Anchorage center controller reported an aircraft departed; they thought they were returning on their...

Narrative:

After releasing aircraft X off bet airport; bet tower entered a departure message for the aircraft. Moments after aircraft X auto-acquired at 015 turning southbound into a right downwind to land north. It was very noticeable since a ca (conflict alert) sounded due to close proximity with a 1200 VFR beacon code inside tower's airspace. I figured aircraft X was returning to the airport for reasons unknown. I waited until after I observed the aircraft descend and appear to land on runway 1R to call tower and inquire about what I saw. I did make the mistake of not using the full call sign (aircraft X) and only [the first three letters]. I asked if they were going to depart again shortly or if they would re-file a new flight plan and if I should remove the one that was active. The tower informed me that they would re-file and the flight plan could be removed. Though; tower was talking about a different aircraft still on the ground. I proceeded to remove the flight plan and drop the target on the radar display. Little did I know aircraft X was well east of bet airport still climbing to assigned altitude. 10 minutes later the relieving controller received a transmission from aircraft X asking for a reroute to save flying time. Questioning who was calling; and me still being in the operations area post viewing; I recognized the squawk code and we got the flight plan restored and data on the airborne flight.I don't know why the aircraft tagged up so low and was shown landing. The facility is unable to pull up the radar playback. Apparently there was an equipment malfunction and for seven and a half hours no radar data was being recorded.in the future I will make sure to use full call signs to avoid confusion or incorrect coordination. Even though the radar was not working properly; this could have been avoided if coordination was better.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Anchorage Center Controller reported an aircraft departed; they thought they were returning on their own to the departure airport; but actually kept flying and were discovered minutes later when the pilot questioned the Controller about a possible re-route.

Narrative: After releasing Aircraft X off BET airport; BET TWR entered a departure message for the aircraft. Moments after Aircraft X auto-acquired at 015 turning southbound into a right downwind to land north. It was very noticeable since a CA (Conflict Alert) sounded due to close proximity with a 1200 VFR beacon code inside tower's airspace. I figured Aircraft X was returning to the airport for reasons unknown. I waited until after I observed the aircraft descend and appear to land on RWY 1R to call tower and inquire about what I saw. I did make the mistake of not using the full call sign (Aircraft X) and only [the first three letters]. I asked if they were going to depart again shortly or if they would re-file a new flight plan and if I should remove the one that was active. The tower informed me that they would re-file and the flight plan could be removed. Though; tower was talking about a different aircraft still on the ground. I proceeded to remove the flight plan and drop the target on the radar display. Little did I know Aircraft X was well East of BET airport still climbing to assigned altitude. 10 minutes later the relieving controller received a transmission from Aircraft X asking for a reroute to save flying time. Questioning who was calling; and me still being in the operations area post viewing; I recognized the squawk code and we got the flight plan restored and data on the airborne flight.I don't know why the aircraft tagged up so low and was shown landing. The facility is unable to pull up the radar playback. Apparently there was an equipment malfunction and for seven and a half hours no radar data was being recorded.In the future I will make sure to use full call signs to avoid confusion or incorrect coordination. Even though the radar was not working properly; this could have been avoided if coordination was better.

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	1445534
Time
Date	201705
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZAN.ARTCC
State Reference	AK
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Light Transport High Wing 2 Turboprop Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Departure Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Anchorage center controller reported an aircraft departed; they thought they were returning on their own to the departure airport; but actually kept flying and were discovered minutes later when the pilot questioned the controller about a possible re-route.