Cessna 170
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2.5
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Workload
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Airspace Structure; Procedure; Human Factors
I was working Local Control position. Aircraft X departed enroute. I entered a Center flight plan for the aircraft to receive continued flight following beyond TRACON airspace to his final destination. When nearing the boundary of TRACON airspace; the TRACON controller terminated Radar services instead of handing the aircraft off to Center. This creates a potentially dangerous situation in which an aircraft which had requested flight following is not being provided with those services.As a matter of standard practice; TRACON terminates Radar services to VFR aircraft when they near the boundary instead of handing the aircraft off to TRACON. This occurs even when Tower has done the extra work of entering a Center flight plan; alleviating that work from TRACON.Unless an aircraft requests termination of flight following; hand-offs should be performed for all aircraft so they are not denied the VFR flight following services they request. Services should be provided in accordance with F.A.A JO 7110.65 7-6-1.
An MRI Tower Controller observed the TRACON Controller terminate VFR services to an aircraft instead of handing off the aircraft to the Center.