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An mri tower controller observed the TRACON controller terminate VFR services to an aircraft instead of handing off the aircraft to the center.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1350387 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201604 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | MRI.Tower |
| State Reference | AK |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Cessna 170 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Route In Use | VFR Route |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Local |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Experience | Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2.5 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
I was working local control position. Aircraft X departed enroute. I entered a center flight plan for the aircraft to receive continued flight following beyond TRACON airspace to his final destination. When nearing the boundary of TRACON airspace; the TRACON controller terminated radar services instead of handing the aircraft off to center. This creates a potentially dangerous situation in which an aircraft which had requested flight following is not being provided with those services.as a matter of standard practice; TRACON terminates radar services to VFR aircraft when they near the boundary instead of handing the aircraft off to TRACON. This occurs even when tower has done the extra work of entering a center flight plan; alleviating that work from TRACON.unless an aircraft requests termination of flight following; hand-offs should be performed for all aircraft so they are not denied the VFR flight following services they request. Services should be provided in accordance with F.a.a jo 7110.65 7-6-1.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: An MRI Tower Controller observed the TRACON Controller terminate VFR services to an aircraft instead of handing off the aircraft to the Center.
Narrative: I was working Local Control position. Aircraft X departed enroute. I entered a Center flight plan for the aircraft to receive continued flight following beyond TRACON airspace to his final destination. When nearing the boundary of TRACON airspace; the TRACON controller terminated Radar services instead of handing the aircraft off to Center. This creates a potentially dangerous situation in which an aircraft which had requested flight following is not being provided with those services.As a matter of standard practice; TRACON terminates Radar services to VFR aircraft when they near the boundary instead of handing the aircraft off to TRACON. This occurs even when Tower has done the extra work of entering a Center flight plan; alleviating that work from TRACON.Unless an aircraft requests termination of flight following; hand-offs should be performed for all aircraft so they are not denied the VFR flight following services they request. Services should be provided in accordance with F.A.A JO 7110.65 7-6-1.
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.