Narrative:

Aircraft X was proposed to come over the border (V393.ols..kols). The procedure via letter of agreement between ZAB and mzt acc (mazatlan) is for mzt to hand off the aircraft to hmo (hermosillo) along V393. Hmo then gets the aircraft down; coordinates with U90 (tucson TRACON); leaving us out of the loop. Previously; mzt would get the aircraft down to FL200 since below this was uncontrolled airspace (traditional ICAO airspace structure with tmas). We would then not be able to descend the aircraft into ols until the border; which would basically put them over the airport. The LOA was negotiated and agreed on by ZAB/mzt and ZAB/mzt/tus (two different letters handling the same procedure as dictated above). Mzt called me on aircraft X and told me they had issued J92.vylla..kols at FL200. I told them they needed to get the aircraft down per the LOA and coordinate with hmo. I told the supervisor this; who informed me it had happened 3 times previously that day with another flm. A few minutes later they called back again and said aircraft X is at FL200 and your control. I told them they needed to coordinate with hmo per the LOA and they were supposed to be descending and transferred to U90. Mzt told me they would call hmo. A few seconds later the aircraft X called me asking for lower. I tried to call hmo to point the aircraft out; but was unable to contact them on either of the dial lines I had listed (hmo owns V393 4 miles either side of the airway from the MEA; 12000 to FL195 and is considered controlled airspace). Even if I had; I would have had to put aircraft X back on V393 as that is the only route we can assign in order to descend the aircraft since mias do not exist south of the border. Since I couldn't do anything; I coordinated a heading and descend with U90 at the border; handed off the aircraft; and shipped them to U90. Recommendation; ensure that LOA changes with a foreign facility are adequately negotiated (in this case; they were) and communicated. The flm from the earlier shift had called the mzt supervisor to complain about the deviation in not following the LOA to which the mzt person replied they would tell the controllers. This either didn't happen; they didn't understand the language; or didn't care to follow it.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZAB controller described a confused hand off/coordination event with MZT ATC alleging either the new LOA provisions had not been adequately briefed and/or the foreign controllers were not complying with the new procedures.

Narrative: Aircraft X was proposed to come over the border (V393.OLS..KOLS). The procedure via Letter Of Agreement between ZAB and MZT ACC (Mazatlan) is for MZT to hand off the aircraft to HMO (Hermosillo) along V393. HMO then gets the aircraft down; coordinates with U90 (Tucson TRACON); leaving us out of the loop. Previously; MZT would get the aircraft down to FL200 since below this was uncontrolled airspace (traditional ICAO airspace structure with TMAs). We would then not be able to descend the aircraft into OLS until the border; which would basically put them over the airport. The LOA was negotiated and agreed on by ZAB/MZT and ZAB/MZT/TUS (two different letters handling the same procedure as dictated above). MZT called me on Aircraft X and told me they had issued J92.VYLLA..KOLS at FL200. I told them they needed to get the aircraft down per the LOA and coordinate with HMO. I told the supervisor this; who informed me it had happened 3 times previously that day with another FLM. A few minutes later they called back again and said Aircraft X is at FL200 and your control. I told them they needed to coordinate with HMO per the LOA and they were supposed to be descending and transferred to U90. MZT told me they would call HMO. A few seconds later the Aircraft X called me asking for lower. I tried to call HMO to point the aircraft out; but was unable to contact them on either of the dial lines I had listed (HMO owns V393 4 miles either side of the airway from the MEA; 12000 to FL195 and is considered controlled airspace). Even if I had; I would have had to put Aircraft X back on V393 as that is the only route we can assign in order to descend the aircraft since MIAs do not exist south of the border. Since I couldn't do anything; I coordinated a heading and descend with U90 at the border; handed off the aircraft; and shipped them to U90. Recommendation; ensure that LOA changes with a foreign facility are adequately negotiated (in this case; they were) AND communicated. The FLM from the earlier shift had called the MZT supervisor to complain about the deviation in not following the LOA to which the MZT person replied they would tell the controllers. This either didn't happen; they didn't understand the language; or didn't care to follow it.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.