Narrative:

I was working the danville sector (57) radar and radar associate positions combined at the time of the event. There was no aircraft on frequency at the time; nor any aircraft in the airspace. I received an override call along with a simultaneous pvd of an E145 inside my airspace by approximately 5 miles; approximately 10 miles southwest of the rbs VOR. The land-line call was from the newtt sector (43); initiating a point-out on the E145 at FL220 direct vandalia (vla). I approved the point-out; and realized an operational deviation had occurred. Safety was never compromised because I had no traffic. I alerted my supervisor of the event; and he reported it to the operations manager. Newtt (43) airspace used to include FL190-FL230 in the location of the event. With the new airspace configuration; danville (57) now controls the airspace where the event took place. The new procedures also dictate that while danville controls the airspace from 11;000 to FL230; the newtt and peotone (44) sectors have a climb corridor from FL190-FL230. Peotone and newtt shall point-out any aircraft not above FL190 through the climb corridor; with an interim of FL230 in the data block and the aircraft is requesting above FL230. Danville is now required to point-out any aircraft above FL180 that will traverse the climb corridor; so that peotone and newtt can 'miss' traffic in danville's airspace. This procedure is unnecessarily complex; a hindrance to efficient operations and increases coordination calls. Any aircraft that danville has pointed out to peotone and/or newtt will need to be re-coordinated if an aircraft needs to change altitude. If an aircraft needed to descend for icing in the danville airspace; but while in the climb corridor; it could take up to two calls from danville to peotone and newtt to get approval. Such an aircraft would require 2 calls for the initial point-outs; then another 2 calls for any subsequent changes. These extra land-line calls not only decrease time from actively listening to the frequency; but it increases time needed to effect the change in altitude for the aircraft. Shared airspace between 3 sectors is inherently complicated and unnecessary. I think it would be simpler for newtt's eastern boundary to move east of the C departure track; and peotone and newtt's southern boundary move south to the ZKC and ZID boundary; therefore getting rid of the danville sector. It is in this configuration that I believe peotone and newtt can more effectively and safely move traffic through this airspace and reduce complexity; coordination and inefficiencies.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZAU Controller described an airspace incursion event; claiming recently re-designed airspace as the primary causal factor.

Narrative: I was working the Danville Sector (57) RADAR and RADAR Associate positions combined at the time of the event. There was no aircraft on frequency at the time; nor any aircraft in the airspace. I received an override call along with a simultaneous PVD of an E145 inside my airspace by approximately 5 miles; approximately 10 miles southwest of the RBS VOR. The land-line call was from the Newtt Sector (43); initiating a point-out on the E145 at FL220 direct Vandalia (VLA). I approved the point-out; and realized an operational deviation had occurred. Safety was never compromised because I had no traffic. I alerted my Supervisor of the event; and he reported it to the Operations Manager. Newtt (43) airspace used to include FL190-FL230 in the location of the event. With the new airspace configuration; Danville (57) now controls the airspace where the event took place. The new procedures also dictate that while Danville controls the airspace from 11;000 to FL230; the Newtt and Peotone (44) Sectors have a climb corridor from FL190-FL230. Peotone and Newtt shall point-out any aircraft not above FL190 through the climb corridor; with an interim of FL230 in the data block and the aircraft is requesting above FL230. Danville is now required to point-out any aircraft above FL180 that will traverse the climb corridor; so that Peotone and Newtt can 'miss' traffic in Danville's airspace. This procedure is unnecessarily complex; a hindrance to efficient operations and increases coordination calls. Any aircraft that Danville has pointed out to Peotone and/or Newtt will need to be re-coordinated if an aircraft needs to change altitude. If an aircraft needed to descend for icing in the Danville airspace; but while in the climb corridor; it could take up to two calls from Danville to Peotone and Newtt to get approval. Such an aircraft would require 2 calls for the initial point-outs; then another 2 calls for any subsequent changes. These extra land-line calls not only decrease time from actively listening to the frequency; but it increases time needed to effect the change in altitude for the aircraft. Shared airspace between 3 sectors is inherently complicated and unnecessary. I think it would be simpler for Newtt's eastern boundary to move east of the C departure track; and Peotone and Newtt's southern boundary move south to the ZKC and ZID boundary; therefore getting rid of the Danville sector. It is in this configuration that I believe Peotone and Newtt can more effectively and safely move traffic through this airspace and reduce complexity; coordination and inefficiencies.

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.