Grr air traffic controllers reported an aircraft departed without the transponder on and checked in ...

Narrative:

I was performing a skills check on local control. [One aircraft] was working the pattern and we had an occasional arrival and departure. One of the departures was aircraft X. We cleared aircraft X for takeoff; and shipped him to departure at our normal time to do so. After reviewing the tapes; and watching the falcon; aircraft X acknowledged frequency change with us on local. However he never checked in with departure. He apparently forgot to turn on his transponder as well. We; the training team on local; did not realize he did not tag up. We received no subsequent calls from departure inquiring about aircraft X. I did confirm they received the strip from the drop tube like normal; in fact we were not told of the scenario until about 40 minutes later. As far as recommendations go; I'm stumped as I realize we have a responsibility to make sure targets acquire and when we don't see them acquire you make a call; to make sure radar has them and to make sure they are talking to them. We failed to recognize that aircraft X failed to acquire. Due to probably expectation bias; my scan failed to recognize that aircraft X never tagged; and we unfortunately kept going on about our business as if everything was okay when he took frequency change.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: GRR Air Traffic Controllers reported an aircraft departed without the transponder on and checked in late resulting in an airspace incursion.

Narrative: I was performing a skills check on Local Control. [One aircraft] was working the pattern and we had an occasional arrival and departure. One of the departures was Aircraft X. We cleared Aircraft X for takeoff; and shipped him to Departure at our normal time to do so. After reviewing the tapes; and watching the Falcon; Aircraft X acknowledged frequency change with us on Local. However he never checked in with Departure. He apparently forgot to turn on his transponder as well. We; the training team on Local; did not realize he did not tag up. We received no subsequent calls from Departure inquiring about Aircraft X. I did confirm they received the strip from the drop tube like normal; in fact we were not told of the scenario until about 40 minutes later. As far as recommendations go; I'm stumped as I realize we have a responsibility to make sure targets acquire and when we don't see them acquire you make a call; to make sure radar has them and to make sure they are talking to them. We failed to recognize that Aircraft X failed to acquire. Due to probably expectation bias; my scan failed to recognize that Aircraft X never tagged; and we unfortunately kept going on about our business as if everything was okay when he took frequency change.

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	1560414
Time
Date	201807
Place
Locale Reference	GRR.Airport
State Reference	MI
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Stratotanker 135
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Local
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 3
Person 2
Function	Approach
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 19
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Grr air traffic controllers reported an aircraft departed without the transponder on and checked in late resulting in an airspace incursion.