Narrative:

This was an aircraft coming from mazatlan center. Sector 46 is established as a 'coordination sector' for flight plans going to or coming from mazatlan center. Unfortunately; most IFR aircraft regardless of altitude; will auto-acquire a data block on sector 46. This means that often times an aircraft that is above sector 46 altitudes (FL260 and above) will not acquire on either the high altitude sector (91) or the ultra high sector 65; resulting in an operational deviation. This is hazardous to opposite direction aircraft that are also climbing. The automation department has been notified but claims this cannot be fixed. The automation department must find a way to fix this. Fix the automation so that aircraft will auto-acquire in the proper sector's airspace.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZAB Controller voiced concern regarding handoff procedures between ZAB and Mazatlan Center; claiming inbound aircraft will only auto handoff to Sector 46; when in fact they are at other sector altitudes.

Narrative: This was an aircraft coming from Mazatlan Center. Sector 46 is established as a 'Coordination Sector' for flight plans going to or coming from Mazatlan Center. Unfortunately; most IFR aircraft regardless of altitude; will auto-acquire a data block on Sector 46. This means that often times an aircraft that is above Sector 46 altitudes (FL260 and above) will not acquire on either the high altitude Sector (91) or the Ultra High Sector 65; resulting in an operational deviation. This is hazardous to opposite direction aircraft that are also climbing. The Automation Department has been notified but claims this cannot be fixed. The Automation Department must find a way to fix this. Fix the automation so that aircraft will auto-acquire in the proper sector's airspace.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.