Narrative:

While I was relieving a controller; he pointed out a small aircraft in in the adjacent sector's airspace at 8;000 ft.; flashing handoff to us; in moderate precipitation; begin to alert with terrain and fly directly north. Eventually they put in a block 070b080 altitude and deviations into the datablock. The controller called me and said aircraft X was in moderate turbulence; deviating for the weather; and requested the block altitudes 7 to 8;000 ft. Giving me control. Along aircraft X's deviations; there were two blocks of shared terrain between that are 7;300 and 7;100 ft. Respectively. I asked the sector if they were going to keep aircraft X away from the terrain the aircraft was below; and they replied; 'I'm not going to turn him with the weather'. I approved the block; but didn't accept radar contact. I monitored aircraft X's deviations; and the aircraft was headed directly for the 7;100 ft. Terrain. I did not take the handoff; and eventually about 6 minutes from my boundary; the aircraft began to turn enough that they were barely scraping the high terrain box. About 4 minutes from my boundary; they took the handoff back; changed the altitude to 8;000 ft.; and I took the handoff as soon as they flashed it at me again; at a safe altitude.while I know that aircraft in distress should be left alone to fly as much as possible; that does not mean a controller can disregard terrain issues; and they should certainly not abdicate responsibility to the next controller when the situation happens in their airspace. Perhaps that controller needs a refresher on IFR responsibilities; or at least should know to handle an unsafe situation in her airspace herself.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Center Controller reported the adjacent Center sector attempted to hand an aircraft off to them in an altitude block that was partially below the minimum terrain requirement.

Narrative: While I was relieving a controller; he pointed out a small aircraft in in the adjacent sector's airspace at 8;000 ft.; flashing handoff to us; in moderate precipitation; begin to alert with terrain and fly directly north. Eventually they put in a block 070B080 altitude and deviations into the datablock. The Controller called me and said Aircraft X was in moderate turbulence; deviating for the weather; and requested the block altitudes 7 to 8;000 ft. giving me control. Along Aircraft X's deviations; there were two blocks of shared terrain between that are 7;300 and 7;100 ft. respectively. I asked the sector if they were going to keep Aircraft X away from the terrain the aircraft was below; and they replied; 'I'm not going to turn him with the weather'. I approved the block; but didn't accept radar contact. I monitored Aircraft X's deviations; and the aircraft was headed directly for the 7;100 ft. terrain. I did not take the handoff; and eventually about 6 minutes from my boundary; the aircraft began to turn enough that they were barely scraping the high terrain box. About 4 minutes from my boundary; they took the handoff back; changed the altitude to 8;000 ft.; and I took the handoff as soon as they flashed it at me again; at a safe altitude.While I know that aircraft in distress should be left alone to fly as much as possible; that does not mean a controller can disregard terrain issues; and they should certainly not abdicate responsibility to the next controller when the situation happens in their airspace. Perhaps that controller needs a refresher on IFR responsibilities; or at least should know to handle an unsafe situation in her airspace herself.

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.