Commercial Fixed Wing
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure; Human Factors
Had an aircraft on approach to SAF; the Tower called the guy down. Went to remove strips and must have put in the wrong CID. Ended up removing strips on Air Carrier X. I've gotten used to rapidly removing strips for SAF arrivals and didn't bother to use the logic check when confirming the remove strips for the SAF guy. My scan picked up the wrong number on the scope. Would have deviated the next sector most likely had the CIC at the time not come over to ask who that guy was. I put a track on him immediately; [and] then Sector 17 asked if it was so and so... I asked and got all his relevant information back in to the computer and handed him off normally. There were a few things going on with the sector at the time; nothing terribly complex or workload intensive; but steady. Double check the CID/call signs properly in the computer before removing strips. Use the strip for referencing the CID to remove; not the scope. Have SAF Tower be the one to remove strips on an aircraft in the FDIO when they call with a down time. Have data blocks in Class A airspace on a discreet code flash/blink... not like CA; still suppressible; but enough to bring attention to the RADAR controller. My action was so quick and thoughtless that I never realized that I RS'd the wrong aircraft until it was brought to my attention.
Enroute Controller described an unsafe event after hastily removing strip on an IFR SAF arrival only to discover that he had removed the wrong aircraft ID; nearly experiencing a sector airspace deviation.