Narrative:

I took a hand off on VFR aircraft X. When the aircraft checked in; he stated he was at 8500. I asked for the destination and was told T41. I issued the msy altimeter and moved on to other aircraft. At some point around the snaki intersection; the tag on aircraft X dropped off the stars display and I forgot about the aircraft in the ensuing traffic. I failed to inform the atcs that relieved me of aircraft X since he had dropped off the radar and I had forgotten about him. Shortly after being relieved; an air carrier flight inbound from over snaki; that was about 15 northeast of msy; asked about possible traffic in his vicinity that he had a TCAS alert on. The controller adjusted the tag and observed a primary target in the vicinity and informed the pilot of the aircraft and its altitude was unknown. The flm (front line manager) started a track on the aircraft and observed it leaving the airspace. Later that evening; the pilot called back and said he had flown over at 8500. The next day; while reviewing the qar; staff replayed the event and noticed the fact the aircraft was being provided advisories prior to it suddenly dropping off the display. At this point; it has not been determined why the tag dropped on the aircraft. It is possible it is a malfunction in the radar; but it is also possible I mistakenly dropped the tag instead of another aircraft that had left the airspace. While there was never a danger of collision in our airspace; it certainly is a learning experience for this veteran! Never before have I forgotten about an aircraft I working! While the traffic situation was certainly complex and busy; it was by no means unmanageable or unusual. Recommendation: as we age; we must re-dedicate ourselves on being more observant and minimize distractions in the workplace. Additionally; we must do what we can to avoid issue outside of work from occupying our thoughts while working position. I do not believe this was a direct factor in this issue; but it is something I noticed becoming more of a factor when things are slow.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MSY controller described a TCAS event that was likely triggered because a VFR data block had been dropped and traffic not passed on to a relieving controller.

Narrative: I took a hand off on VFR Aircraft X. When the aircraft checked in; he stated he was at 8500. I asked for the destination and was told T41. I issued the MSY altimeter and moved on to other aircraft. At some point around the SNAKI intersection; the tag on Aircraft X dropped off the STARS display and I forgot about the aircraft in the ensuing traffic. I failed to inform the ATCS that relieved me of Aircraft X since he had dropped off the RADAR and I had forgotten about him. Shortly after being relieved; an air carrier flight inbound from over SNAKI; that was about 15 northeast of MSY; asked about possible traffic in his vicinity that he had a TCAS alert on. The controller adjusted the tag and observed a primary target in the vicinity and informed the pilot of the aircraft and its altitude was unknown. The FLM (Front Line Manager) started a track on the aircraft and observed it leaving the airspace. Later that evening; the pilot called back and said he had flown over at 8500. The next day; while reviewing the QAR; staff replayed the event and noticed the fact the aircraft was being provided advisories prior to it suddenly dropping off the display. At this point; it has not been determined why the tag dropped on the aircraft. It is possible it is a malfunction in the RADAR; but it is also possible I mistakenly dropped the tag instead of another aircraft that had left the airspace. While there was never a danger of collision in our airspace; it certainly is a learning experience for this veteran! Never before have I forgotten about an aircraft I working! While the traffic situation was certainly complex and busy; it was by no means unmanageable or unusual. Recommendation: As we age; we must re-dedicate ourselves on being more observant and minimize distractions in the workplace. Additionally; we must do what we can to avoid issue outside of work from occupying our thoughts while working position. I do not believe this was a direct factor in this issue; but it is something I noticed becoming more of a factor when things are slow.

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.