37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
Attributes | |
ACN | 1331905 |
Time | |
Date | 201602 |
Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
Place | |
Locale Reference | S56.TRACON |
State Reference | UT |
Environment | |
Light | Night |
Aircraft 1 | |
Make Model Name | Light Transport |
Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
Flight Phase | Descent |
Route In Use | Vectors |
Flight Plan | IFR |
Person 1 | |
Function | Approach |
Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
Experience | Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2.5 |
Events | |
Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT |
Narrative:
Aircraft X was issued a base turn vector 15 south of slc to set up for the approach to runway 35. I descended the aircraft to 080 in an area where the MVA was 080. I then remember thinking a 060 heading would work better to tighten the turn up. At that moment; I got some verbal coordination from the supervisor about how we would handle the simul procedures between this aircraft and another. Immediately after that coordination; I told the aircraft to 'descend and maintain 060' when my head was thinking 'fly heading 060'. The aircraft was still in the 080 MVA and I didn't catch my mistake even from the good read back aircraft X provided. I then turned the aircraft to a dogleg and cleared them to cross zepog at 080. At this exact moment; the aircraft was descending through 080. The pilot started to question the 080 restriction and I immediately issued a low altitude alert with a climb immediately to 080. I observed the aircraft as low as 073 before they climbed back to 080. No other traffic was involved.prior to this session which was late into my shift; I trained a cpc-it (certified professional controller in training) for a two hour session on extremely busy traffic. I then completed a 20 minute debrief followed by a 30 minute break. After this 30 minute break was the time this event occurred. I remember feeling some level of stress about the long session and the debrief but didn't let it concern me too much. I don't know if the stress I was feeling had anything to do with the situation; but I wanted it to be clear that I made this personal observation prior to sitting for this final session. The 30 minute break I received might have not been enough to fully recuperate my 'racing mind' from the previous session. I would say most supervisors already do what I am about to recommend; however; I feel it would have been a benefit to let me work a sector that had less traffic and complexity than final during a stagger to wide simul configuration. This configuration requires a great deal of coordination and the ability to exercise extreme dynamics among all the rules involved. I understand that going to 060 in an 080 is never allowed and it's very black and white.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: S56 Controller reported of descending an aircraft to the MVA of 8;000 feet. Aircraft was on approach to SLC. Controller then intended to turn the aircraft to a heading of 060 but became distracted and told the aircraft to descend and maintain 6;000 ft while thinking he was instructing the aircraft to turn to a 060 heading. Aircraft then was given an 8;000 foot crossing restriction after the aircraft had started the descent. Realizing the error the reporter climbed the aircraft back to 8;000 feet but not before the aircraft descended as low as 7;300 feet.
Narrative: Aircraft X was issued a base turn vector 15 south of SLC to set up for the approach to RWY 35. I descended the aircraft to 080 in an area where the MVA was 080. I then remember thinking a 060 heading would work better to tighten the turn up. At that moment; I got some verbal coordination from the supervisor about how we would handle the simul procedures between this aircraft and another. Immediately after that coordination; I told the aircraft to 'descend and maintain 060' when my head was thinking 'fly heading 060'. The aircraft was still in the 080 MVA and I didn't catch my mistake even from the good read back Aircraft X provided. I then turned the aircraft to a dogleg and cleared them to cross ZEPOG at 080. At this exact moment; the aircraft was descending through 080. The pilot started to question the 080 restriction and I immediately issued a low altitude alert with a climb immediately to 080. I observed the aircraft as low as 073 before they climbed back to 080. No other traffic was involved.Prior to this session which was late into my shift; I trained a CPC-IT (Certified Professional Controller In Training) for a two hour session on extremely busy traffic. I then completed a 20 minute debrief followed by a 30 minute break. After this 30 minute break was the time this event occurred. I remember feeling some level of stress about the long session and the debrief but didn't let it concern me too much. I don't know if the stress I was feeling had anything to do with the situation; but I wanted it to be clear that I made this personal observation prior to sitting for this final session. The 30 minute break I received might have not been enough to fully recuperate my 'racing mind' from the previous session. I would say most supervisors already do what I am about to recommend; however; I feel it would have been a benefit to let me work a sector that had less traffic and complexity than Final during a stagger to wide simul configuration. This configuration requires a great deal of coordination and the ability to exercise extreme dynamics among all the rules involved. I understand that going to 060 in an 080 is never allowed and it's very black and white.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.