A320
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance
Human Factors; Procedure
An A320 was climbing out of MIA heading south towards Havana Airspace; direct UCA. As per our LOA with Havana; we must call on the land line and hand off each individual aircraft. The A320 was the first of three aircraft I had to hand off; so I let it get up to 20 miles North of the boundary so the aircraft behind would be close enough that Havana could take all three at the same time. As the A320 neared about 20 north of the boundary; I attempted to call Havana to affect the hand off. Havana did not pick up. I tried numerous times between 20 miles north of the boundary and five miles north of the boundary. Still; Havana would not pick up the line. Finally; I said over the line that I would have to turn the A320 if they did not pick up and take the hand off. Havana still did not pick up. Because of Havana's refusal to pick up; I turned the A320 to a 090 heading and stopped their climb at FL290 since the third aircraft going South was going over URSUS (to the East of where the A320 would have crossed the boundary) and was already leaving FL290. The A320 delayed and did not start their turn until they had already violated Havana's airspace without a hand off; point out; or any acknowledgement from Havana whatsoever. When our automation with Havana went into effect we had to change our LOA with them. One of the changes Havana pushed for and got was the removal of a procedure we could use if the receiving controller was unable to be coordinated with for a hand off. So long as an estimate was received and non-RADAR separation existed between the aircraft you were attempting to hand off and all other aircraft transitioning the boundary; we were able to terminate RADAR service and switch the aircraft to the receiving facility's frequency if we were unable to manually hand off the aircraft. With this provision removed we must manually hand off each aircraft transitioning the boundary. Yet; despite this necessity; Havana still remains very difficult to get on the line to affect a hand off. In fact; they only seem to have gotten worse with getting on the line when we need to give them a hand off. Only when they have an aircraft to hand off to us at the same time can they reasonably be relied on to answer the line in a timely manner. Many times they don't even call to hand off their own aircraft to us; leaving us in the quandary of having to abide by an LOA they insisted on; yet many times don't even follow themselves. This situation is absurd. Fortunately; the event I write about in this report happened at a slow time of the day when I could devote my entire attention to this issue; and still the A320 violated Havana's airspace. The A320 was only traffic for one other aircraft I had and the conflict was easily resolved. Later on during the day this could easily not be the case. If we must turn aircraft at the last moment to avoid entering Havana's airspace because they refuse to get on the line and take a hand off a very unsafe situation arises when numerous aircraft are transitioning near URSUS Intersection and Sector 40 is busy with other aircraft and weather. Being able to terminate and ship aircraft when Havana will not communicate with us to do hand offs is absolutely necessary. We need this provision back; especially when many Havana controllers do not even abide by it themselves.
MIA Center traffic incurred into Havana airspace when Havana failed to respond to numerous land line calls regarding hand offs. The reporter noted Havana Center does not comply with the LOA provisions.