Narrative:

The adjacent sector coordinated aircraft X; on a non-standard route at 3;000 feet. It was approved. During that time; I was coordinating movement of a law enforcement aircraft (aircraft Y) that was operating near the sfo finals. The supervisor then asked me to combine the position with another sector and a relief briefing was given. Shortly after that; aircraft X checked onto my frequency; but I could not climb right away because he was still under another sector's airspace. My attention then went back to aircraft Y. I pointed out the aircraft verbally to one sector and then handed off and coordinated with another sector. I called a sector to ask if they wanted to take a point out. They said yes. I then called another sector to coordinate aircraft Y's movements. That sector told me to hold onto him because a different sector was opening.around this time an air carrier on the downwind for oak checked on; I responded. I went back to aircraft Y because he was outside of my airspace and I wanted to ship him to the next sector so I keyed into their landline but they were still getting a briefing. Then a VFR aircraft off of pao checked on; I responded. It was around this time that the previous sector controller keyed in and asked if I was talking to aircraft X. I then realized I had let aircraft X get away from me as he entered a 3;400 MVA (minimum vectoring altitude) at 3;000 feet. I immediately issued a climb to 4;000 feet. I did not issue a low altitude alert because even level at 3;000 feet he was 600 feet above the depicted obstruction and not in a descent towards the terrain. In my judgement; a climb was an effective and appropriate resolution. During the procedure; the controller has a narrow window to climb the aircraft; just 4 miles between the start of the airspace to the MVA. When attention is drawn towards non-standard operations; even a C172 can cover 4 miles in less than two and a half minutes. I'm not advocating a change because in certain situations; this nonstandard procedure can be a useful tool; but I want to paint the picture that the controller is receiving a handoff on an airplane that's pointed at a higher MVA with limited time to address it. This is not an excuse; as I have worked that very procedure countless times; but the added workload of coordinating the law enforcement aircraft outside of my airspace drew too much of my attention away from the other aircraft in my sector.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A TRACON Controller reported they were distracted coordinating a special operation and did not notice that an aircraft entered airspace below their Minimum Vectoring Altitude.

Narrative: The adjacent sector coordinated Aircraft X; on a non-standard route at 3;000 feet. It was approved. During that time; I was coordinating movement of a Law Enforcement aircraft (Aircraft Y) that was operating near the SFO finals. The Supervisor then asked me to combine the position with another sector and a relief briefing was given. Shortly after that; Aircraft X checked onto my frequency; but I could not climb right away because he was still under another sector's airspace. My attention then went back to Aircraft Y. I pointed out the aircraft verbally to one sector and then handed off and coordinated with another sector. I called a sector to ask if they wanted to take a point out. They said yes. I then called another sector to coordinate Aircraft Y's movements. That sector told me to hold onto him because a different sector was opening.Around this time an air carrier on the downwind for OAK checked on; I responded. I went back to Aircraft Y because he was outside of my airspace and I wanted to ship him to the next sector so I keyed into their landline but they were still getting a briefing. Then a VFR aircraft off of PAO checked on; I responded. It was around this time that the previous sector controller keyed in and asked if I was talking to Aircraft X. I then realized I had let Aircraft X get away from me as he entered a 3;400 MVA (Minimum vectoring Altitude) at 3;000 feet. I immediately issued a climb to 4;000 feet. I did not issue a low altitude alert because even level at 3;000 feet he was 600 feet above the depicted obstruction and not in a descent towards the terrain. In my judgement; a climb was an effective and appropriate resolution. During the procedure; the controller has a narrow window to climb the aircraft; just 4 miles between the start of the airspace to the MVA. When attention is drawn towards non-standard operations; even a C172 can cover 4 miles in less than two and a half minutes. I'm not advocating a change because in certain situations; this nonstandard procedure can be a useful tool; but I want to paint the picture that the controller is receiving a handoff on an airplane that's pointed at a higher MVA with limited time to address it. This is not an excuse; as I have worked that very procedure countless times; but the added workload of coordinating the law enforcement aircraft outside of my airspace drew too much of my attention away from the other aircraft in my sector.

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.