Large Transport
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 14
Workload; Situational Awareness; Distraction; Troubleshooting
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings
I cleared Aircraft X out of the Westover MOA to return to SPS. I put 12;000 feet in the altitude portion of the data block; then pressed S and the aircrafts CID; then enter to hand the aircraft off to SPS Approach. I returned to scanning the northern part of my airspace assuming the handoff was flashed to SPS Approach. CSM Tower; OKC Approach; and END Approach then all called me on the shout lines within 10 seconds of each other as I'm trying to take care of their requests and information; multiple aircraft also call in on frequency. As I'm trying to take care of everyone's request; SPS Approach calls and asks if that target is Aircraft X returning to base; I said; 'Yes.' Then I tried to flash a handoff to them again; this time it didn't take again. So I had to RF Aircraft X's flight plan to SPS Approach. Once I did that the aircraft handed off to SPS Approach without any issues. For what ever reason; automation between our two facilities;(ZFW:SPS) isn't always seamless as it needs to be. I know I handed Aircraft X off the first time; and just didn't have time to get back and check the handoff. It would be great if it would work all the time; but we see this automation issue all the time when it comes to handoffs to SPS.Fix the automation so the flight plans consistently pass; so there will not be any missed handoffs.
ZFW Controller reports of automation problem between ZFW and SPS Approach.