Narrative:

A BE90 checked on departure; slow climbing off ord to 5000. Leveled him at 5000 and turned the corner eastbound. Did not climb him because of arrivals from the northeast fixes coming into ord. BE90 was a poor performer so I tunneled under the arrivals and then climbed him to 9000. I then coordinated with harley north sector trying to initiate a hand off with them on another aircraft going north. I called my supervisor to discuss my coordination with harley which was unusual. I looked at the BE90's altitude and he showed level at 9000 on an east (090) heading. I did not climb him higher because he was a poor performer and I knew I would have jets following him. I noticed his tag had handed off and he was approaching sbns airspace; so I shipped him to sbn for their control. His first fix was called ebake; however I had left him on a 090 heading so I called sbn to advise them of his heading; to which the sbn controller said ok. The deviation occurred because the BE90's tag had auto handed off to chicago center and not sbn. The reason for this is because he had filed for FL250. I did not realize that the tag was taken by chicago center and not sbn. I assumed that sbn had taken it. This occurred because our ARTS automatically flashes props filing over 10000 to the center. We rarely climb above 100 because of jet traffic climbing above them off ord. Sbn was talking to him at 9000 but did not have a tag or strip on him. When I called sbn the controller did not tell me that he did not take the hand off. He said ok when I told him that the BE90 was on a 090 heading. He could have said who are you talking about or the aircraft had flashed to the chicago center and not them. I believe the sbn controller knew who the aircraft was but chose not to tell me that he had flashed to the wrong facility. Recommendation: our ARTS patch automatically flashes propeller driven aircraft flying above 100 eastbound to chicago center. 99 percent of the time we do not climb above 90 or 100 with our eastbound slow moving propeller aircraft. We almost always keep them low and hand them off to sbn. Our ARTS should be reconfigured to either not put any hand off code in the data block or auto hand off to sbn. This has caused trouble in the past. All our propeller aircraft going north flash to mke regardless of how high they file and we hand them off to mke at 110; the prescribed altitude. If we choose to climb higher we coordinate with mke. Climbing props westbound the ARTS auto flashes to rfd even if the aircraft file higher than 100; the prescribed altitude. If we choose to climb higher we coordinate with rfd. Unexplainable; going east our ARTS does not flash to sbn; it auto flashes to ZAU (chicago center) instead of sbn. Our ARTS should flash to sbn and should we choose to climb higher; we should coordinate with sbn. Our ARTS patch should be changed to eliminate this hand off to ZAU to be consistent with the rest of the procedures we use north and west with mke and rfd. This is the second time this has happened to me. When I first came to C90; the hand off patch to sbn was correct and all the props flashed to them. This was reversed recently within the past few years and I believe incorrectly so. This should be corrected before something catastrophic happens or we have a loss of separation because of it. I have spoken to supervision and nothing seems to get done. Maybe you guys can get this corrected. It falls on deaf ears.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C90 Controller described airspace incursion event when an ORD BE90 was assigned an interim altitude because of climb performance; handed off; but unknowingly ARTS directed to other than the expected facility.

Narrative: A BE90 checked on Departure; slow climbing off ORD to 5000. Leveled him at 5000 and turned the corner eastbound. Did not climb him because of Arrivals from the northeast fixes coming into ORD. BE90 was a poor performer so I tunneled under the arrivals and then climbed him to 9000. I then coordinated with Harley North Sector trying to initiate a hand off with them on another aircraft going north. I called my Supervisor to discuss my coordination with Harley which was unusual. I looked at the BE90's altitude and he showed level at 9000 on an east (090) heading. I did not climb him higher because he was a poor performer and I knew I would have jets following him. I noticed his tag had handed off and he was approaching SBNs airspace; so I shipped him to SBN for their control. His first fix was called EBAKE; however I had left him on a 090 heading so I called SBN to advise them of his heading; to which the SBN Controller said OK. The deviation occurred because the BE90's tag had auto handed off to Chicago Center and not SBN. The reason for this is because he had filed for FL250. I did not realize that the tag was taken by Chicago Center and not SBN. I assumed that SBN had taken it. This occurred because our ARTS automatically flashes props filing over 10000 to the Center. We rarely climb above 100 because of jet traffic climbing above them off ORD. SBN was talking to him at 9000 but did not have a tag or strip on him. When I called SBN the Controller did not tell me that he did not take the hand off. He said OK when I told him that the BE90 was on a 090 heading. He could have said who are you talking about or the aircraft had flashed to the Chicago Center and not them. I believe the SBN Controller knew who the aircraft was but chose not to tell me that he had flashed to the wrong facility. Recommendation: Our ARTS patch automatically flashes propeller driven aircraft flying above 100 eastbound to Chicago Center. 99 percent of the time we do not climb above 90 or 100 with our eastbound slow moving propeller aircraft. We almost always keep them low and hand them off to SBN. Our ARTS should be reconfigured to either not put any hand off code in the data block or auto hand off to SBN. This has caused trouble in the past. All our propeller aircraft going north flash to MKE regardless of how high they file and we hand them off to MKE at 110; the prescribed altitude. If we choose to climb higher we coordinate with MKE. Climbing props Westbound the ARTS auto flashes to RFD even if the aircraft file higher than 100; the prescribed altitude. If we choose to climb higher we coordinate with RFD. Unexplainable; going east our ARTS does not flash to SBN; it auto flashes to ZAU (Chicago Center) instead of SBN. Our ARTS should flash to SBN and should we choose to climb higher; we should coordinate with SBN. Our ARTS patch should be changed to eliminate this hand off to ZAU to be consistent with the rest of the procedures we use north and west with MKE and RFD. This is the second time this has happened to me. When I first came to C90; the hand off patch to SBN was correct and all the props flashed to them. This was reversed recently within the past few years and I believe incorrectly so. This should be corrected before something catastrophic happens or we have a loss of separation because of it. I have spoken to supervision and nothing seems to get done. Maybe you guys can get this corrected. It falls on deaf ears.

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.