Geg radar approach controllers reported their sector vectored an aircraft below the minimum vectorin...

Narrative:

I was called in to work handoff position because the radar position had gotten busy. I ran into the TRACON to open the position. I did not receive a briefing because the radar controller was busy working traffic and hadn't had a moment. I opened the position and started helping by updating data blocks and answering coordination. I was looking at all the traffic when I noticed an [aircraft] at 5000 feet about to enter a 5500 foot minimum vectoring altitude (MVA) when I said climb him and pointed at him. The controller gave them an immediate climb to 6000 feet and eventually 7000 feet but the aircraft entered the MVA as they were initiating the climb.contributing factors would be that handoff position probably should have been open earlier in anticipation of the traffic. This would have allowed time for a briefing. The tower radar was out at a satellite airport requiring more coordination than normal. The weather had just gone from VFR to MVFR as the ceiling was lowering; increasing workload due to instrument approaches instead of visual approaches. I recommend our facility make a practice of keeping handoff for radar open; or at least having it open when equipment outages cause increased workload. Especially when weather deteriorates.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: GEG Radar Approach controllers reported their sector vectored an aircraft below the Minimum Vectoring Altitude.

Narrative: I was called in to work handoff position because the Radar position had gotten busy. I ran into the TRACON to open the position. I did not receive a briefing because the Radar Controller was busy working traffic and hadn't had a moment. I opened the position and started helping by updating data blocks and answering coordination. I was looking at all the traffic when I noticed an [Aircraft] at 5000 feet about to enter a 5500 foot Minimum Vectoring Altitude (MVA) when I said climb him and pointed at him. The controller gave them an immediate climb to 6000 feet and eventually 7000 feet but the aircraft entered the MVA as they were initiating the climb.Contributing factors would be that Handoff position probably should have been open earlier in anticipation of the traffic. This would have allowed time for a briefing. The Tower Radar was out at a satellite airport requiring more coordination than normal. The weather had just gone from VFR to MVFR as the ceiling was lowering; increasing workload due to Instrument Approaches instead of Visual Approaches. I recommend our facility make a practice of keeping Handoff for Radar open; or at least having it open when equipment outages cause increased workload. Especially when weather deteriorates.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1496878
Time
Date	201711
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	GEG.TRACON
State Reference	WA
Environment
Flight Conditions	Marginal
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Stratotanker 135
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Approach
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 7
Person 2
Function	Approach
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 4
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Geg radar approach controllers reported their sector vectored an aircraft below the minimum vectoring altitude.