Narrative:

I received a call from columbus approach to remove strips on an aircraft that didn't depart. I focused on the uret and slid over to access the d-keyboard. The approach controller told me to remove cid abb. So; I hit rs abb and that pulled up a message to confirm with a Y removal of aircraft abbc. As I read that back over the landline the approach controller said; 'that is the right one.' I hit Y and enter and told the controller that aircraft abbc was gone. Now; the interesting part of discovery comes along. I had obviously done two things. Removed the departure he requested but somehow this also removed the data block and information on aircraft abbc that I was working. I did not obviously know or put together I was working the same call sign. My aircraft was heading westbound and descending to 10;000! When I took my attention away from the uret and moved my chair in front of my scope I refocused on my traffic not noticing the aircraft abbc data block was gone. In fact; what happened next blew my socks off! I saw a target out of 10;500 heading towards fricc and pulled up the code. There was nothing in the machine so I figured approach had started a track on a VFR aircraft heading west. Remember when I focused on the aircraft he so happened to be at 10;500. Two minutes later in my ear I hear; 'center you want aircraft abbc to go over to approach?' at that moment (the light came on and my boredom turned to fear) I said affirmative; gave the frequency and jumped on the holler line to tell the controller; 'hey that target squawking DDDE at 10;000 is aircraft abbc inside your airspace 5 miles and calling you now!' the controller (same one that told me to rs cid abb); said; 'no harm; no foul; radar and I got him.' it must be a flight data problem. If aircraft is on the ground (obviously he was flying in) and using the same call sign as the inbound that is bad. Call company and have them change the numbers by one to eliminate this happening again. My awareness could have been better but I was focused on the uret and not memorized my aircraft. Also; it was slow but had there been a d-side they would have taken the call. If the d-side then removed cid abb and the data block dropped off my scope I probably would have noticed it.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZID Controller reported when he dropped the data for a departure from ATC automation at the request of a terminal facility; it also removed the data for an arrival flight using the same call sign that the ATCS was working. This caused confusion between the facilities.

Narrative: I received a call from Columbus Approach to remove strips on an aircraft that didn't depart. I focused on the URET and slid over to access the D-keyboard. The Approach Controller told me to remove CID ABB. So; I hit RS ABB and that pulled up a message to confirm with a Y removal of Aircraft ABBC. As I read that back over the landline the Approach Controller said; 'That is the right one.' I hit Y and enter and told the Controller that Aircraft ABBC was gone. Now; the interesting part of discovery comes along. I had obviously done two things. Removed the departure he requested but somehow this also removed the data block and information on Aircraft ABBC that I was working. I did not obviously know or put together I was working the same call sign. My aircraft was heading westbound and descending to 10;000! When I took my attention away from the URET and moved my chair in front of my scope I refocused on my traffic not noticing the Aircraft ABBC data block was gone. In fact; what happened next blew my socks off! I saw a target out of 10;500 heading towards FRICC and pulled up the code. There was nothing in the machine so I figured approach had started a track on a VFR aircraft heading west. Remember when I focused on the aircraft he so happened to be at 10;500. Two minutes later in my ear I hear; 'Center you want Aircraft ABBC to go over to Approach?' At that moment (the light came on and my boredom turned to fear) I said affirmative; gave the frequency and jumped on the holler line to tell the Controller; 'Hey that target squawking DDDE at 10;000 is Aircraft ABBC inside your airspace 5 miles and calling you now!' The Controller (same one that told me to RS CID ABB); said; 'No harm; no foul; radar and I got him.' It must be a flight data problem. If aircraft is on the ground (obviously he was flying in) and using the same call sign as the inbound that is bad. Call company and have them change the numbers by one to eliminate this happening again. My awareness could have been better but I was focused on the URET and not memorized my aircraft. Also; it was slow but had there been a D-side they would have taken the call. If the D-side then removed CID ABB and the data block dropped off my scope I probably would have noticed it.

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.