Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Airspace Violation All Types
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure; Human Factors; Airspace Structure
I was working Sector 10; both the R and D positions. The Supervisor said I was going to get busy and she was getting me a D- Side to help. About the same time the D-Side arrived the sector was getting busy and complex. There was aerial refueling going on and shortly after they entered my airspace they wanted to break up. This is not something that normally happens at this sector or at any other sector in our area. There was no flight plan on one of the aircraft that was refueling. We have been running on ERAM and it is still somewhat of a distraction. The D-Side had a hard time helping with this flight plan information that I needed. Finally; we treated it as a VFR pop up and put it in as a vp. While all that was going on; there were numerous departures off of MSP going West and I am not sure if they got point outs to the adjacent sector. I know I put them on the adjacent sectors scope but I am not sure if the point outs were done. There was traffic for one of the departures but I had already changed its frequency to the high altitude frequency. I know my D-Side was working on that situation. We also work with St Cloud Tower. We need to pass proposals and inbounds. I know the flight plans didn't get passed soon enough. The strip of the aircraft was stripped up but not passed timely. Also; new crossing restrictions were implemented with MSP Approach and they are something that isn't automatic yet. That was also another distraction. It was a very busy stint at Sector 10 and I did my very best to keep separation. Recommendation; I would recommend a few things for this situation: Get a D-Side sooner; give the D-Side a proper briefing; review aerial refueling break ups; get a tracker; become more familiar with ERAM so its more automatic; review MSP crossing restrictions with MSP Approach Sector 10 can get busy very quickly and it is very important to stay ahead of the traffic.
ZMP Controller described a possible airspace incursion with an adjacent sector when a flight of military aircraft participating in a refueling exercise requested a break-up. The reporter listed complexity; volume; and unfamiliarity as causal factors.