Jcf TRACON (edwards approach control) instructor and developmental reported of issues with aircraft ...

Narrative:

Maffs [modular airborne fire fighting system] aircraft had been entering IFR for their special mission regularly; canceling IFR and going VFR to their respective work areas. Aircraft X had called us up for an IFR pick-up clearance. Training was in progress at this time and we were in the process of getting a handoff (assist) at the same time. We entered in a flight plan manually and saw a tag that popped up. My trainee didn't issue the code; and I didn't catch that he didn't issue a code because of multiple things going on at the same time. We never noticed that the tag had popped on an aircraft performing VFR maneuvers neither talking to bur area of sct or ant sectors.watching the replay; that aircraft had come from bur area and continued to use the old code. [The developmental] had thought he issued the code; called radar contact from the position the tag was at along with the clearance. The pilot read back the clearance and never question the contact position correlating with what [the developmental] had said. After a few minutes had passed; aircraft X asked us if he should be squawking something different around the time we noticed the tag wasn't doing anything it was supposed to. Aircraft X was squawking 1200 still this whole time. By the time we had caught the issue and were trying to correct it; aircraft X was already on the boundary to valley sector of sct. Coordination was accomplished and aircraft X never had a separation issue with any other aircraft.for any special mission where the aircraft are going to work without talking to ATC in designated areas; it would be helpful if they all squawked VFR to reduce confusion and new codes being tagged up on the aircraft squawking codes that are no longer valid. I should have been a little more vigilant about what was going on with the clearance; even if there was a lot going on. Not sure what else aside from more vigilance all around because it was a build-up of a lot of little problems from both pilot and ATC side that lead to the airspace violation.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: JCF TRACON (Edwards Approach Control) Instructor and Developmental reported of issues with aircraft that are not squawking VFR (1200) when instructed to. Later in the shift when trying to identify other aircraft there is confusion because the aircraft tag up incorrectly.

Narrative: MAFFS [Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System] aircraft had been entering IFR for their special mission regularly; canceling IFR and going VFR to their respective work areas. Aircraft X had called us up for an IFR pick-up clearance. Training was in progress at this time and we were in the process of getting a handoff (assist) at the same time. We entered in a flight plan manually and saw a tag that popped up. My trainee didn't issue the code; and I didn't catch that he didn't issue a code because of multiple things going on at the same time. We never noticed that the tag had popped on an aircraft performing VFR maneuvers neither talking to BUR area of SCT or ANT sectors.Watching the replay; that aircraft had come from BUR area and continued to use the old code. [The developmental] had thought he issued the code; called radar contact from the position the tag was at along with the clearance. The pilot read back the clearance and never question the contact position correlating with what [the developmental] had said. After a few minutes had passed; Aircraft X asked us if he should be squawking something different around the time we noticed the tag wasn't doing anything it was supposed to. Aircraft X was squawking 1200 still this whole time. By the time we had caught the issue and were trying to correct it; Aircraft X was already on the boundary to Valley sector of SCT. Coordination was accomplished and Aircraft X never had a separation issue with any other aircraft.For any special mission where the aircraft are going to work without talking to ATC in designated areas; it would be helpful if they all squawked VFR to reduce confusion and new codes being tagged up on the aircraft squawking codes that are no longer valid. I should have been a little more vigilant about what was going on with the clearance; even if there was a lot going on. Not sure what else aside from more vigilance all around because it was a build-up of a lot of little problems from both pilot and ATC side that lead to the airspace violation.

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	1353349
Time
Date	201605
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	JCF.TRACON
State Reference	CA
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Military Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Military Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Approach Instructor
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 5
Person 2
Function	Approach Trainee
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Developmental
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Jcf TRACON (edwards approach control) instructor and developmental reported of issues with aircraft that are not squawking VFR (1200) when instructed to. Later in the shift when trying to identify other aircraft there is confusion because the aircraft tag up incorrectly.