ZAU controller was involved in an airspace incursion after a flight failed to tag up because of a wr...

Narrative:

A C402 called airborne asking for his IFR clearance to gbg. I issued a code. He read it back wrong; and I didn't catch it. I had to get another aircraft lower and must have moved on to that situation. I saw the C402 squawk; but didn't realize it was the wrong code. I radar identified him and gave him his clearance. Because the C402 was squawking the wrong code; his data block never tracked up; and he remained a limited data block; and I moved on and forgot about him. A while later; he asked for lower to get into gbg; and I saw that he was well into pia approaches airspace at 6;000 ft; I called pia and told the controller the situation. I put the C402 on the right code; got a data block; and flashed him at pia. Recommendation; I should have listened more closely to assure that his read back was correct. I shouldn't have forgotten him; and I should have noticed the limited data block.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZAU Controller was involved in an airspace incursion after a flight failed to tag up because of a wrong beacon code; the aircraft was then allowed to enter adjacent airspace in error.

Narrative: A C402 called airborne asking for his IFR clearance to GBG. I issued a code. He read it back wrong; and I didn't catch it. I had to get another aircraft lower and must have moved on to that situation. I saw the C402 squawk; but didn't realize it was the wrong code. I RADAR identified him and gave him his clearance. Because the C402 was squawking the wrong code; his Data Block never tracked up; and he remained a Limited Data Block; and I moved on and forgot about him. A while later; he asked for lower to get into GBG; and I saw that he was well into PIA Approaches airspace at 6;000 FT; I called PIA and told the Controller the situation. I put the C402 on the right code; got a Data Block; and flashed him at PIA. Recommendation; I should have listened more closely to assure that his read back was correct. I shouldn't have forgotten him; and I should have noticed the Limited Data Block.

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	939894
Time
Date	201103
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZAU.ARTCC
State Reference	IL
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna 402/402C/B379 Businessliner/Utiliner
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

ZAU controller was involved in an airspace incursion after a flight failed to tag up because of a wrong beacon code; the aircraft was then allowed to enter adjacent airspace in error.