Narrative:

I was conducting training on the d-side; and aircraft X appeared in our active list as an overdue aircraft alert. As a buf departure we called the approach control to verify his status; they said they had nothing on him. We asked our supervisor to investigate further. A while later the supervisor advised us the aircraft was departing. Buf approach called us for a manual handoff; we looked and found the flight plan had disappeared on aircraft X. The trainee took down the flight plan information and began entering a 'vp' [shortened flight plan] into the computer. I suggested using the template to enter it; but he did it quickly and the template was not used. He did a field 10 amendment to add the route information. I did not see then that the vp had omitted the departure point in the flight plan. I also must have missed the unsuccessful transmission message (utm); or it possibly went to the next sector (high side) where the violation occurred. We did not realize the missing departure point had caused the entire flight plan to go unsuccessful to ZBW; and flashed the data block for higher. The high side accepted the handoff; released higher and flashed the data block (DB) on to ZBW. Now I saw the handoff fail; I saw the high side reattempt the handoff and it failed again. Meanwhile the sector had become extremely complex and I missed the r-side switching the plane to ZBW; not realizing the handoff was not completed. The high side was also busy and began manual handoff to ZBW; not realizing we had switched the plane. ZBW had no information on the plane. The aircraft entered ZBW at FL290 without a handoff.there were so many factors that compounded to create this error. Although the high side had control of the data block at the time of the airspace violation; I absolutely consider this to have been my fault. If I had insisted on the full entry of the flight plan using the template or a fp message this may not have happened. My primary mistake was not confirming the flight plan entry. I should have checked with my r-side and the high r-side when I saw the handoff failing. The sector was quite complex but I should not have assumed the high side saw the handoff fail. I did discuss with the trainee the importance of fp or template entry of flight plans. I believe the center he came from this was a correct way they entered flight plans; and we may have a difference in automation that confused the issue.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZOB Controller reported of a airspace violation due to an unidentified computer problem that resulted in an aircraft not being handed off.

Narrative: I was conducting training on the D-side; and Aircraft X appeared in our active list as an overdue aircraft alert. As a BUF departure we called the approach control to verify his status; they said they had nothing on him. We asked our supervisor to investigate further. A while later the supervisor advised us the aircraft was departing. BUF APCH called us for a manual handoff; we looked and found the flight plan had disappeared on Aircraft X. The trainee took down the flight plan information and began entering a 'VP' [shortened flight plan] into the computer. I suggested using the template to enter it; but he did it quickly and the template was not used. He did a field 10 amendment to add the route information. I did not see then that the VP had omitted the departure point in the flight plan. I also must have missed the Unsuccessful Transmission Message (UTM); or it possibly went to the next sector (high side) where the violation occurred. We did not realize the missing departure point had caused the entire flight plan to go unsuccessful to ZBW; and flashed the data block for higher. The high side accepted the handoff; released higher and flashed the Data Block (DB) on to ZBW. Now I saw the handoff fail; I saw the high side reattempt the handoff and it failed again. Meanwhile the sector had become extremely complex and I missed the R-side switching the plane to ZBW; not realizing the handoff was not completed. The high side was also busy and began manual handoff to ZBW; not realizing we had switched the plane. ZBW had no information on the plane. The aircraft entered ZBW at FL290 without a handoff.There were so many factors that compounded to create this error. Although the high side had control of the data block at the time of the airspace violation; I absolutely consider this to have been my fault. If I had insisted on the full entry of the flight plan using the template or a FP message this may not have happened. My primary mistake was not confirming the Flight Plan entry. I should have checked with my R-Side and the high R-side when I saw the handoff failing. The sector was quite complex but I should not have assumed the high side saw the handoff fail. I did discuss with the trainee the importance of FP or template entry of flight plans. I believe the Center he came from this was a correct way they entered flight plans; and we may have a difference in automation that confused the issue.

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.