Medium Large Transport
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 17
Time Pressure; Situational Awareness; Distraction
Airspace Violation All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Human Factors; Procedure; ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings
Aircraft X departed ANC. Approximately 15 minutes after departure the aircraft requested clearance back to ANC which was issued via TAGER direct ANC and aircraft was issued descent. Aircraft was queried as to the need for assistance or direct routing and responded negative. Flight plan was amended to *TZ (present position) direct TAGER direct ANC and accepted by the FDP. As Aircraft X was nearing TAGER (arrival gate/airspace boundary fix) another IFR aircraft (southwest of ANC descending from FL190 to 120) went into Conflict Alert with an unknown VFR aircraft indicating 16;500 feet MSL. Traffic was issued; and approximately 30 seconds later a Traffic Alert (TA) was issued and the IFR aircraft was advised to maintain at or above 17;000 feet. The aircraft acknowledged. The VFR aircraft; apparently having been monitoring the frequency called and stated he was the traffic. A squawk was issued and the aircraft advised to maintain VFR at or below 16;500 feet. The IFR aircraft; approaching 17;000 reported a RA (resolution advisory) and subsequently reported the VFR aircraft in sight. Aircraft X was 1-2 miles from TAGER at this point and I transferred communications to ANC Approach Control; not realizing that no Fix Pairs enabling automated handoff had been assigned when the flight plan was amended and Aircraft X entered Anchorage Approach airspace with no automated handoff or manual coordination. I was distracted by the traffic situation south of Anchorage and its resolution and failed to see that Aircraft X had not handed off properly. Fix Pairs- fix pairs not being assigned when changing destination on an aircraft is a recurring problem and should be resolved. I assumed Aircraft X had handed off to Approach Control even though the data block did not reflect that. I was distracted by a higher priority safety event and did not manually input Fix Pairs or coordinate with Approach. I saw what I expected to see; and not was actually occurred. Pay attention to detail.
ZAN Controller reports of an aircraft returning to ANC; which entered ANC airspace without a correct handoff resulting in an airspace violation. ZAN Controller did not enter fix pairs; so the computer would not hand off correctly.