Narrative:

I received a briefing at the sector for R15/16; my first session on the scope since a 4 day stint in virginia for an airspace project. The certified professional controller (cpc) being relieved told me about aircraft X being below the minimum IFR altitude (mia) around mt. Katahdin; but I forgot about him until later. Traffic was light. [Sometime later] I noticed that at that aircraft X would need to climb from 6;000 feet to 7;400 feet prior to entering the mt. Katahdin mia block; and would also need to climb prior to entering zul's airspace; who's MEA for V352 is 7;800 feet. To alleviate this; I cleared aircraft X direct vlv; a 0 degree change in heading since that was the next NAVAID along his flight plan; and I believed I would be able to utilize a lower MOCA for his route of flight. Radio coverage is also poor in that area so climbing him would be to my benefit. The minimum safe altitude warning (MSAW) alert triggered immediately since aircraft X was within 2 minutes or less of penetrating the 7;400 feet mia block. I read the 4;000 MOCA next to vlv and I believe I incorrectly assumed that MOCA also applied for the route segment aircraft X was currently on. Thinking I had a safe altitude; I wasn't too concerned about the aircraft being on course with mt. Katahdin safely off his left side. It should be noted it was a VFR day. Regardless; I could've simply climbed aircraft X to the MEA of 6;300 and had him report established on V352 again and this would've been a non-event. I failed to think of that at the time; but it should also be noted that the MEA of 6;300 is not listed on the segment of V352 where aircraft X was on the overhead controller chart. Become more familiar with mocas and meas for that area as well as the true definition of a MOCA.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A ZBW Controller used MOCA incorrectly for an altitude clearance with an aircraft off airways. The Controller recommends to become more knowledgeable regarding MOCAs ad MEAs.

Narrative: I received a briefing at the sector for R15/16; my first session on the scope since a 4 day stint in Virginia for an airspace project. The Certified Professional Controller (CPC) being relieved told me about Aircraft X being below the Minimum IFR Altitude (MIA) around Mt. Katahdin; but I forgot about him until later. Traffic was light. [Sometime later] I noticed that at that Aircraft X would need to climb from 6;000 feet to 7;400 feet prior to entering the Mt. Katahdin MIA block; and would also need to climb prior to entering ZUL's airspace; who's MEA for V352 is 7;800 feet. To alleviate this; I cleared Aircraft X direct VLV; a 0 degree change in heading since that was the next NAVAID along his flight plan; and I believed I would be able to utilize a lower MOCA for his route of flight. Radio coverage is also poor in that area so climbing him would be to my benefit. The Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW) alert triggered immediately since Aircraft X was within 2 minutes or less of penetrating the 7;400 feet MIA block. I read the 4;000 MOCA next to VLV and I believe I incorrectly assumed that MOCA also applied for the route segment Aircraft X was currently on. Thinking I had a safe altitude; I wasn't too concerned about the aircraft being on course with Mt. Katahdin safely off his left side. It should be noted it was a VFR day. Regardless; I could've simply climbed Aircraft X to the MEA of 6;300 and had him report established on V352 again and this would've been a non-event. I failed to think of that at the time; but it should also be noted that the MEA of 6;300 is not listed on the segment of V352 where Aircraft X was on the overhead controller chart. Become more familiar with MOCAs and MEAs for that area as well as the true definition of a MOCA.

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.