Narrative:

I was monitoring my trainee during a typical training session. My trainee had made several control instructions and decisions that I thought required further discussion during the debrief. In the process of annotating the items I wanted to discuss I had not given my attention to the fact that he had vectored an aircraft towards an obstruction without ensuring the vertical/horizontal separation requirement to achieve separation from the obstruction. I looked up at the scope and noticed that the aircraft was below the MVA and in proximity of the obstruction about 2 seconds before the pilot notified us that he was close to the obstruction. Appropriate action was taken to achieve separation and I immediately notified the supervisor of the incident. In previous evaluations of prior training sessions I have told the trainee to always ensure the separation from that particular obstruction by vectoring the aircraft southeast of it in the event that he may forget to climb the aircraft. I had also previously instructed him to always initiate a hand off as soon as possible to the next sector since (a) the receiving sectors boundary is close and an early flash will avoid a late hand off; and (b); an extra set of eyes on the aircraft can possibly alert him to climb the aircraft in time to avoid a separation error from the obstruction should he forget. In hindsight; I selected the wrong time to divert my attention from monitoring the radar scope as I gave my trainee too much credit for adhering to previously discussed problem areas. I trusted him to turn and climb and take full responsibility for the completely avoidable incident. Future training sessions will be approached with zero notes taking during any periods of traffic and I can guarantee that such a mistake and error in my judgment will never occur again. Recommendation; as mentioned on the previous page; I recommend and will follow my own advice; to never divert my attention with note taking during any periods of training that have active traffic. There are stars tools in place that give me the capacity to review any training session as they occurred with audio and video. Should I not simply remember anything that I believe requires further discussion during a training session then I will take advantage of those tools rather than divert my attention to on position note taking. I will continue to trust; but verify; and never assume; that my student will comply with previously instructed corrections and procedures designed to avoid any incident that may result in any loss of separation.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Approach Controller providing OJT described a loss of MVA separation event during a performance discussion while on the position; the reporter noted a momentary loss of attention to training duties.

Narrative: I was monitoring my trainee during a typical training session. My trainee had made several control instructions and decisions that I thought required further discussion during the debrief. In the process of annotating the items I wanted to discuss I had not given my attention to the fact that he had vectored an aircraft towards an obstruction without ensuring the vertical/horizontal separation requirement to achieve separation from the obstruction. I looked up at the scope and noticed that the aircraft was below the MVA and in proximity of the obstruction about 2 seconds before the pilot notified us that he was close to the obstruction. Appropriate action was taken to achieve separation and I immediately notified the Supervisor of the incident. In previous evaluations of prior training sessions I have told the trainee to always ensure the separation from that particular obstruction by vectoring the aircraft southeast of it in the event that he may forget to climb the aircraft. I had also previously instructed him to always initiate a hand off as soon as possible to the next sector since (a) the receiving sectors boundary is close and an early flash will avoid a late hand off; and (b); an extra set of eyes on the aircraft can possibly alert him to climb the aircraft in time to avoid a separation error from the obstruction should he forget. In hindsight; I selected the wrong time to divert my attention from monitoring the RADAR scope as I gave my trainee too much credit for adhering to previously discussed problem areas. I trusted him to turn and climb and take full responsibility for the completely avoidable incident. Future training sessions will be approached with zero notes taking during any periods of traffic and I can guarantee that such a mistake and error in my judgment will never occur again. Recommendation; as mentioned on the previous page; I recommend and will follow my own advice; to never divert my attention with note taking during any periods of training that have active traffic. There are STARS tools in place that give me the capacity to review any training session as they occurred with audio and video. Should I not simply remember anything that I believe requires further discussion during a training session then I will take advantage of those tools rather than divert my attention to on position note taking. I will continue to trust; but verify; and never assume; that my student will comply with previously instructed corrections and procedures designed to avoid any incident that may result in any loss of separation.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.