Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Other / Unknown
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings
I noticed a flight plan on a C172 in my EDST (URET) list because he was WAFDOF/IAFDOF at 5;000 FT northwest bound. The routing was X23..LBV..KMY. The first two fixes are in Florida; and the destination is in Alaska. I pulled up a route display on the RADAR display and it showed the aircraft route line southwest of OMA Approach's (R90) airspace. Some time later I realized that no one had called and APPREQed the WAFDOF. At that time I pulled up the route display on the RADAR display and it showed the aircraft in the vicinity of OLU; but there was no limited Data Block that I could see anywhere matching the beacon code assigned to the C172. The EDST display showed the Flight Plan not tracking; but there was no overdue notification on it. I called OMA Approach (R90) to inquire whether they had worked the aircraft. They said they had a Flight Plan but didn't recall working the aircraft. I then called the adjacent sector and they told me that someone earlier had noticed the Flight Plan but had made no further inquiries about the aircraft. At that time I notified my supervisor about the missing aircraft. A while later; the EDST Flight Plan grayed out and I assumed that someone had removed it. I then notified the supervisor that the Flight Plan had gotten removed. However; the next controller said the Flight Plan was still in the system. A Flight Plan readout (FR) revealed the Flight Plan was still in the system; it had merely been removed from my EDST list automatically. One of the ERAM Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) noticed the Flight Plan gray out and started investigating this as an anomaly. As far as I know; this Flight Plan should have showed up in my EDST flight list overdue and not been automatically removed from the list. I believe the removal was due to an ERAM bug in the EDST. So I told the supervisor I had been mistaken and that the Flight Plan had not gotten removed from the system. By the time the C172 reached ZMP's airspace; he would have flown over 1;000 miles (and through several ARTCCs and Approach Controls). However; apparently I was the first controller to have noticed the aircraft wasn't on his route. This is an ongoing problem with EDST/URET. Overdue aircraft are frequently overlooked for long periods of time because the notification systems don't draw enough attention to the problem. ERAM bugs need to be fixed. Also; there needs to be a better notification system for overdue aircraft in the EDST; it's too easy for controllers to overlook overdue aircraft with the current design of EDST/URET.
ZMP Controller described in detail an ERAM anomaly that reportedly fails to adequately notify controllers of overdue aircraft in the EDST.