Narrative:

I requested approval a flight of 4 F-16s negative rvsm (reduced vertical separation); non-standard formation; 4 miles in trail; with sector 84. They approved the formation flight and asked the trail aircraft to squawk 4000. At the same time; sector 84 coordinated a flight at a temporary altitude of 34;000 feet that was looking for 36;000 feet in 10 minutes. After the coordination with sector 84 was complete; I instructed the trail aircraft of [the] flight to squawk 4000. No reply was received. I made a couple of more attempts to communicate with the formation flight; then went to backup communications (buec).I was able to receive the replies from [the] flight on the buec; and shipped the flight to sector 84. After a few more clearances [the] flight came back and said no reply was received on UHF frequency for sector 84. I called sector 84 on the landline and they said [the flight] came back. I mentioned having to go to buec to receive the communications from the flight. I shipped the flight again with the instructions to come back if they couldn't communicate with center.near the boundary; I saw the formation flight flashing at sector 83 and immediately called sector 84 to see if they were combined at the time of my coordination. They said they were not combined; I looked at the edst display and the pvd point out display (pvd) to sector 84 yellow. I must have only pvd'd the aircraft to sector 84 that along with the coordination of a flight 34;000 feet lead me to believe that the sectors were combined at 84. I failed to apreq the negative rvsm with sector 83 who owns up to 34;000 feet. I was under the impression that they were combined at 84.pvd negative rvsm aircraft to the appropriate sectors; follow up with de-highlighting completed coordination; do not assume sectors are open or closed on the basis of coordination; slow down and think about all the details when dealing with a negative rvsm formation flight.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Center Controller thought two adjacent sectors were combined but they were not. The Controller failed to coordinate and handoff a military flight to the correct sector.

Narrative: I requested approval a flight of 4 F-16s negative RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation); non-standard formation; 4 miles in trail; with sector 84. They approved the formation flight and asked the trail aircraft to squawk 4000. At the same time; sector 84 coordinated a flight at a temporary altitude of 34;000 feet that was looking for 36;000 feet in 10 minutes. After the coordination with sector 84 was complete; I instructed the trail aircraft of [the] flight to squawk 4000. No reply was received. I made a couple of more attempts to communicate with the formation flight; then went to Backup Communications (BUEC).I was able to receive the replies from [the] flight on the BUEC; and shipped the Flight to sector 84. After a few more clearances [the] flight came back and said no reply was received on UHF frequency for sector 84. I called sector 84 on the landline and they said [the flight] came back. I mentioned having to go to BUEC to receive the communications from the flight. I shipped the flight again with the instructions to come back if they couldn't communicate with center.Near the boundary; I saw the formation flight flashing at Sector 83 and immediately called Sector 84 to see if they were combined at the time of my coordination. They said they were not combined; I looked at the EDST display and the PVD Point out display (PVD) to sector 84 yellow. I must have only PVD'd the aircraft to sector 84 that along with the coordination of a flight 34;000 feet lead me to believe that the sectors were combined at 84. I failed to APREQ the Negative RVSM with sector 83 who owns up to 34;000 feet. I was under the impression that they were combined at 84.PVD negative RVSM aircraft to the appropriate sectors; follow up with de-highlighting completed coordination; do not assume sectors are open or closed on the basis of coordination; slow down and think about all the details when dealing with a negative RVSM formation flight.

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.