TRACON controller described a military aircraft emergency event when MVA requirements were compromis...

Narrative:

An IFR C130 had a fire warning light in no. 2 engine. Engine was shut down. I received a hand off and information from center. Center advised the C130 was assigned a block altitude of 2;500-5;000 MSL. The C130 was cleared direct to the airport and I instructed them to advise if they wanted to land at a closer airport. The route of flight would take the C130 through a 3;500 MVA. I asked the C130 if they could turn to avoid the area or climb. They advised 'they were an emergency and were going direct to the airport'. I issued visual reports of the known obstacles in the area and the C130 advised they had the antenna in sight. To further complicate the issue; I transferred communication to another sector; whose airspace the airport is located. The C130 could not talk to that sector because the radios do no function correctly in that area. I believe this has been documented. Fix the radio.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TRACON Controller described a military aircraft emergency event when MVA requirements were compromised and radio communications with the emergency aircraft proved problematic.

Narrative: An IFR C130 had a fire warning light in No. 2 Engine. Engine was shut down. I received a hand off and information from Center. Center advised the C130 was assigned a block altitude of 2;500-5;000 MSL. The C130 was cleared direct to the airport and I instructed them to advise if they wanted to land at a closer airport. The route of flight would take the C130 through a 3;500 MVA. I asked the C130 if they could turn to avoid the area or climb. They advised 'they were an emergency and were going direct to the airport'. I issued visual reports of the known obstacles in the area and the C130 advised they had the antenna in sight. To further complicate the issue; I transferred communication to another Sector; whose airspace the airport is located. The C130 could not talk to that Sector because the radios do no function correctly in that area. I believe this has been documented. Fix the radio.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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	1031264
Time
Date	201208
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Hercules (C-130)/L100/382
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Approach Departure
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

TRACON controller described a military aircraft emergency event when MVA requirements were compromised and radio communications with the emergency aircraft proved problematic.