N90 controller described a below MVA event when he/she failed to note a change in the MVA requiremen...

Narrative:

I was working combined position on the late night shift. The weather at the airport was low visibility with visibility down to 1/4 of a mile. During an arrival push my RVR equipment failed for an unknown reason. Due to the unavailability of other runways; I was forced to switch to an approach which is an uncommon approach for our sector. Over a year ago construction had changed the MVA in the area of the approach but I was not sure if the MVA map was updated. I could not remember what the new MVA was or if the map I was looking at was updated so I used the map which I thought was the most up to date and descended the arrival aircraft to 2;500 ft MSL. I inquired about the new MVA and was informed it had changed to 2;800 ft MSL. I immediately corrected it for all of the other aircraft I was working and no other planes were descended below the MVA. The map needs to be changed immediately or some other map change needs to be developed to advise other controllers of the new MVA.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: N90 Controller described a below MVA event when he/she failed to note a change in the MVA requirements and issued an assigned altitude below the altitude limits.

Narrative: I was working combined position on the late night shift. The weather at the airport was low visibility with visibility down to 1/4 of a mile. During an arrival push my RVR equipment failed for an unknown reason. Due to the unavailability of other runways; I was forced to switch to an approach which is an uncommon approach for our sector. Over a year ago construction had changed the MVA in the area of the approach but I was not sure if the MVA map was updated. I could not remember what the new MVA was or if the map I was looking at was updated so I used the map which I thought was the most up to date and descended the arrival aircraft to 2;500 FT MSL. I inquired about the new MVA and was informed it had changed to 2;800 FT MSL. I immediately corrected it for all of the other aircraft I was working and no other planes were descended below the MVA. The map needs to be changed immediately or some other map change needs to be developed to advise other controllers of the new MVA.

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	1060779
Time
Date	201301
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	N90.TRACON
State Reference	NY
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Approach Departure
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

N90 controller described a below MVA event when he/she failed to note a change in the MVA requirements and issued an assigned altitude below the altitude limits.