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Elp controller described a MVA infraction when vectoring a departure aircraft westbound; indicating possible misunderstanding by the pilot; hot temperature/s and human error as causal factors.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 952756 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201106 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ELP.Airport |
| State Reference | TX |
| Environment | |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172 |
| Flight Phase | Initial Climb |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Approach |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT |
Narrative:
Tower requested an IFR release for a C172 from runway 8L climbing to 100. Due to other aircraft; I released the aircraft heading 220 to take it south of the mountains. At the time I had no other aircraft south of the mountains. As the C172 took off runway 8L; I had three VFR aircraft call in for VFR services coming from the west over downtown to T27 and elp. The C172 was slow climbing when I saw him meet the 064 MVA; I turned him direct hanch on course. I then had him expedite his climb through 7;000 for VFR traffic. I issued traffic to the C172 on the VFR aircraft. I noticed that the C172 was entering an 8;000 MVA at about 6;800 climbing. I asked him if he had the mountains in sight which he responded he did. When the next controller took over he noticed that the C172 was at 7;000 ft level. When the controller asked the aircraft what his assigned altitude was he said 7;000. He was then climbed to 10;000. I believe when he was issued and expedited climb through 7;000 ft he mistook that for an altitude of 7;000. No MVA alarms were noted throughout his climb out. Recommendation; keep slow climbing aircraft during hot spring/summer days eastbound until they reach an appropriate altitude before turning them westbound.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: ELP Controller described a MVA infraction when vectoring a departure aircraft westbound; indicating possible misunderstanding by the pilot; hot temperature/s and human error as causal factors.
Narrative: Tower requested an IFR release for a C172 from Runway 8L climbing to 100. Due to other aircraft; I released the aircraft heading 220 to take it south of the mountains. At the time I had no other aircraft south of the mountains. As the C172 took off Runway 8L; I had three VFR aircraft call in for VFR services coming from the west over downtown to T27 and ELP. The C172 was slow climbing when I saw him meet the 064 MVA; I turned him direct HANCH on course. I then had him expedite his climb through 7;000 for VFR traffic. I issued traffic to the C172 on the VFR aircraft. I noticed that the C172 was entering an 8;000 MVA at about 6;800 climbing. I asked him if he had the mountains in sight which he responded he did. When the next controller took over he noticed that the C172 was at 7;000 FT level. When the controller asked the aircraft what his assigned altitude was he said 7;000. He was then climbed to 10;000. I believe when he was issued and expedited climb through 7;000 FT he mistook that for an altitude of 7;000. No MVA alarms were noted throughout his climb out. Recommendation; keep slow climbing aircraft during hot spring/summer days eastbound until they reach an appropriate altitude before turning them westbound.
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.