A319
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Other / Unknown
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure
Tower gave me an automated rolling call on an A319 departing Runway 36C. The Data Tag for the A319 never acquired because the aircraft was squawking the wrong code instead of the assigned squak code. Although Tower can have an aircraft contact Departure prior to the Data Tag acquiring; they must advise the Departure Controller if the tag does not acquire. In this case the Tower never called. Previously; the Tower Controller was responsible to ensure the Data Tag of each departure acquired before switching that aircraft to the Departure Controller. I have no idea why this procedure was changed; but since the change; Tower often fails to call when the Data Tag fails to acquire.
M03 Controller voiced concern regarding the new Tower departure coordination procedure noting the Tower often fails to coordinate when a Data Tag fails to acquire.