Narrative:

I had been on position on sector 18 radar for a few minutes when I inadvertently dropped the track on air carrier X who was at FL380 flying from east to west through my sector. I do not know how I accidentally dropped the track but was told during the review of the event that it was my position that dropped the track on that aircraft. I did not see air carrier X's limited data block after its track had been dropped. Air carrier X continued through my sector with no full data block and into the next sector; sector 46; with no hand off and no full data block until it reached the next sector to the west; sector 65; who then noticed the limited data block about to enter their airspace without a hand off or full data block. I watched the falcon replay of when the track was dropped and saw that it happened while I was focused on the left side of the scope monitoring an aircraft I had descended for traffic; air carrier X was on the right side of the scope. The rest of the session became busier with arrivals coming from the south during a miles-in-trail restriction; and other traffic conflicts. The two factors that I believe contributed to this are keyboard entry errors and not scanning for limited data blocks within my own sector. Recommendation; I have only been told that it was my position that dropped the track so at this point in time I do not know what type of keyboard entry I had been trying to make at the time the track was accidentally dropped.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Several ZDV Controllers described a deviation event when an aircraft data block was inadvertently dropped and the aircraft transited several sectors without communication or hand off.

Narrative: I had been on position on Sector 18 RADAR for a few minutes when I inadvertently dropped the track on Air Carrier X who was at FL380 flying from east to west through my sector. I do not know how I accidentally dropped the track but was told during the review of the event that it was my position that dropped the track on that aircraft. I did not see Air Carrier X's limited data block after its track had been dropped. Air Carrier X continued through my sector with no full data block and into the next sector; Sector 46; with no hand off and no full data block until it reached the next sector to the west; Sector 65; who then noticed the limited data block about to enter their airspace without a hand off or full data block. I watched the Falcon replay of when the track was dropped and saw that it happened while I was focused on the left side of the scope monitoring an aircraft I had descended for traffic; Air Carrier X was on the right side of the scope. The rest of the session became busier with arrivals coming from the south during a miles-in-trail restriction; and other traffic conflicts. The two factors that I believe contributed to this are keyboard entry errors and not scanning for limited data blocks within my own sector. Recommendation; I have only been told that it was my position that dropped the track so at this point in time I do not know what type of keyboard entry I had been trying to make at the time the track was accidentally dropped.

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.