Air Traffic Control Developmental
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance
Human Factors
I was working on the D-Side during this event. A C560 was a Citation departing Aurora State to the southeast; requesting FL270. Procedures with P80 are for them to assign aircraft 15;000 FT; the top of their airspace; and hand them off to the appropriate ZSE Sector. Terrain around the P80 area rises quickly; with a number of mountains to the southeast; east and northeast. In the case of the C560; the filed flight plan took him through quickly rising MIAs of 060; 070; and 080; between Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson. The aircraft was on a heading of 090; which was not in compliance with the LOA and was not coordinated; but this was not a contributing factor to the safety issue. Conditions were IMC. The aircraft checked in with ZSE Sector 5 level at 060. The R-Side noticed the wrong altitude immediately and asked the C560 to verify that they were climbing to 150. The C560 responded that he was level at 060. The R-Side called P80 Hood to get control and climbed him to 150; asking for a good rate of climb. Mode C did not indicate above 070 before the C560 crossed into the 070 MIA area; although it did indicate 069 just outside of it. P80 Hood was likely busy with weather issues affecting aircraft arriving from the south on the MOXEE arrival. However; had the R-Side not noticed and taken immediate action; the C560 could have done much more than clip the edge of a lower MIA and possibly impacted terrain. As there was more than one error made by P80 Hood in handling the C560; there may have been additional factors at hand other than the increased weather-related workload. Finally; we noticed that MSAW did not activate at any time during the event. This seems to be an error; as the C560 was in level flight for at least three hits; probably more. It's difficult to say what the working environment was like at P80 during the event. The controllers there are usually good about departure procedures and checking altitude; I've only seen them fail to climb aircraft to the appropriate altitude two other times. In both of those cases; it didn't create a dangerous situation like this one. I would encourage a review from P80's perspective; if possible; to see if it was an isolated mistake rather than being indicative of a larger problem. I do not know if there is an additional problem with MSAW; but it seems that it should have been activated in this instance.
ZSE Controller described a near terrain clearance infraction with a departure being handed off from P80; the reporter questioned the absence of a MSAW alarm and the handling by P80.