Narrative:

Recently ZAU has made a change to their airspace; more specifically with their G44 eon sector. The eon sector (FL190-230) used to be adjacent to the huf/shb sectors at ZID and above the G57 dnv sector at ZAU. I believe that the G44 eon sector is used in ZAU as a departure sector for chicago area southbound departures. The G44 eon sector has recently been changed so that it is no longer adjacent to ZID; but to my knowledge; still exists further north of the ZID boundary; but no longer adjacent. Many of my colleagues have questioned what happened to the G44 eon sector and if it still exists because it is of much importance with some of our ZAU/ZID LOA's for sdf and cvg arrivals; for example. We have been told that G44 is not a factor for us by flms and that; for example; our cvg arrival aircraft are our control for turns and decent (aob FL230 south of dnv) and a point out to dnv (which may have been necessary before) is no longer necessary because dnv now owns all of eon's old airspace. The problem with the change at ZAU is it appears that ZAU's eon sector is still an active sector at ZAU; which can make for potentially unsafe situations. An example of such unsafe situations happened today while I was a d-side controller at the 34/35 sectors. Air carrier X was southbound at FL210 about 25 miles north of the ZAU/ZID boundary around the dnv VORTAC area when my trainee wanted me to get him control for turns on air carrier X with the dnv sector in ZAU. I called to get control for turns and was told that he would call me back. The ZAU controller at dnv called me back and released control for turns about 30 seconds later. The turns were later decided unnecessary for air carrier X by my trainee and an unsafe situation did not result. My impression from this situation is that the dnv controller had no ability to release control of air carrier X because it wasn't his airspace and needed to call eon first to get a release for air carrier X; even though we show air carrier X only being in dnv's airspace and supposedly their control. I feel if traffic was more complex at the time and coordination had to be forwarded from dnv through eon; this may create an unsafe and possibly confusing situation in a time sensitive situation for the ZAU controllers as well. My colleagues; flms; and I would really appreciate a safety review of the current situation of the G44 eon sectoring in ZAU. Hopefully a review of this situation will better help us understand the stratification of ZAU and the safety factors involved. Recommendation; a full review of the ZAU stratification for the G44 eon sector and possible safety concerns.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZID Controller expressed concern regarding recent changes made by adjacent ZAU sectors that resulted in less than clear coordination procedural requirements.

Narrative: Recently ZAU has made a change to their airspace; more specifically with their G44 EON Sector. The EON Sector (FL190-230) used to be adjacent to the HUF/SHB Sectors at ZID and above the G57 DNV Sector at ZAU. I believe that the G44 EON Sector is used in ZAU as a departure sector for Chicago area southbound departures. The G44 EON Sector has recently been changed so that it is no longer adjacent to ZID; but to my knowledge; still exists further north of the ZID boundary; but no longer adjacent. Many of my colleagues have questioned what happened to the G44 EON Sector and if it still exists because it is of much importance with some of our ZAU/ZID LOA's for SDF and CVG arrivals; for example. We have been told that G44 is not a factor for us by FLMs and that; for example; our CVG arrival aircraft are our control for turns and decent (AOB FL230 south of DNV) and a point out to DNV (which may have been necessary before) is no longer necessary because DNV now owns all of EON's old airspace. The problem with the change at ZAU is it appears that ZAU's EON Sector is still an active sector at ZAU; which can make for potentially unsafe situations. An example of such unsafe situations happened today while I was a D-Side Controller at the 34/35 Sectors. Air Carrier X was southbound at FL210 about 25 miles north of the ZAU/ZID boundary around the DNV VORTAC area when my trainee wanted me to get him control for turns on Air Carrier X with the DNV Sector in ZAU. I called to get control for turns and was told that he would call me back. The ZAU Controller at DNV called me back and released control for turns about 30 seconds later. The turns were later decided unnecessary for Air Carrier X by my trainee and an unsafe situation did not result. My impression from this situation is that the DNV Controller had no ability to release control of Air Carrier X because it wasn't his airspace and needed to call EON first to get a release for Air Carrier X; even though we show Air Carrier X only being in DNV's airspace and supposedly their control. I feel if traffic was more complex at the time and coordination had to be forwarded from DNV through EON; this may create an unsafe and possibly confusing situation in a time sensitive situation for the ZAU controllers as well. My colleagues; FLMs; and I would really appreciate a safety review of the current situation of the G44 EON sectoring in ZAU. Hopefully a review of this situation will better help us understand the stratification of ZAU and the safety factors involved. Recommendation; a full review of the ZAU stratification for the G44 EON Sector and possible safety concerns.

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.