B777 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors; Procedure; ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings
I took over the sector and during the briefing I asked if there was anything special I needed to know about the Russian traffic coordinated over RUSOR. I asked this question because I had overheard the previous controller having coordination problems with this particular transfer approximately 20 minutes prior. I was told that that everything was taken care of and I assumed the sector. During my time on position I noticed a B777's projected position being hundreds of miles west of its coordinated boundary fix and thought that since the system tracks the target with the time associated with the transfer; I thought the B777 would not be a factor for quite awhile. Later; I received two messages; both were that the B777's estimate and altitude were out of conformance. Based on the target's position in Advanced Technologies and Oceanic Procedures (ATOP); I assumed that this was erroneous information and did not investigate further and deleted the messages without processing them. I then received a call from the D63/69 Controller asking what aircraft I had coming to them currently over ROCET. Over that fix was an unknown beacon code with an altitude of FL350. I told the Controller I did not know who the aircraft was and would investigate. I then called my supervisor; and asked him if he knew who that target was. He replied that it was the B777. The problem is that the B777's target showed a RUSOR time. His target did not track and show him going over the fix; which; is what ATOP is supposed to do. Also; his coordinated altitude of FL410 did not match his current altitude of FL350. I took immediate action to try and talk with the B777 and also to obtain voice communication with him; and then coordinated with R63/69 the information. The target was not tracking with the projected time in the system. The only way to have verified this would be to manually open the coordination window to check the coordinated time; but I did not know there was still a problem with the transfer so I did not investigate. I also could have processed the position report; but I assumed the report was erroneous because we often get erroneous reports from previous sectors because the ADS-C shows a different altitude than what is coordinated.
ZAN Controller described a confused transfer of traffic to Russian airspace event noting equipment and possible procedural problems that were causal factors.