Narrative:

I was working the r-side with all of our low altitude sectors combined (18;8;9). A d-side who was recently signed-off on the sectors was assigned as my d-side. This trainee was only signed-off on three of the seven sectors in our area. Anyway; we were working a moderately heavy; but average level of traffic. Aircraft X had checked on the frequency from sector 16 descending to FL240 (bottom of their airspace). I acknowledged his check-in and descended him to 120 (boardman complex was active 110 and below). Once he passed over the boardman complex; I gave him a descent to 110 since that's per the LOA with chinook approach (they own 100 and below). I turned to my d-side and told him that he should be prepared to do a point-out to the pasco side of chinook approach and appreq approval to enter the airspace of the yakima side of chinook approach. He told me; 'I'm watching it'. I was not happy with the answer since it's typical of aircraft to cancel IFR so they can keep descending. As typical; the aircraft reported that he was on-top and requesting on-top. I assigned VFR-on-top to aircraft X. Now the aircraft was about 120 when the d-side got on the line with the yakima side to coordinate approval to enter their airspace. Meanwhile the aircraft kept descending and I couldn't contact the pasco side to do the point out because they share the same shout line. So; my hands were pretty much tied from being able to contact them. After the d-side got off the shout line; he starts to tell me about terminating the radar on aircraft X and shipping him to the yakima side. I interrupted him and asked him if he did the point out to the pasco side. He shrugged his shoulders and got back on the land line with the pasco side. At the time that he got off the land line with the yakima side (the first call) the aircraft had already descended below 100. Recommendation; the yakima side of chinook approach's radar is terrible with aircraft south of yakima (ykm). Their radar side is in a bad location and a lot of aircraft are held up at 110 until 10-15 miles from the airport. Aircraft are forced to cancel their IFR; so that they can continue to descend. Some controllers appreq lower; but then it compounds the situation with the poor radar coverage that they have. I think that either chinook approach (ykm side) should have their radar site moved or have another one installed to continue the coverage to the south of the airport.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZSE described a likely airspace infraction when a D-Side controller failed to provide timely point outs to an adjacent facility as requested; noting poor RADAR coverage at Chinook Approach needs to be addressed.

Narrative: I was working the R-side with all of our low altitude sectors combined (18;8;9). A D-Side who was recently signed-off on the sectors was assigned as my D-Side. This trainee was only signed-off on three of the seven sectors in our area. Anyway; we were working a moderately heavy; but average level of traffic. Aircraft X had checked on the frequency from Sector 16 descending to FL240 (bottom of their airspace). I acknowledged his check-in and descended him to 120 (Boardman Complex was active 110 and below). Once he passed over the Boardman Complex; I gave him a descent to 110 since that's per the LOA with Chinook Approach (they own 100 and below). I turned to my D-Side and told him that he should be prepared to do a point-out to the Pasco side of Chinook Approach and APPREQ approval to enter the airspace of the Yakima side of Chinook Approach. He told me; 'I'm watching it'. I was not happy with the answer since it's typical of aircraft to cancel IFR so they can keep descending. As typical; the aircraft reported that he was ON-TOP and requesting ON-TOP. I assigned VFR-ON-TOP to Aircraft X. Now the aircraft was about 120 when the D-Side got on the line with the Yakima side to coordinate approval to enter their airspace. Meanwhile the aircraft kept descending and I couldn't contact the Pasco side to do the point out because they share the same shout line. So; my hands were pretty much tied from being able to contact them. After the D-Side got off the shout line; he starts to tell me about terminating the RADAR on Aircraft X and shipping him to the Yakima side. I interrupted him and asked him if he did the point out to the Pasco side. He shrugged his shoulders and got back on the land line with the Pasco side. At the time that he got off the land line with the Yakima side (the first call) the aircraft had already descended below 100. Recommendation; the Yakima side of Chinook approach's RADAR is terrible with aircraft south of Yakima (YKM). Their RADAR side is in a bad location and a lot of aircraft are held up at 110 until 10-15 miles from the airport. Aircraft are forced to cancel their IFR; so that they can continue to descend. Some controllers APPREQ lower; but then it compounds the situation with the poor RADAR coverage that they have. I think that either Chinook Approach (YKM side) should have their RADAR site moved or have another one installed to continue the coverage to the south of the airport.

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.