Narrative:

Aircraft X called departing helipad north of the hospital in MVFR conditions. The pilot advised me that he was on an IFR clearance that was issued by omaha clearance delivery. No coordination occurred from omaha tower to me. The helicopter was inside the 3500' MVA ring when I saw a splat for his target but no data tag. I asked the controller in charge (controller in charge) and the R90 flight data if they knew anything about this or had done any coordination and what I was expected to do with the helicopter. The controller I had relieved had just pushed a strip over for the aircraft after the recorded briefing was over and mentioned that the helicopter strip was already printed and laying at the radar west position and that the helicopter was at [an adjacent airport] airport and local would 'flash' the tag when the helicopter departed [the adjacent airport]. The strip showed the aircraft filed for 4000' MSL. There was no departure tag in my departure list; so I RF'd the squawk code and then the tag showed up on the helicopter as he tracked south away from the antennas. I had the helicopter ident. I radar identified the helicopter and told him to climb and maintain 4000' and sent him on his way to [the destination]; issuing current altimeter and verifying his altitude. I continued working my other traffic and handed the helicopter off to center and transferred communications to ZMP sec. 26. I had no further communications with the helicopter. It is apparent that clearance delivery (clearance delivery) at oma issued a clearance without knowing where the helicopter was actually located. Clearance delivery needs to ensure where an aircraft/helicopter is located before issuing a clearance and in this instance if a hfr [hold for release] had been issued to the pilot; he would not have departed without obtaining a release at which point somebody would have had to know where the helicopter was positioned. If the clearance delivery person had told the pilot to contact ground control when ready to taxi; this would have brought up the opportunity for the pilot to point out he wouldn't be taxiing as he was not at the airport. Easiest thing to do is verify the position of an aircraft before issuing a clearance.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Omaha TRACON Controller reported that an IFR aircraft departed on an IFR clearance without being properly released into the airspace.

Narrative: Aircraft X called departing Helipad North of the hospital in MVFR conditions. The pilot advised me that he was on an IFR clearance that was issued by Omaha Clearance Delivery. No coordination occurred from Omaha Tower to me. The helicopter was inside the 3500' MVA ring when I saw a splat for his target but no data tag. I asked the Controller in Charge (CIC) and the R90 Flight Data if they knew anything about this or had done any coordination and what I was expected to do with the helicopter. The controller I had relieved had just pushed a strip over for the aircraft after the recorded briefing was over and mentioned that the helicopter strip was already printed and laying at the Radar West position and that the helicopter was at [an adjacent airport] airport and Local would 'flash' the tag when the helicopter departed [the adjacent airport]. The strip showed the aircraft filed for 4000' MSL. There was no departure tag in my departure list; so I RF'd the squawk code and then the tag showed up on the helicopter as he tracked South away from the antennas. I had the helicopter ident. I radar identified the helicopter and told him to climb and maintain 4000' and sent him on his way to [the destination]; issuing current altimeter and verifying his altitude. I continued working my other traffic and handed the helicopter off to center and transferred communications to ZMP sec. 26. I had no further communications with the helicopter. It is apparent that Clearance Delivery (CD) at OMA issued a clearance without knowing where the helicopter was actually located. Clearance Delivery needs to ensure where an aircraft/helicopter is located before issuing a clearance and in this instance if a HFR [Hold For Release] had been issued to the pilot; he would not have departed without obtaining a release at which point somebody would have had to know where the helicopter was positioned. If the CD person had told the pilot to contact GC when ready to taxi; this would have brought up the opportunity for the pilot to point out he wouldn't be taxiing as he was not at the airport. Easiest thing to do is verify the position of an aircraft before issuing a clearance.

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.