Narrative:

A C130 was handed off to me; I descended him to 100 his request and direction of flight. The C130 then asked for direct the BKE203020 fix the initial for IR304. This new route put him over an area of higher terrain (11;000) that was not noticed right away. There was still time as the aircraft was descending through FL200. I then started the hand off to salt lake center U31; and it immediately failed. I called over to the eram sme who is certified in our area and asked him/her to sit down on the d-side and coordinate the manual hand off of the C130 to U31; which he did. ZLC U31 had no information on the C130 and needed all flight plan information. I then switched the aircraft to U31 when they took radar. A minute or so later the MSAW alert started flashing as the C130 was descending through 160 for 100 over a 110 mia. I called ZLC U31 and verified they had caught the discrepancy and stopped the C130 at 110. Judging by ZLC U31's answer; I don't know if they had caught the altitude discrepancy or not. They were obviously busy still trying to put in a flight plan for the C130. This event became an issue for several reasons. First and foremost; eram failed for a period of time at ZLC. It was during this time the C130's information was being passed from ZSE's system to ZLC's. This seems to happen so often with military aircraft. Second; I was under extra workload trying to find the IR304 route/altitude information that the C130 was flying to. We have all the ir routes shown for ZSE airspace on our maps but none of the routes outside our airspace. Not even the ones that enter only 15 miles outside. This situation was saved by the MSAW alert; but complicated by the failures and lacking materials of eram. Fix eram or stop using it. Add more information to the maps.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZSE Controller described a potential terrain separation event cause primarily by ERAM failures; the reporter recommending termination of ERAM until satisfactory changes can be made.

Narrative: A C130 was handed off to me; I descended him to 100 his request and direction of flight. The C130 then asked for direct the BKE203020 fix the initial for IR304. This new route put him over an area of higher terrain (11;000) that was not noticed right away. There was still time as the aircraft was descending through FL200. I then started the hand off to Salt Lake Center U31; and it immediately failed. I called over to the ERAM SME who is certified in our area and asked him/her to sit down on the D-Side and coordinate the manual hand off of the C130 to U31; which he did. ZLC U31 had no information on the C130 and needed all flight plan information. I then switched the aircraft to U31 when they took RADAR. A minute or so later the MSAW alert started flashing as the C130 was descending through 160 for 100 over a 110 MIA. I called ZLC U31 and verified they had caught the discrepancy and stopped the C130 at 110. Judging by ZLC U31's answer; I don't know if they had caught the altitude discrepancy or not. They were obviously busy still trying to put in a flight plan for the C130. This event became an issue for several reasons. First and foremost; ERAM failed for a period of time at ZLC. It was during this time the C130's information was being passed from ZSE's system to ZLC's. This seems to happen so often with military aircraft. Second; I was under extra workload trying to find the IR304 route/altitude information that the C130 was flying to. We have all the IR routes shown for ZSE airspace on our maps but none of the routes outside our airspace. Not even the ones that enter only 15 miles outside. This situation was saved by the MSAW Alert; but complicated by the failures and lacking materials of ERAM. Fix ERAM or stop using it. Add more information to the maps.

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.