An enroute controller voiced concern regarding a customs surveillance aircraft operating without lig...

Narrative:

During a late night shift; an A320 was inbound via a STAR arrival. A customs aircraft had been operating in the vicinity at various altitudes during the time when four or five successive aircraft were inbound. I had to call traffic to each of the arrivals as the customs aircraft was in close proximity to the STAR. The customs aircraft was not talking to ATC. It was squawking a discrete code and I was advised it was operating with no lights. I called traffic multiple times to the A320; the last being three o'clock and three miles at one zero thousand six hundred unverified. The A320 never saw the customs aircraft which seemed to alter course and go behind the airbus. With no mode C verification and no communications this situation seems to be very unsafe. Customs aircraft should be radar identified and handed off to the facility affected even if only to monitor the frequency for traffic calls and to provide a verified mode C. In this case; when I called the amic; he advised he didn't even know the type aircraft. Operating at night without aircraft lights may be a necessary mission for national security; but doing it with a lack of procedures is dangerous.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Enroute Controller voiced concern regarding a Customs surveillance aircraft operating without lights and no verification regarding altitude and/or routing information.

Narrative: During a late night shift; an A320 was inbound via a STAR arrival. A customs aircraft had been operating in the vicinity at various altitudes during the time when four or five successive aircraft were inbound. I had to call traffic to each of the arrivals as the customs aircraft was in close proximity to the STAR. The customs aircraft was not talking to ATC. It was squawking a discrete code and I was advised it was operating with no lights. I called traffic multiple times to the A320; the last being three o'clock and three miles at one zero thousand six hundred unverified. The A320 never saw the customs aircraft which seemed to alter course and go behind the Airbus. With no Mode C verification and no communications this situation seems to be very unsafe. Customs aircraft should be RADAR identified and handed off to the facility affected even if only to monitor the frequency for traffic calls and to provide a verified Mode C. In this case; when I called the AMIC; he advised he didn't even know the type aircraft. Operating at night without aircraft lights may be a necessary mission for national security; but doing it with a lack of procedures is dangerous.

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	920310
Time
Date	201011
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Flight Data / Clearance Delivery
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Altitude Undershoot Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

An enroute controller voiced concern regarding a customs surveillance aircraft operating without lights and no verification regarding altitude and/or routing information.