Pbi controller expressed concern regarding mia TRACON's failure to insure the correct beacon codes; ...

Narrative:

Mia approach had typed aircraft X into the NAS (national airspace system) for VFR flight following from the mia area to sfb. The NAS code was 37XX and the flight was active under this code. At some point mia changed the aircraft code to 43XX and issued him an IFR clearance to sfb; direct at 6000ft. Since the VFR flight plan was active the aircraft would not tag and mia called for a manual hand off. I took the information but was never told the aircraft was IFR. Because of the 43XX code; I assumed he was VFR. When the aircraft checked on my frequency level at 6000ft I inquired as to whether he was IFR or VFR. He informed me that he had been issued an IFR clearance. I then had to return him to his NAS code of 37XX and amend the flight plan to IFR and a correct routing. Without the NAS code the aircraft would require a manual hand off from me to ZMA and would not receive MSAW processing throughout his route. Recommendation; train mia approach to the fact that their 43XX codes are a local subset only. They are to be used in house only. If they are going to issue IFR clearances to VFR aircraft; they need to either amend the VFR flight plan or remove it and start over. This is the 4th time in the past month that I have seen this exact scenario. Apparently mia training is not teaching the controllers how the NAS works.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PBI controller expressed concern regarding MIA TRACON'S failure to insure the correct beacon codes; i.e. IFR vs. VFR; are entered into the NAS prior to any hand off attempts; providing an example of such an occurrence.

Narrative: MIA Approach had typed Aircraft X into the NAS (National Airspace System) for VFR flight following from the MIA area to SFB. The NAS code was 37XX and the flight was active under this code. At some point MIA changed the aircraft code to 43XX and issued him an IFR clearance to SFB; direct at 6000ft. Since the VFR flight plan was active the aircraft would not tag and MIA called for a manual hand off. I took the information but was never told the aircraft was IFR. Because of the 43XX code; I assumed he was VFR. When the aircraft checked on my frequency level at 6000ft I inquired as to whether he was IFR or VFR. He informed me that he had been issued an IFR clearance. I then had to return him to his NAS code of 37XX and amend the flight plan to IFR and a correct routing. Without the NAS code the aircraft would require a manual hand off from me to ZMA and would not receive MSAW processing throughout his route. Recommendation; train MIA Approach to the fact that their 43XX codes are a local subset only. They are to be used in house only. If they are going to issue IFR clearances to VFR aircraft; they need to either amend the VFR flight plan or remove it and start over. This is the 4th time in the past month that I have seen this exact scenario. Apparently MIA training is not teaching the controllers how the NAS works.

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.

Attributes
ACN	892958
Time
Date	201006
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	PBI.Airport
State Reference	FL
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Departure Approach
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Pbi controller expressed concern regarding mia TRACON's failure to insure the correct beacon codes; i.e. IFR vs. VFR; are entered into the NAS prior to any hand off attempts; providing an example of such an occurrence.