Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Retractable Gear
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 27
Distraction; Human-Machine Interface; Situational Awareness; Troubleshooting; Workload; Confusion
ATC Issue All Types; Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Air Traffic Control Separated Traffic
Human Factors; Procedure; ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings
I saw an aircraft in my airspace with a code and an altitude that had not been handed off to me. I looked up the code in the computer and saw two flight plans. I attempted to contact the aircraft on my frequency but got no response. I called my Controller In Charge (CIC) over to tell him this was happening and then I called the last sector who would have worked this aircraft and ask them if they had any knowledge of him. While I was on the line I could hear the controller on switch this aircraft to my frequency. I asked controller what was happening with him and controller said something like 'He was lost.' Then I asked the aircraft to ident; if he was IFR; and what the last frequency was that he was on. I believe he said they forgot about him; or something like that. A bit later the controller said they checked back with several sectors to see what happened. Cleveland made a manual handoff to HNK sector and then from there I am not sure what occurred.I was surprised that this limited data block did not auto-acquire on my scope. I thought in our new system this was supposed to happen. My recommendation would be for this to happen; because this scenario could have been dangerous if I had been busy.
ZBW Controller discovers an untagged aircraft in his airspace. Controller tries to identify aircraft and checks on frequency for the aircraft. Controller calls possible previous sector and Controller transfers communication to the investigating Controller. Controller asks pilot what happened and pilot advised a Controller possibly forgot about them.