En route controller reported that when an aircraft lost rvsm capability due to equipment malfunction...

Narrative:

A MD88 was inbound to atl on the FLCON6 arrival. Aircraft deviated in the prior sector and they called to coordinate this and to advise that the transponder was intermittent. The altitude was reported at FL340. As the aircraft entered my sector in rvsm airspace I questioned the pilot of his rvsm status. The pilot responded that the loss of mode C did in fact invalidate rvsm qualification. I changed the code modifier to /C to reflect the new status and descended the aircraft on the arrival and out of rvsm airspace. This incident did not cause a loss of separation and oe (operational error); however it had the possibility of causing multiple oes if it had occurred during a busy period of inbound traffic to atl. The FLCON6 arrival crosses the clt departure stream in this sector. We routinely climb clt departures out to with in 1;000 ft; standard separation; of the arrivals into atl.a refresher course in the minimum requirements for rvsm qualifications should be given; as many people have either never really learned this or have forgotten this. A list of primary requirements might put on the sector. While this list can be long it could be simplified to the basics so that a controller would be able to immediately recognize an equipment failure that could cause a loss of rvsm qualification.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: En Route Controller reported that when an aircraft lost RVSM capability due to equipment malfunction; the flight crew and the previous controller did not recognize and report the fact and take corrective action.

Narrative: A MD88 was inbound to ATL on the FLCON6 arrival. Aircraft deviated in the prior sector and they called to coordinate this and to advise that the transponder was intermittent. The altitude was reported at FL340. As the aircraft entered my sector in RVSM airspace I questioned the pilot of his RVSM status. The pilot responded that the loss of Mode C did in fact invalidate RVSM qualification. I changed the code modifier to /C to reflect the new status and descended the aircraft on the arrival and out of RVSM airspace. This incident did not cause a loss of separation and OE (Operational Error); however it had the possibility of causing multiple OEs if it had occurred during a busy period of inbound traffic to ATL. The FLCON6 arrival crosses the CLT departure stream in this sector. We routinely climb CLT departures out to with in 1;000 FT; standard separation; of the arrivals into ATL.A refresher course in the minimum requirements for RVSM qualifications should be given; as many people have either never really learned this or have forgotten this. A list of primary requirements might put on the sector. While this list can be long it could be simplified to the basics so that a controller would be able to immediately recognize an equipment failure that could cause a loss of RVSM qualification.

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	943588
Time
Date	201104
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZTL.ARTCC
State Reference	GA
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-88
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	STAR FLCON6
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

En route controller reported that when an aircraft lost rvsm capability due to equipment malfunction; the flight crew and the previous controller did not recognize and report the fact and take corrective action.