Narrative:

Today; it was brought to my attention that an aircraft had flown within 100 feet. Of terrain at night; during a shift that I worked earlier in the week. Although I had just accepted a handoff on the subject aircraft; I was not speaking to the aircraft at the time of the event. Here are some details. At night I took the handoff from the TRACON sector for aircraft X. Immediately after accepting the handoff; I received a low altitude alert for that aircraft. I immediately transmitted 'aircraft X; I called the TRACON sector shout line; to verify that they were still talking to the aircraft; and they answered in the affirmative. Approximately two minutes later; aircraft X checked in on my frequency; and I cleared them to land. Aircraft X landed and taxied to parking without further incident.this was obviously an unsafe situation; and I am submitting this report for that reason. I did notice; after making my transmission to the aircraft in the blind; and after making the land line communication; that the aircraft was below the MVA (minimum vectoring altitude) at the time of the low altitude alert. I did not expect that the aircraft would have been on my frequency; because; as I recall; I had just taken the handoff immediately prior to the low altitude alert. Had I expected the aircraft to be on my frequency; I would have issued a low altitude alert using prescribed phraseology. In hindsight; it wouldn't have been a bad idea to just issue the low altitude alert anyway.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SJC Tower Controller reported they took a handoff from TRACON of an aircraft below the Minimum Vectoring Altitude and received a Low Altitude Alert.

Narrative: Today; it was brought to my attention that an aircraft had flown within 100 feet. Of terrain at night; during a shift that I worked earlier in the week. Although I had just accepted a handoff on the subject aircraft; I was not speaking to the aircraft at the time of the event. Here are some details. At night I took the handoff from the TRACON sector for Aircraft X. Immediately after accepting the handoff; I received a low altitude alert for that aircraft. I immediately transmitted 'Aircraft X; I called the TRACON sector shout line; to verify that they were still talking to the aircraft; and they answered in the affirmative. Approximately two minutes later; Aircraft X checked in on my frequency; and I cleared them to land. Aircraft X landed and taxied to parking without further incident.This was obviously an unsafe situation; and I am submitting this report for that reason. I did notice; after making my transmission to the aircraft in the blind; and after making the land line communication; that the aircraft was below the MVA (Minimum Vectoring Altitude) at the time of the low altitude alert. I did not expect that the aircraft would have been on my frequency; because; as I recall; I had just taken the handoff immediately prior to the low altitude alert. Had I expected the aircraft to be on my frequency; I would have issued a low altitude alert using prescribed phraseology. In hindsight; it wouldn't have been a bad idea to just issue the low altitude alert anyway.

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.