PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 31
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Workload
ATC Issue All Types; Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance
Human Factors; Procedure
Today was the 5th day of my work week. The prior week I was on vacation. The whole week I worked every sector except PKB and PIK LOWS. This afternoon I sat down to work all the low altitude sectors combined at PKB LOW. (I was working PKB; PIK; and CMH LOWS.) The BUCKEYE MOA+ATCAA; BRUSH CREEK MOA; CHARLIE A ATCAA; and CHARLIE B ATCAA were all going active with 2 sets of F16's. Traffic quickly started to build. A D-side was assigned to work with me. Traffic continued to pick up with multiple IFR; VFR; PKB arrival and departure flights. My D-side Controller rapidly changed. I had 3 different D-sides working with me during all this traffic. Yes; I was offered breaks; but the sector was too busy to give it up. My D-sides took the breaks instead. The Supervisor left to go to the standup briefing and put a CIC (Controller in Charge) at the desk. APE HI was trying to point out a PIT arrival over CTW because I was so busy. I called APE HI and took radar on the PIT arrival. The APE radar commented that he tried to just point him out to me; but I had so many data blocks in my airspace that he couldn't see what was going on. After that comment; I asked the CIC to split CMH LOW out for some relief so; I continued working the herd of airplanes through. Traffic slowed a bit and my D-side moved over to CMH LOW radar to open the position. I called the CMH LOW radar for the briefing and gave him the sector. After hanging up; I took a breath and scanned the rest of my airspace. I noticed Aircraft X; P28A/A; VFR/85; flying direct W91; was 4nm inside CKB Approach Control's airspace without a hand off. I called CKB Approach immediately for a handoff. CKB took radar on Aircraft X. This was the last position I worked on my 5th day of the work week. As I mentioned in the description; this was my first time of the week working PKB and PIK LOWS. When I went to monitor the FALCON replay of this event; I had a difficult time counting the data blocks on my scope. I counted at least 20 aircraft that I was working during the time that APE HI was trying to point out the PIT arrival over CTW. That is a lot of aircraft to talk with; especially since it is covered over 3 sectors with individual frequencies. By the time I split CMH LOW out; I had overlooked that Aircraft X did not auto-flash to CKB Approach Control. It seems that I probably had tunnel vision; focusing all my attention at the CMH LOW sector. There was a huge amount of traffic in the CMH LOW sector; but I still had traffic in the PKB and PIK LOW sectors. I should have asked for the sector to be split out sooner. Since my D-sides quickly left position; I should have asked for a tracker. At least the tracker would have provided continuity with the traffic flow. I should have worked my way over to PKB and PIK Lows earlier in the week than today. Also; relying on auto-flash for a hand off is never a good idea. From the Falcon replay; it looks that Aircraft X had crossed CKB Approach Control's airspace by just a couple of miles earlier on its route. Whenever we have an aircraft traverse an Approach Control twice; the hand off never works the second time. That idea never came to mind when I initially took the hand off for Aircraft X. So; tunnel vision was the problem. I need to make sure I actively and purposefully scan ALL the airspace ALL the time. An extra set of eyes sitting right next to me for the duration would have helped also to fully scan all the airspace all the time. I needed to call for a tracker and will do that next time.
ZID Controller reported an airspace deviation due to task saturation while controlling multiple sectors.