Narrative:

Aircraft X was sent around by lax tower; as is the procedure they only climb to 2;000 feet. I was conducting ojti (on the job training) at the time and the trainee got the sequence for aircraft X to return to lax from the zuma controller. We waited for aircraft X to check in and when it became clear that he wasn't going to we called the tower and asked them to switch aircraft X again. He's now about 8 miles west of lax at 2;000 feet. When aircraft X checked in I called the arrival controller back and asked for a resequence; they denied my request and said 'turn him in now'. The trainee complied and turned aircraft X to a 320 heading climbing to 5;000 feet. He then turned aircraft X to smo VOR as is the handoff to arrivals. At the point aircraft X was at 3;300 feet he was going into the 4;000 foot MVA that extends over a mile off the coastline over the ocean. This airspace is also a dva (diverse vectoring area) going the other direction for smo departures so I knew that there was nothing they could hit or be in unsafe proximity to because my smo departures are much lower in the same place and it's tarped out to be safe. The MVA we violated meant we were just inside 3 miles from 2;800 foot maximum terrain laterally. The aircraft was never pointed at an obstruction or in any way going to get near any terrain; he was over the ocean. Fun fact; I looked up the tallest ship in the world; its 134 feet; I also looked up the tallest tsunami in the world; its 100 feet. So the highest thing I can hit over water with an airplane is the tallest ship in the world on the tallest tsunami in the world and we're still only at 234 feet. If you round up add 1;100 feet for obstruction clearance and over water the altitude I need to be at to be well clear of any obstructions below is 1;400 feet; worst case scenario. Also; had we continued west bound with a heavy waiting for him to climb out of 4;300 feet (the MVA we would have run into if we had continued west; also important to note that the coastline slopes southwest so the terrain at point dume is very much real and a factor) we would have had to point out to point miguel approach and added an extra 30 flying miles to aircraft X's flight for no other reason than some invisible line extends out over the ocean that they don't want our aircraft below 4;000 feet in. It was a judgment call; we kept the aircraft safe; never in danger of getting in proximity to anything at all and we saved them a lot of flying miles and the end of an overseas flight from europe; continuing west until clearing the MVA's would have actually put the aircraft closer to terrain.I recommend that the tower climb lax go arounds to 5;000 feet just like they do for all other departures that way by the time we're talking to them we can work them back around to lax without having an MVA violation. Also I think having an MVA anything above 1;400 (tallest ship on a tsunami) over the ocean should be done away with. It's just common sense that there's nowhere safer for you to be where you're not going to hit anything then over the ocean (the definition of MSL).

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SCT Controller reported intentionally turning an aircraft below the MVA because the aircraft was over the ocean and not in unsafe proximity to terrain.

Narrative: Aircraft X was sent around by LAX Tower; as is the procedure they only climb to 2;000 feet. I was conducting OJTI (On the Job Training) at the time and the trainee got the sequence for Aircraft X to return to LAX from the Zuma Controller. We waited for Aircraft X to check in and when it became clear that he wasn't going to we called the tower and asked them to switch Aircraft X again. He's now about 8 miles west of LAX at 2;000 feet. When Aircraft X checked in I called the Arrival Controller back and asked for a resequence; they denied my request and said 'turn him in now'. The trainee complied and turned Aircraft X to a 320 heading climbing to 5;000 feet. He then turned Aircraft X to SMO VOR as is the handoff to Arrivals. At the point Aircraft X was at 3;300 feet he was going into the 4;000 foot MVA that extends over a mile off the coastline over the ocean. This airspace is also a DVA (Diverse Vectoring Area) going the other direction for SMO departures so I knew that there was nothing they could hit or be in unsafe proximity to because my SMO departures are much lower in the same place and it's TARPED out to be safe. The MVA we violated meant we were just inside 3 miles from 2;800 foot maximum terrain laterally. The aircraft was never pointed at an obstruction or in any way going to get near any terrain; he was over the ocean. Fun fact; I looked up the tallest ship in the world; its 134 feet; I also looked up the tallest tsunami in the world; its 100 feet. So the highest thing I can hit over water with an airplane is the tallest ship in the world on the tallest tsunami in the world and we're still only at 234 feet. If you round up add 1;100 feet for obstruction clearance and over water the altitude I need to be at to be well clear of any obstructions below is 1;400 feet; worst case scenario. Also; had we continued west bound with a Heavy waiting for him to climb out of 4;300 feet (the MVA we would have run into if we had continued west; also important to note that the coastline slopes southwest so the terrain at Point Dume is very much real and a factor) we would have had to point out to Point Miguel Approach and added an extra 30 flying miles to Aircraft X's flight for no other reason than some invisible line extends out over the ocean that they don't want our aircraft below 4;000 feet in. It was a judgment call; we kept the aircraft safe; never in danger of getting in proximity to anything at all and we saved them a lot of flying miles and the end of an overseas flight from Europe; continuing west until clearing the MVA's would have actually put the aircraft closer to terrain.I recommend that the tower climb LAX go arounds to 5;000 feet just like they do for all other departures that way by the time we're talking to them we can work them back around to LAX without having an MVA violation. Also I think having an MVA anything above 1;400 (tallest ship on a tsunami) over the ocean should be done away with. It's just common sense that there's nowhere safer for you to be where you're not going to hit anything then over the ocean (the definition of MSL).

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.