Narrative:

Aircraft X declared an emergency and wanted to land at the nearest airport. I advised him of the nearby airports and suggested landing ZZZ1 which was less than 15 miles at his 12:00. He chose to land ZZZ which was at his 9 o'clock and 8 miles. When he chose to land at ZZZ; I had the person assisting me pull up the notams on erids. She advise that ZZZ aerodrome was NOTAM'd closed. I told the pilot this; then immediately asked the flm (supervisor) to call the airport manager. Aircraft X still insisted on landing at ZZZ so I told him to report the airport in sight. He said he had the airport in sight and there appeared to be vehicles on the runway. I confirmed this with the flm and she said she was talking to the airport manager and was going to try to get someone out to the field to get the pickup truck off the runway. I gave the aircraft authorization to conduct a visual approach and advised of the pickup truck. The aircraft landed safely and stopped short of the truck with no incident. There has been some discussion recently as to whether a visual approach can be issued to a closed airport. After a previous incident (not this one); the most recent local ruling was that our job is to advise the aircraft of the notams and let the aircraft decide what to do. I am uncertain whether this should be the practice. Since I had been in communication with the airport manager and the aircraft was an emergency and the pilot had reported seeing the ground vehicle; I felt better about issuing a visual approach; but otherwise I feel it would have been bad practice. This should be clarified. It is a safety issue not only with the aircraft landing; but also with the personnel that may be working on the ground. The current practice is to just ask the pilot if they 'have the current notams' and issue the approach clearance.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ARTCC Controller reported confusion as to whether an approach clearance can be issued to an airport which is NOTAM'ed closed.

Narrative: Aircraft X declared an emergency and wanted to land at the nearest airport. I advised him of the nearby airports and suggested landing ZZZ1 which was less than 15 miles at his 12:00. He chose to land ZZZ which was at his 9 o'clock and 8 miles. When he chose to land at ZZZ; I had the person assisting me pull up the NOTAMs on ERIDS. She advise that ZZZ Aerodrome was NOTAM'd closed. I told the pilot this; then immediately asked the FLM (Supervisor) to call the Airport Manager. Aircraft X still insisted on landing at ZZZ so I told him to report the airport in sight. He said he had the airport in sight and there appeared to be vehicles on the runway. I confirmed this with the FLM and she said she was talking to the Airport Manager and was going to try to get someone out to the field to get the pickup truck off the runway. I gave the aircraft authorization to conduct a Visual Approach and advised of the pickup truck. The aircraft landed safely and stopped short of the truck with no incident. There has been some discussion recently as to whether a visual approach can be issued to a closed airport. After a previous incident (not this one); the most recent local ruling was that our job is to advise the aircraft of the NOTAMs and let the aircraft decide what to do. I am uncertain whether this should be the practice. Since I had been in communication with the Airport Manager and the aircraft was an emergency and the pilot had reported seeing the ground vehicle; I felt better about issuing a visual approach; but otherwise I feel it would have been bad practice. This should be clarified. It is a safety issue not only with the aircraft landing; but also with the personnel that may be working on the ground. The current practice is to just ask the pilot if they 'have the current NOTAMs' and issue the approach clearance.

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.