Narrative:

I was working as an OJT (on job training) instructor for an radar-side trainee on R08. At the time of the event we had a VFR flight northbound into dij that reported the field in sight and requested to terminate VFR flight following. Per the falcon radar replay the radar-side trainee attempted to remove strips on the aircraft after terminating flight following. When the prompt 'are you sure?' came up; the developmental typed in 'Y'. At that moment; the adjacent sector R16 called us with a point out for an aircraft departing pna eastbound. The trainee responded with 'point out approved'; meanwhile the remove strips command timed out in the system. After the point out; the same sector R16 performed a handoff on aircraft X. The trainee accepted the handoff with the keyboard and immediately removed strips on the same cid (computer identification number). The aircraft was still in sector 16's airspace but since it dropped off the scope; now an intruder target; they never transferred communications to our frequency. The aircraft flew the northeast portion of our airspace and then entered sector 6's airspace as an intruder target. Halfway through sector 6's airspace; the pilot pulled up a chart and got sector 31's frequency and made contact with them; who in turn located the intruder target and we confirmed that was indeed the track and aircraft and then re-entered the flight plan info.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A ZLC ARTCC Trainee Controller removed flight plan data and the full data tag of the radar display of the wrong aircraft. The aircraft flew through three Center sectors undetected by Controllers.

Narrative: I was working as an OJT (On Job Training) Instructor for an radar-side trainee on R08. At the time of the event we had a VFR flight northbound into DIJ that reported the field in sight and requested to terminate VFR flight following. Per the FALCON radar replay the Radar-side trainee attempted to remove strips on the aircraft after terminating flight following. When the prompt 'are you sure?' came up; the developmental typed in 'Y'. At that moment; the adjacent Sector R16 called us with a point out for an aircraft departing PNA eastbound. The Trainee responded with 'point out approved'; meanwhile the remove strips command timed out in the system. After the point out; the same sector R16 performed a handoff on Aircraft X. The trainee accepted the handoff with the keyboard and immediately removed strips on the same CID (Computer Identification Number). The aircraft was still in sector 16's airspace but since it dropped off the scope; now an intruder target; they never transferred communications to our frequency. The aircraft flew the northeast portion of our airspace and then entered sector 6's airspace as an intruder target. Halfway through sector 6's airspace; the pilot pulled up a chart and got sector 31's frequency and made contact with them; who in turn located the intruder target and we confirmed that was indeed the track and aircraft and then re-entered the flight plan info.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.