An enroute controller described a general aviation aircraft bird strike event noting several procedu...

Narrative:

A mooney reported a bird strike and loss of his windshield and was declaring an emergency. The mooney was twenty miles east; level at 6;000 ft and was cleared direct; starting his own descent. I felt that the nature of the emergency warranted an immediate descent so I did not assign an altitude. I used the track ball to confirm distance to airport being eight miles; I again used the trackball and advised the mooney that I showed him 9.9 miles from airport. During this time the tower was advised of the emergency and to turn runway lights to highest intensity. I cleared the mooney for visual approach thinking that the mooney advised me that he had airport in sight. I realized my error and told the aircraft again to report the field in sight. While this was happening the VFR chart above the sector was being studied for highest obstruction clearance. It was found to be 3;400 ft. The mooney was advised to go no lower than 3;500 ft and told he was 5.4 miles out. The mooney was told he was 3.4 miles out and he reported that airport was in sight. He was cleared for visual approach. After reviewing the incident with both my supervisor and I should have assigned an altitude of 4;700; the MVA; and got confirmation of ground contact from the mooney. The aircraft was aware of the terrain; however; I should have issued a safety alert. One should issue pertinent safety alerts and be aware of MVA's.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An enroute Controller described a general aviation aircraft bird strike event noting several procedural failures while handling the aircraft; including MVA and clearance infractions.

Narrative: A Mooney reported a bird strike and loss of his windshield and was declaring an emergency. The Mooney was twenty miles east; level at 6;000 FT and was cleared direct; starting his own descent. I felt that the nature of the emergency warranted an immediate descent so I did not assign an altitude. I used the track ball to confirm distance to airport being eight miles; I again used the trackball and advised the Mooney that I showed him 9.9 miles from airport. During this time the Tower was advised of the emergency and to turn runway lights to highest intensity. I cleared the Mooney for visual approach thinking that the Mooney advised me that he had airport in sight. I realized my error and told the aircraft again to report the field in sight. While this was happening the VFR chart above the sector was being studied for highest obstruction clearance. It was found to be 3;400 FT. The Mooney was advised to go no lower than 3;500 FT and told he was 5.4 miles out. The Mooney was told he was 3.4 miles out and he reported that airport was in sight. He was cleared for Visual Approach. After reviewing the incident with both my Supervisor and I should have assigned an altitude of 4;700; the MVA; and got confirmation of ground contact from the Mooney. The aircraft was aware of the terrain; however; I should have issued a safety alert. One should issue pertinent safety alerts and be aware of MVA's.

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.

Attributes
ACN	920114
Time
Date	201011
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	M-20 J (201) / Allegro
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Bird / Animal

An enroute controller described a general aviation aircraft bird strike event noting several procedural failures while handling the aircraft; including MVA and clearance infractions.