously) on frequency to switch to another center or hear a call on guard. I did not consider this a safety issue. Upon further reflection; I do recall one leg of the many I flew [on this route] had us change squawks by kansas city center. If it was indeed this leg; which I am not sure since this is almost a week ago now; that could have contributed to ATC losing track of us. Just a thought. The one thing that could have helped is a better depiction on the enroute chart of what frequency to be on in a particular geographic location as opposed to a whole list of all the msp center frequencies.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A300 flight crew reported losing contact with ZKC ARTCC in the vicinity of DSM.

Narrative: After at least one frequency change in Kansas City Center; [the] Captain commented we had not heard from center for a number of minutes. I immediately looked at our navigation display and saw Des Moines about 5 to 10 miles to the North. From flying this trip several times; I realized we probably should be with Chicago Center if not Minneapolis. We listened for about another 20 seconds to the frequency and only heard other aircraft speaking; not ATC. Immediately upon confirming this with [the] Captain; I pulled up the Enroute chart on the EFB and tried to get a frequency for our location. I was able to find a list of about 30 frequencies for MSP center (we had flown by DSM at this point). We tried a few of these frequencies with no luck so [the] Captain attempted to have another airplane relay our position and get the proper frequency. After what seemed like about 10 minutes to me; and several back and forths between the relay aircraft and center about our callsign and position; we received a frequency from the relay aircraft; contacted Minneapolis Center; and pressed on to [our destination]. At no time prior to our self-discovery of being on an old frequency did we hear ATC query our position on the frequency we were on or on Guard. We heard no Guard calls period. At no time was the safety of the flight or ability to reach Grand Forks in doubt.From my perspective; ATC missed our handoff and forgot about us. I never heard our callsign (obviously) on frequency to switch to another center or hear a call on Guard. I did not consider this a safety issue. Upon further reflection; I do recall one leg of the many I flew [on this route] had us change squawks by Kansas City Center. If it was indeed this leg; which I am not sure since this is almost a week ago now; that could have contributed to ATC losing track of us. Just a thought. The one thing that could have helped is a better depiction on the Enroute chart of what frequency to be on in a particular geographic location as opposed to a whole list of all the MSP center frequencies.

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.