Narrative:

A strip printed; stating that W105 was going active and control of that airspace was reverting to agency X at a future time. As the ojti at position RA31; I was unaware of notification. I was later notified by the flm that the airspace was 'active' and questioned as to the point-out status of an aircraft; which was in close proximity of entering the warning area. I immediately attempted to point the aircraft out to agency X; but reply was 'unable.' I then notified R31 controller and the controller vectored the aircraft to expedite exit from airspace. Recommendation; under current LOA/SOP procedures; if at least 20 minutes prior notice of activation is given to the tmu mission coordinator position by agency X; then the only notification given to the center controllers is a printed strip from the tmu. If less than 20 minutes notice is given; then agency X will call each effected center sector with the notification. When the effected sector receives the notification strip; that controller notifies the flm of activation. The current procedure is inadequate to prevent failure of notification. In this particular incident; I as the ojti have no way of being made aware of the notification; short of making the developmental hand me each strip after they read it. Since the developmental missed the notification strip; neither myself (ojti) or the cpc at the radar position were made aware; nor was the flm. Even under a non-training status; a strip is inadequate notification and may be missed or not read in a timely manner; preventing adequate notification. A simple solution to notification is for agency X to always call affected sectors for airspace activation. This will require a change to the LOA. Another solution that could be made wholly internal and not involve the LOA change process; would be for the tmu mission coordinator position to call the area flm and verbally notify that position of the future activation. The flm/controller in charge position could then ensure that the affected sectors have read the strip and are properly notified. This is a simple change and would help preclude a future breakdown in the passing of information.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZBW controllers described an airspace infraction when notification of restricted airspace activation was not relayed to all concerned personnel; the reporter providing a number of corrective suggestions.

Narrative: A strip printed; stating that W105 was going active and control of that airspace was reverting to Agency X at a future time. As the OJTI at position RA31; I was unaware of notification. I was later notified by the FLM that the airspace was 'active' and questioned as to the point-out status of an aircraft; which was in close proximity of entering the warning area. I immediately attempted to point the aircraft out to Agency X; but reply was 'unable.' I then notified R31 Controller and the Controller vectored the aircraft to expedite exit from airspace. Recommendation; under current LOA/SOP procedures; if at least 20 minutes prior notice of activation is given to the TMU Mission Coordinator position by Agency X; then the only notification given to the Center controllers is a printed strip from the TMU. If less than 20 minutes notice is given; then Agency X will call each effected Center sector with the notification. When the effected sector receives the notification strip; that Controller notifies the FLM of activation. The current procedure is inadequate to prevent failure of notification. In this particular incident; I as the OJTI have no way of being made aware of the notification; short of making the Developmental hand me each strip after they read it. Since the Developmental missed the notification strip; neither myself (OJTI) or the CPC at the RADAR position were made aware; nor was the FLM. Even under a non-training status; a strip is inadequate notification and may be missed or not read in a timely manner; preventing adequate notification. A simple solution to notification is for Agency X to always call affected sectors for airspace activation. This will require a change to the LOA. Another solution that could be made wholly internal and not involve the LOA change process; would be for the TMU Mission Coordinator position to call the area FLM and verbally notify that position of the future activation. The FLM/CIC position could then ensure that the affected sectors have read the strip and are properly notified. This is a simple change and would help preclude a future breakdown in the passing of information.

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.