Narrative:

Aircraft X departed VFR and asked for flight following to [the destination] airport. [Weather at the destination] was showing IMC conditions. I advised the aircraft and asked his intentions. He responded that he wanted to go IFR and I asked his approach request at [the destination airport. I then cleared the pilot to [the destination airport] via IAF for the approach as he had requested. Soon after being cleared the pilot began flying erratically and losing altitude. I asked him to verify direct [to the IAF] and got no response. At this point I began to suspect he had become disoriented and attempted to give him a heading. The pilot was still unable to maintain control of his aircraft and had descended into unsafe proximity with terrain triggering a low altitude alert which I then issued to the pilot. Finally the pilot got the aircraft relatively under control and I recommended a diversion to the nearest airport and issued him the weather. He agreed and I began clearing him to [the nearest] airport via a radar vector. At this point he began losing control of the aircraft again. I suspected he was unable to program his GPS and maintain his instrument scan in IMC and immediately had him focus on leveling his aircraft to maintain straight and level flight without trying to navigate as well. Given the performance of the pilot; I had no confidence in the pilot to fly an instrument approach without becoming disoriented and losing control of the aircraft. Looking at weather for all of the satellite airports in my airspace; I elected to try and take him to amw [instead of the nearest airport]; as they were showing the highest ceiling and visibility. Given the pilot's inability to fly an approach; I decided to give him no gyro vectors and to use an emergency MVA map to descend him below the MVA to attempt a visual approach. In the mean time I had the pilot maintain level flight to try and reorient himself and regain confidence. The pilot was still somewhat struggling with controlling the aircraft but was able to maintain relatively straight and level flight. Because of his proximity to the highest obstruction in our airspace (obstacle at ~3000 ft ) I had the pilot start a shallow climb to 4000 ft in case he inadvertently maneuvered into the MVA over the obstruction. I reissued the amw weather to the pilot and cleared him via radar vectors. I told him my plan was to give him no gyro vectors towards the airport and then to descend him below the MVA to attempt the visual. Amw was reporting a ceiling of ovc 2000 ft and he agreed to my plan. Once he was north of the obstruction I descended him to 3000 ft which was the MVA he was in hoping he might see the field without descending below the MVA. I used the rtr (remote transmitter receiver) frequency to turn the pilot controlled lighting to the highest intensity to avoid having the pilot change frequencies. The pilot was unable to see the field at this altitude and I reiterated that I would be using an emergency MVA map to descend him below the overcast layer with which he again agreed. I descended him to 2500 ft. Shortly after he began the descent below 3000 ft he called the field in sight. Once the pilot called the field in sight I cleared him for the visual approach; changed him to advisory frequency and asked him to report on the ground via the amw rtr. About 2 minutes later the pilot called on the ground and I cancelled his IFR and made sure the pilot and aircraft were okay. Controllers should not assume all aircraft requesting an IFR clearance are capable of IFR flight and monitor all clearances given to ensure the pilot appears capable of controlling the aircraft in IMC. Special attention should be given to general aviation pilots who show signs of not being able to handle a complex aircraft in IMC such as poor read backs and erratic flying. Controllers should also be briefed on the dangers of VFR flight into IMC and low time; inexperienced pilots attemptingifr flight on lifr days with few options in the event of a missed approach. FSDO should follow up on situations such as these to ensure the pilot was operating the aircraft legally and not endangering others with reckless operation of an aircraft. The FAA should continue to make pilots aware of the dangers of IMC flight to VFR pilots; low time IFR pilots; and pilots who are not current flying IFR approached to minimums.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: DSM TRACON Controller reported using an emergency obstruction vector map to assist a disoriented pilot in IMC.

Narrative: Aircraft X departed VFR and asked for flight following to [the destination] airport. [Weather at the destination] was showing IMC conditions. I advised the aircraft and asked his intentions. He responded that he wanted to go IFR and I asked his approach request at [the destination airport. I then cleared the pilot to [the destination airport] via IAF for the approach as he had requested. Soon after being cleared the pilot began flying erratically and losing altitude. I asked him to verify direct [to the IAF] and got no response. At this point I began to suspect he had become disoriented and attempted to give him a heading. The pilot was still unable to maintain control of his aircraft and had descended into unsafe proximity with terrain triggering a low altitude alert which I then issued to the pilot. Finally the pilot got the aircraft relatively under control and I recommended a diversion to the nearest airport and issued him the weather. He agreed and I began clearing him to [the nearest] airport via a radar vector. At this point he began losing control of the aircraft again. I suspected he was unable to program his GPS and maintain his instrument scan in IMC and immediately had him focus on leveling his aircraft to maintain straight and level flight without trying to navigate as well. Given the performance of the pilot; I had no confidence in the pilot to fly an instrument approach without becoming disoriented and losing control of the aircraft. Looking at weather for all of the satellite airports in my airspace; I elected to try and take him to AMW [instead of the nearest airport]; as they were showing the highest ceiling and visibility. Given the pilot's inability to fly an approach; I decided to give him no gyro vectors and to use an emergency MVA map to descend him below the MVA to attempt a visual approach. In the mean time I had the pilot maintain level flight to try and reorient himself and regain confidence. The pilot was still somewhat struggling with controlling the aircraft but was able to maintain relatively straight and level flight. Because of his proximity to the highest obstruction in our airspace (obstacle at ~3000 ft ) I had the pilot start a shallow climb to 4000 ft in case he inadvertently maneuvered into the MVA over the obstruction. I reissued the AMW weather to the pilot and cleared him via radar vectors. I told him my plan was to give him no gyro vectors towards the airport and then to descend him below the MVA to attempt the visual. AMW was reporting a ceiling of OVC 2000 ft and he agreed to my plan. Once he was north of the obstruction I descended him to 3000 ft which was the MVA he was in hoping he might see the field without descending below the MVA. I used the RTR (Remote Transmitter Receiver) frequency to turn the pilot controlled lighting to the highest intensity to avoid having the pilot change frequencies. The pilot was unable to see the field at this altitude and I reiterated that I would be using an emergency MVA map to descend him below the overcast layer with which he again agreed. I descended him to 2500 ft. Shortly after he began the descent below 3000 ft he called the field in sight. Once the pilot called the field in sight I cleared him for the visual approach; changed him to advisory frequency and asked him to report on the ground via the AMW RTR. About 2 minutes later the pilot called on the ground and I cancelled his IFR and made sure the pilot and aircraft were okay. Controllers should not assume all aircraft requesting an IFR clearance are capable of IFR flight and monitor all clearances given to ensure the pilot appears capable of controlling the aircraft in IMC. Special attention should be given to general aviation pilots who show signs of not being able to handle a complex aircraft in IMC such as poor read backs and erratic flying. Controllers should also be briefed on the dangers of VFR flight into IMC and low time; inexperienced pilots attemptingIFR flight on LIFR days with few options in the event of a missed approach. FSDO should follow up on situations such as these to ensure the pilot was operating the aircraft legally and not endangering others with reckless operation of an aircraft. The FAA should continue to make pilots aware of the dangers of IMC flight to VFR pilots; low time IFR pilots; and pilots who are not current flying IFR approached to minimums.

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.