TRACON controller described a below MVA event when handling an IFR aircraft as a VFR and issuing a d...

Narrative:

PA44 was inbound to ZZZ airport from the south. When the aircraft checked on frequency; I picked up the strip for a different aircraft and put it in front of me. The strip I was looking at said VFR; so I had it in my mind that PA44 was VFR. Obviously I wasn't looking at either the strip or the data block on the aircraft closely enough. After flying about 10 or 15 miles toward ZZZ airport at 100; PA44 said they had the airport in sight and asked if they could descend to 8;000. That's when the light came on and I realized that the aircraft was IFR. I had another aircraft; an IFR citation coming in fast from the southeast and became focused on how I was going to make the sequence work. Without thinking; I gave PA44 what he had asked for; descent to 8;000 and a vector to follow the citation. Several minutes later I realized what I had done: this guy was at 8;000 in a 9;000 ft MVA! I was horrified. By that time; PA44 was about to exit the 9;000 ft MVA for an 8;000 MVA. PA44 landed behind the citation without incident. I'm not sure why I didn't have my head fully in the game; but I intend to be more vigilant from now on.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TRACON Controller described a below MVA event when handling an IFR aircraft as a VFR and issuing a descent to below MVA limitations. The reporter listed lack of vigilance as the primary contributing factor.

Narrative: PA44 was inbound to ZZZ airport from the south. When the aircraft checked on frequency; I picked up the strip for a different aircraft and put it in front of me. The strip I was looking at said VFR; so I had it in my mind that PA44 was VFR. Obviously I wasn't looking at either the strip or the Data Block on the aircraft closely enough. After flying about 10 or 15 miles toward ZZZ Airport at 100; PA44 said they had the airport in sight and asked if they could descend to 8;000. That's when the light came on and I realized that the aircraft was IFR. I had another aircraft; an IFR Citation coming in fast from the southeast and became focused on how I was going to make the sequence work. Without thinking; I gave PA44 what he had asked for; descent to 8;000 and a vector to follow the Citation. Several minutes later I realized what I had done: this guy was at 8;000 in a 9;000 FT MVA! I was horrified. By that time; PA44 was about to exit the 9;000 FT MVA for an 8;000 MVA. PA44 landed behind the Citation without incident. I'm not sure why I didn't have my head fully in the game; but I intend to be more vigilant from now on.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1006062
Time
Date	201204
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-46 Malibu/Malibu Mirage/Malibu Matrix
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Cessna Citation Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Departure Approach
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

TRACON controller described a below MVA event when handling an IFR aircraft as a VFR and issuing a descent to below MVA limitations. The reporter listed lack of vigilance as the primary contributing factor.