Narrative:

I was the instructor on R10; watching a student training on his last r-side sector. Three low altitude sectors where combined; very light traffic. Aircraft X called on frequency 'seattle center; aircraft X with you.' the student told the aircraft to say his position; altitude; type aircraft and destination; assuming he was a VFR aircraft requesting flight following. Aircraft X came back and gave his position 200 miles south of redmond at 100. Not the full answer we were expecting. Student then asked him to say his request. Aircraft X said he was IFR to rdm. I prompted the student to ask him if he was IFR or requesting an IFR clearance. Aircraft X then said he was on an IFR clearance and lost communications with ZOA. We verified his position; but still didn't have him on radar. He was in an area of poor radar coverage for both ZSE and ZOA; with poor radio coverage with ZOA. We had a d-side working with us. They immediately called ZOA 43 to see what they knew about this aircraft. They informed the d-side that the aircraft was not in our airspace. Our d-side and ZOA 43 went back and forth on a number of issues. We were able to identify the aircraft which was in our airspace by then. Aircraft X should have been put on a non-radar routing along his filed route of flight per LOA. Recommendation; have ZOA comply with the non-radar routing in the LOA. Coordinate earlier with a data block only transfer.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZSE Controller providing OJT described an airspace event when non RADAR routing procedures between ZOA and ZSE were not followed and an aircraft flight status was confused; the reporter alleging LOA compliance and timely coordination would have prevented the mishap.

Narrative: I was the instructor on R10; watching a student training on his last R-Side Sector. Three low altitude sectors where combined; very light traffic. Aircraft X called on frequency 'Seattle Center; Aircraft X with you.' The student told the aircraft to say his position; altitude; type aircraft and destination; assuming he was a VFR aircraft requesting flight following. Aircraft X came back and gave his position 200 miles South of Redmond at 100. Not the full answer we were expecting. Student then asked him to say his request. Aircraft X said he was IFR to RDM. I prompted the student to ask him if he was IFR or requesting an IFR clearance. Aircraft X then said he was on an IFR clearance and lost communications with ZOA. We verified his position; but still didn't have him on RADAR. He was in an area of poor RADAR coverage for both ZSE and ZOA; with poor radio coverage with ZOA. We had a D-Side working with us. They immediately called ZOA 43 to see what they knew about this aircraft. They informed the D-Side that the aircraft was not in our airspace. Our D-Side and ZOA 43 went back and forth on a number of issues. We were able to identify the aircraft which was in our airspace by then. Aircraft X should have been put on a Non-RADAR routing along his filed route of flight per LOA. Recommendation; have ZOA comply with the Non-RADAR routing in the LOA. Coordinate earlier with a data block only transfer.

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.