Narrative:

I was working the 4 to midnight shift; with all the sectors in a midshift configuration. There was a major snow storm that went through that evening. When kmsn tower closes and there is snow; the airport ops is tuned in to our frequency; and will talk to us about runway conditions and closures. That night; I had several aircraft trying to get into madison. I just cleared aircraft X on the ILS 18; and I had aircraft Y vectored for the ILS. I just got the downtime on the aircraft X; and cleared aircraft Y for the ILS 18 immediately after. They were about 6 to 7 miles north of the airport. I switched him to unicom. It was about 2 and a half minutes later; city ops called and said they are closing runway 18 due to braking action. At this point aircraft Y came on frequency and asked if he was cleared to land. I said I don't clear people to land; its a unicom and asked him if he heard the broadcasts from city ops saying they just closed the runway. You can hear it in the recordings. He said 'um…no'. As he is saying that; you hear the thud of him landing; and him reversing props to slow down on the recording. I asked him how the braking action was; and said he wasn't using brakes; just thrust. A short time after that; I hear city ops trying to get ahold of aircraft Y on the frequency. I didn't hear till a little while ago; there was an issue with the airport manager calling our building asking why were there planes landing on closed runways. I will start filling out more atsaps about kmsn closing later; because had they been open even 30 minutes later; they could have dealt with the 4 planes trying to get in. Normal; happens every night; there is a rush of aircraft trying to get into kmsn. When it comes to runway closures; and having 4 aircraft trying to get in; and coordinate runway closures in between arrivals; the guys in the tower can do much better than us; because they see what's going on.as far as the snow removal; city ops; and any runway closures. I think at least 5 minutes heads up that they are going to close a runway; so as a controller who deals with this; and like the other night; get a plane on short final; and on unicom; gets word that the runway is closed. I don't even get the chance to tell the pilot. Furthermore; city ops needs to do a better job of listening to the frequency. I know; that they know what is going on in my airspace; because they have referenced inbound flights I am talking to that are 45 miles away from the airport.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZAU Center Controller reported he cleared an aircraft for approach to an airport whose Tower and TRACON closes at night and it landed on a closed runway.

Narrative: I was working the 4 to midnight shift; with all the sectors in a midshift configuration. There was a major snow storm that went through that evening. When KMSN Tower closes and there is snow; the airport ops is tuned in to our frequency; and will talk to us about runway conditions and closures. That night; I had several aircraft trying to get into Madison. I just cleared Aircraft X on the ILS 18; and I had Aircraft Y vectored for the ILS. I just got the downtime on the Aircraft X; and cleared Aircraft Y for the ILS 18 immediately after. They were about 6 to 7 miles north of the airport. I switched him to Unicom. It was about 2 and a half minutes later; city ops called and said they are closing Runway 18 due to braking action. At this point Aircraft Y came on frequency and asked if he was cleared to land. I said I don't clear people to land; its a Unicom and asked him if he heard the broadcasts from city ops saying they just closed the runway. You can hear it in the recordings. He said 'um…no'. As he is saying that; you hear the thud of him landing; and him reversing props to slow down on the recording. I asked him how the braking action was; and said he wasn't using brakes; just thrust. A short time after that; I hear city ops trying to get ahold of Aircraft Y on the frequency. I didn't hear till a little while ago; there was an issue with the airport manager calling our building asking why were there planes landing on closed runways. I will start filling out more ATSAPs about KMSN closing later; because had they been open even 30 minutes later; they could have dealt with the 4 planes trying to get in. Normal; happens every night; there is a rush of aircraft trying to get into KMSN. When it comes to runway closures; and having 4 aircraft trying to get in; and coordinate runway closures in between arrivals; the guys in the tower can do much better than us; because they see what's going on.As far as the snow removal; city ops; and any runway closures. I think at least 5 minutes heads up that they are going to close a runway; so as a controller who deals with this; and like the other night; get a plane on short final; and on Unicom; gets word that the runway is closed. I don't even get the chance to tell the pilot. Furthermore; city ops needs to do a better job of listening to the frequency. I know; that they know what is going on in my airspace; because they have referenced inbound flights I am talking to that are 45 miles away from the airport.

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.