Narrative:

Aircraft X initiated contact. As per standard operating procedure; I looked for the corresponding flight strip in order to assign the flight a beacon code. When I did not find the flight strip; I requested the flight plan from host and discovered that the flight plan was not stored in host. I requested a beacon code from host and assigned it to aircraft X. After positively radar identifying the aircraft; I proceeded to type in aircraft X's flight plan. From this point on; I worked the flight as a routine arrival. There was no loss of separation involving aircraft X during this event. I subsequently found out that the cause of this event was a typographical error during input of aircraft X's boundary estimate into the atop system. The atop controller had inadvertently typed in an estimate that was ten hours later than what was intended to type (JX00 vs. AX00). There are currently numerous logic checks within the atop system concerning aircraft data such as weight category; cruising speed; ceiling altitude; etc. These logic checks; while not always correct; do have value as they draw attention to potential typographical and/or other errors. It is puzzling why there is not a logic check pertaining to boundary estimates. A logic check of boundary estimates would have drawn attention to the typographical error since facilities do not pass boundary estimates that are that far into the future.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Oceanic Controller enters a arrival time estimate with a ten hour typo from actual. When the aircraft contacts the receiving radar controller; the problem is identified. Controllers noted that the ATOPS system checks many parameters but not this one.

Narrative: Aircraft X initiated contact. As per standard operating procedure; I looked for the corresponding flight strip in order to assign the flight a beacon code. When I did not find the flight strip; I requested the flight plan from HOST and discovered that the flight plan was not stored in HOST. I requested a beacon code from HOST and assigned it to Aircraft X. After positively radar identifying the aircraft; I proceeded to type in Aircraft X's flight plan. From this point on; I worked the flight as a routine arrival. There was no loss of separation involving Aircraft X during this event. I subsequently found out that the cause of this event was a typographical error during input of Aircraft X's boundary estimate into the ATOP system. The ATOP Controller had inadvertently typed in an estimate that was ten hours later than what was intended to type (JX00 vs. AX00). There are currently numerous logic checks within the ATOP system concerning aircraft data such as weight category; cruising speed; ceiling altitude; etc. These logic checks; while not always correct; do have value as they draw attention to potential typographical and/or other errors. It is puzzling why there is not a logic check pertaining to boundary estimates. A logic check of boundary estimates would have drawn attention to the typographical error since facilities do not pass boundary estimates that are that far into the future.

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.