PA-28R Cherokee Arrow All Series
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 8
Confusion; Human-Machine Interface; Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance
Airspace Structure; Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors; Procedure
While providing OJTI (On-the-job Training Instructor) my trainee released an IFR departure off BAF. The aircraft was radar identified and turned on coarse but was never climbed from 3;000 to 6;000. Shortly after departure the trainee forgot that the aircraft was IFR and began to treat him as a VFR; asking him his destination; altitude leaving and altitude climbing to. He added the destination to the Y side of the data block as we do for VFR aircraft and went on to other duties.During this the trainee was struggling to work through another VFR aircraft requesting transition to a non-standard practice approach outside of our airspace and also a VFR NORDO (No Radio) aircraft that had yet to be fully resolved. I as the trainer was attempting to guide him through the other two scenarios and did not notice that the IFR aircraft had not been climbed to his requested altitude on departure.Thinking that Aircraft X was VFR the trainee switched the [aircraft] to ALB Approach while he was still level at 3;000. The aircraft shortly thereafter entered a 4;000 foot MVA. The trainee then realized he had an IFR aircraft below the MVA and tried to reach out to ALB Approach to get him climbed above 4;000. At this point with the IFR; and the two other unresolved issues I took over the position and began to clean it up. Aircraft X was too low for radio reception and came back to me asking to verify the frequency; at this point I climbed him to 4;000 feet and coordinated with ALB. The low altitude alert did not go off at any time; and I failed to issue a low altitude alert when I did resume communications with the aircraft.As a trainer I am trying to use a more soft hand while training; as they have shown to not respond well otherwise. But I seem to have gone too far the other way and will need to position myself over their strips and be more hands on to make sure that my attention does not stray too far from my responsibilities to safely work IFR aircraft. I just missed that the aircraft was in an unsafe condition as I was trying to guide them through working out the other 2 scenarios going on in the sector.
Y90 Controller reported that Developmental forgot aircraft was IFR and changed the display information to indicate VFR. Aircraft was not climbed as it entered a higher Minimum Vectoring Altitude.