Narrative:

After working for several minutes; I was called by ZZZ center and asked if I was still blocking at ZZZ. Not wanting to get anyone in trouble or seeing any strips showing a departure or arrival in our control; I said yes; even though I wasn't aware we were blocking any airspace. I just started blocking at ZZZ; waiting to hear from them for a cancellation. About 10 minutes later; they called back and asked the same; whether I was still blocking at ZZZ 4;000 ft and below; I answered yes. A little while later; they called back wondering if we were done yet with the airspace at ZZZ. At that point; it dawned on me that they were supposed to be blocking and they were waiting for a down time from me. I verified by asking if they were blocking the airspace; waiting for me to call them. They said they were. At that point; I told them I'd give them a call back as soon as I got some more information. I called my supervisor over and told her the situation. She then called the previous controller at home (as he was already off and at home by then); but she didn't get any response. There were no strips for the aircraft in our strip bay; departure or arrival. After looking through the recycled strips; I did find a strip on the aircraft in question. It was a departure strip slated for xa:00Z. Now we were unaware whether this flight did depart and we didn't dm (out the departure message into the computer) the aircraft; didn't depart at all; or did depart; but we just didn't coordinate well. As of this point we still do not know; but seeing as it was more than an hour after being made aware of the problem; my supervisor said to not worry about it. Recommendation; mandatory strip marking and have it enforced. [Also]; using the radar to depict things you may forget in the briefing. For example; you can place a data block on the radar scope to signify a block at an airport or make a text box entry on the radar with the draw function.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Center Controller described a lengthy airspace blocking event when information regarding the block and/or strip data was not passed on during the position relief briefing.

Narrative: After working for several minutes; I was called by ZZZ Center and asked if I was still blocking at ZZZ. Not wanting to get anyone in trouble or seeing any strips showing a departure or arrival in our control; I said yes; even though I wasn't aware we were blocking any airspace. I just started blocking at ZZZ; waiting to hear from them for a cancellation. About 10 minutes later; they called back and asked the same; whether I was still blocking at ZZZ 4;000 FT and below; I answered yes. A little while later; they called back wondering if we were done yet with the airspace at ZZZ. At that point; it dawned on me that they were supposed to be blocking and they were waiting for a down time from me. I verified by asking if they were blocking the airspace; waiting for me to call them. They said they were. At that point; I told them I'd give them a call back as soon as I got some more information. I called my Supervisor over and told her the situation. She then called the previous Controller at home (as he was already off and at home by then); but she didn't get any response. There were no strips for the aircraft in our strip bay; departure or arrival. After looking through the recycled strips; I did find a strip on the aircraft in question. It was a departure strip slated for XA:00Z. Now we were unaware whether this flight did depart and we didn't DM (out the departure message into the computer) the aircraft; didn't depart at all; or did depart; but we just didn't coordinate well. As of this point we still do not know; but seeing as it was more than an hour after being made aware of the problem; my Supervisor said to not worry about it. Recommendation; mandatory strip marking and have it enforced. [Also]; using the RADAR to depict things you may forget in the briefing. For example; you can place a data block on the RADAR scope to signify a block at an airport or make a text box entry on the RADAR with the draw function.

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.