Narrative:

Aircraft X was descending toward san and in sequence behind aircraft Y on base. I was previously clearing aircraft for the visual and I had multiple VFR aircraft inbound to adjacent airports. I asked aircraft X if he had aircraft Y in sight. He said yes and I told him;' to follow aircraft Y; cleared visual approach runway 27; caution wake turbulence'.I glanced up at the weather and saw the weather had changed from sct to BKN030. I asked aircraft X if he had the field in sight; he said no; he still had aircraft Y in sight but not the field and asked for the RNAV approach. I didn't have enough separation behind the heavy for an instrument approach; so I turned aircraft X to a 240 heading initially; then a 210 heading to get more space. I never cancelled his approach clearance and he was still descending on the visual approach clearance. He descended to 4700 feet in 5000 feet MVA and I told him to fly heading 210 and climb to 5000 feet. The pilot seemed confused. Then I turned him to a 290 heading and he read back 'do you want us on a 210 or 290'. I turned him again to a 290 heading to join and since he was now in a lower MVA (3800 feet) and enough separation between him and the heavy; I cleared him for the approach.recommendation: if I had cancelled his approach; I would've had to tell him maintain visual separation from the heavy. However; since he was still following the heavy for the field; technically I thought I had separation. Once I realized I wasn't going to keep him on the visual approach; I should have stopped his altitude at 5000 feet for the appropriate MVA. At the time; I was more worried about getting him away from the heavy and skirting just west of the otay jump zone (there is a jump zone just south of a 15-mile final at san).

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SCT controller reported vectoring a SAN arrival for spacing and entering higher MVA area.

Narrative: Aircraft X was descending toward SAN and in sequence behind Aircraft Y on base. I was previously clearing aircraft for the visual and I had multiple VFR aircraft inbound to adjacent airports. I asked Aircraft X if he had Aircraft Y in sight. He said yes and I told him;' to follow Aircraft Y; cleared visual approach runway 27; caution wake turbulence'.I glanced up at the weather and saw the weather had changed from SCT to BKN030. I asked Aircraft X if he had the field in sight; he said no; he still had Aircraft Y in sight but not the field and asked for the RNAV approach. I didn't have enough separation behind the heavy for an instrument approach; so I turned Aircraft X to a 240 heading initially; then a 210 heading to get more space. I never cancelled his approach clearance and he was still descending on the visual approach clearance. He descended to 4700 feet in 5000 feet MVA and I told him to fly heading 210 and climb to 5000 feet. The pilot seemed confused. Then I turned him to a 290 heading and he read back 'do you want us on a 210 or 290'. I turned him again to a 290 heading to join and since he was now in a lower MVA (3800 feet) and enough separation between him and the heavy; I cleared him for the approach.Recommendation: If I had cancelled his approach; I would've had to tell him maintain visual separation from the Heavy. However; since he was still following the heavy for the field; technically I thought I had separation. Once I realized I wasn't going to keep him on the visual approach; I should have stopped his altitude at 5000 feet for the appropriate MVA. At the time; I was more worried about getting him away from the heavy and skirting just west of the OTAY jump zone (there is a jump zone just south of a 15-mile final at SAN).

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.