Narrative:

I was providing ojti on north radar. The traffic and complexity was moderate. An adjacent facility; requested release of an IFR aircraft. The trainee released the aircraft on the SID. A few minutes later the aircraft; a PA28; checked in and said 'approach the PA28 with you at 010'. The MVA for that area is 016. The pilot's flight plan had his requested altitude at 100. The trainee did not give altitude restrictions to the tower for the PA28. As per our agreement; if no restrictions are given the pilot is expected to climb to requested altitude or FL200; whichever is lower. After the aircraft checked in at 010 the trainee asked him to 'identify'. He then went to another aircraft to issue control instructions. He observed the 'identify' feature and told him radar contact. The trainee went back to the PA28 to issue him a vector northbound to separate from departing IFR aircraft from another airport. We had lost mode C for a few sweeps and when it re-acquired; he was still at 010. A low altitude alert flashed on the scope and the trainee gave him the low altitude alert instructions. Only after that; it appeared that the PA28 stayed at 010 until further clearance from approach. The trainee then climbed him to 100. The trainee did not verify his assigned altitude upon initial call-in. The pilot simply said he was 'at 010'. However; as the trainer; I missed some key factors to this situation as it was unfolding. I was looking at other problematic areas on the scope that I thought needed attention as well. It does not excuse my inability to catch this mistake as it was unfolding as well.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TRACON Controller described a below MVA event when an IFR departure from a satellite airport failed to climb as expected per procedure.

Narrative: I was providing OJTI on North RADAR. The traffic and complexity was moderate. An adjacent facility; requested release of an IFR aircraft. The trainee released the aircraft on the SID. A few minutes later the aircraft; a PA28; checked in and said 'Approach the PA28 with you at 010'. The MVA for that area is 016. The pilot's flight plan had his requested altitude at 100. The trainee did not give altitude restrictions to the Tower for the PA28. As per our agreement; if no restrictions are given the pilot is expected to climb to requested altitude or FL200; whichever is lower. After the aircraft checked in at 010 the trainee asked him to 'IDENT'. He then went to another aircraft to issue control instructions. He observed the 'IDENT' feature and told him RADAR contact. The trainee went back to the PA28 to issue him a vector northbound to separate from departing IFR aircraft from another airport. We had lost Mode C for a few sweeps and when it re-acquired; he was still at 010. A low altitude alert flashed on the scope and the trainee gave him the low altitude alert instructions. Only after that; it appeared that the PA28 stayed at 010 until further clearance from Approach. The trainee then climbed him to 100. The trainee did not verify his assigned altitude upon initial call-in. The pilot simply said he was 'at 010'. However; as the trainer; I missed some key factors to this situation as it was unfolding. I was looking at other problematic areas on the scope that I thought needed attention as well. It does not excuse my inability to catch this mistake as it was unfolding as well.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.