Narrative:

Aircraft X came onto frequency at 8;000 ft MSL asking for lower due to icing. I immediately considered this an emergency situation. My trainee descended him to 7;500 reference a 7;300 ft isolated tower MVA directly in front of the aircraft. I told the trainee to descend him to 7;300 and ask him if he'd like a vector around the MVA so he could descend to 6;000. He replied 'ok; descending to 6;000'. The trainee immediately apreqed control for turns from the adjoining sector (maf-lo). The trainee told him to turn right to 300 degrees; which was not enough to miss the 7;300 MVA ring. I took the frequency and turned the aircraft to 360 degrees. The pilot's read back was never received. The aircraft continued on a 360 heading for approx 17 NM; descending to and level at 6;000. The aircraft was headed for another isolated tower MVA of 7;100. Multiple attempts to re-establish communications were made with main; standby; and emergency transmitters; on both normal and emergency frequencies. The aircraft finally re-established communications and took a vector heading 270 to avoid the tower. Bearing and distance to the tower (12 o'clock and 5 NM) were both issued to the aircraft multiple times. After re-establishing communications with the aircraft; the aircraft was vectored for an ILS approach into row without further incident. Recommendation; as a pilot; my priority was to descend the aircraft for icing. Though the MVA in that area is 6;000; reception is patchy depending on the aircraft involved. Having never worked an aircraft at that MVA (all traffic comes over at or above 8;000 due to the 7;300 MVA ring); I was unaware that reception could be lost. With this information; I could have made better vectoring decisions. Perhaps a map can be created graphically displaying areas of concern for reception coverage. This map would have been very effective in preventing this and similar situations.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ROW Controller providing OJT described near terrain separation event when assisting a general aviation aircraft with icing concerns; radio reception problems adding to the event scenario.

Narrative: Aircraft X came onto frequency at 8;000 ft MSL asking for lower due to icing. I immediately considered this an emergency situation. My trainee descended him to 7;500 reference a 7;300 ft isolated tower MVA directly in front of the aircraft. I told the trainee to descend him to 7;300 and ask him if he'd like a vector around the MVA so he could descend to 6;000. He replied 'OK; Descending to 6;000'. The trainee immediately APREQED control for turns from the adjoining sector (MAF-Lo). The trainee told him to turn right to 300 degrees; which was not enough to miss the 7;300 MVA ring. I took the frequency and turned the aircraft to 360 degrees. The pilot's read back was never received. The aircraft continued on a 360 heading for approx 17 NM; descending to and level at 6;000. The aircraft was headed for another isolated tower MVA of 7;100. Multiple attempts to re-establish communications were made with main; standby; and emergency transmitters; on both normal and emergency frequencies. The aircraft finally re-established communications and took a vector heading 270 to avoid the tower. Bearing and distance to the tower (12 o'clock and 5 NM) were both issued to the aircraft multiple times. After re-establishing communications with the aircraft; the aircraft was vectored for an ILS approach into ROW without further incident. Recommendation; as a pilot; my priority was to descend the aircraft for icing. Though the MVA in that area is 6;000; reception is patchy depending on the aircraft involved. Having never worked an aircraft at that MVA (all traffic comes over at or above 8;000 due to the 7;300 MVA ring); I was unaware that reception could be lost. With this information; I could have made better vectoring decisions. Perhaps a map can be created graphically displaying areas of concern for reception coverage. This map would have been very effective in preventing this and similar situations.

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.