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ZDV controller reported they descended an aircraft to an altitude below the minimum IFR altitude.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1552525 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201806 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZDV.ARTCC |
| State Reference | CO |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | Marginal |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200) |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Descent |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Enroute |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Experience | Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 34 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT |
Narrative:
There were heavy thunderstorms throughout the center; and most sectors around me were very busy. I didn't have much traffic; but I was very concerned with not adding workload to any sectors around me. The sector aircraft X was coming from had only descended it to 15;000 feet. That was too high an altitude in my opinion; so I called for control for lower. I gave aircraft X a descent to 14;000 feet thinking that the mia (minimum IFR altitude) that the aircraft was over was 14;000 feet. [However]; I had mistaken it with an mia I used earlier for a different aircraft deviating for weather in that same general area. The actual mia was 15;000 feet. When aircraft X left 15;000 feet; the conflict alert went off and I stopped the descent. [The] lowest altitude I recall seeing was 14;800 feet.it seems to me that if the conflict alert can initiate between two aircraft in close proximity when an altitude is entered; that creates a conflict even when the aircraft hasn't changed altitude. It should be possible to do the same for low altitude alerts. If I had entered the altitude of 14;000 feet and the conflict alert had activated; it would have alerted me to my mistake.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: ZDV Controller reported they descended an aircraft to an altitude below the Minimum IFR Altitude.
Narrative: There were heavy thunderstorms throughout the Center; and most sectors around me were very busy. I didn't have much traffic; but I was very concerned with not adding workload to any sectors around me. The sector Aircraft X was coming from had only descended it to 15;000 feet. That was too high an altitude in my opinion; so I called for control for lower. I gave Aircraft X a descent to 14;000 feet thinking that the MIA (Minimum IFR Altitude) that the aircraft was over was 14;000 feet. [However]; I had mistaken it with an MIA I used earlier for a different aircraft deviating for weather in that same general area. The actual MIA was 15;000 feet. When Aircraft X left 15;000 feet; the conflict alert went off and I stopped the descent. [The] lowest altitude I recall seeing was 14;800 feet.It seems to me that if the conflict alert can initiate between two aircraft in close proximity when an altitude is entered; that creates a conflict even when the aircraft hasn't changed altitude. It should be possible to do the same for low altitude alerts. If I had entered the altitude of 14;000 feet and the conflict alert had activated; it would have alerted me to my mistake.
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.