TRACON controller described an airspace incursion event when misreading the data block symbology. Th...

Narrative:

A PA31 departed IFR to the northeast; climbing to 5;000 ft. When the PA31 was approximately 10 miles from the second boundary; I gave him a frequency change to contact them. I thought that I had flashed him and they had taken the hand off. One ARTS symbol is north and the other's hand off symbol was an H. I thought the north was an H and I switched the aircraft. During that time a large line of heavy rain was moving west to east over the first (north) airport; with arrivals coming inbound to land. Although the traffic level was low; the complexity was starting to build with arrivals not wanting to land at the main airport; wanting to divert or hold. I then noticed when the aircraft was 10 miles into the second airport's airspace that he was not on the correct controlling symbol. I immediately called the second airport's tower (H) and made sure they had radar contact and did an automated hand off. I recommend that the controlling symbols be changed; so they don't look similar. [Also]; slow my scanning down. If I had slowed down; I may have noticed that the aircraft was not properly handed off.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TRACON Controller described an airspace incursion event when misreading the data block symbology. The reporter noted that the subject symbols should be changed to prevent future errors.

Narrative: A PA31 departed IFR to the northeast; climbing to 5;000 FT. When the PA31 was approximately 10 miles from the second boundary; I gave him a frequency change to contact them. I thought that I had flashed him and they had taken the hand off. One ARTS symbol is N and the other's hand off symbol was an H. I thought the N was an H and I switched the aircraft. During that time a large line of heavy rain was moving west to east over the first (N) airport; with arrivals coming inbound to land. Although the traffic level was low; the complexity was starting to build with arrivals not wanting to land at the main airport; wanting to divert or hold. I then noticed when the aircraft was 10 miles into the second airport's airspace that he was not on the correct controlling symbol. I immediately called the second airport's Tower (H) and made sure they had RADAR contact and did an automated hand off. I recommend that the controlling symbols be changed; so they don't look similar. [Also]; slow my scanning down. If I had slowed down; I may have noticed that the aircraft was not properly handed off.

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.

Attributes
ACN	974525
Time
Date	201110
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-31 Navajo/Chieftan/Mojave/T1040
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Approach Departure
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

TRACON controller described an airspace incursion event when misreading the data block symbology. The reporter noted that the subject symbols should be changed to prevent future errors.