Narrative:

Aircraft X on a visual approach to runway 35 went around due to a landing gear issue. Aircraft asked to go hold somewhere while he sorted out his landing gear issue. I told aircraft to make left traffic and maintain VFR. Weather conditions were such that I could easily provide visual separation between aircraft X and any other arriving or departing traffic. I had aircraft make a right 360 on the downwind to separate him from an arriving aircraft. The other arrival landed. Aircraft called ready to come back and land after he got 3 green lights on his landing gear; but advised he wanted the emergency vehicles standing by. I had already called an alert ii and had the rescue trucks on the field at this point. Aircraft landed safely. In hindsight; I think I made a mistake by putting aircraft in my local pattern and telling him to maintain VFR. If I had been thinking clearly; I would have remembered that an IFR flight plan cannot be arbitrarily canceled by a controller. I know that the IFR flight plan can only be cancelled by the pilot in the air or at uncontrolled fields on the ground. At controlled fields I know that an IFR flight plan is considered cancelled when the aircraft lands. This was an unexpected go around; not an IFR inbound requesting pattern work or a VFR aircraft with gear issues. Maybe I made the right choice by keeping aircraft close to the tower so I could see his gear; but I think I was wrong to tell aircraft to maintain VFR. I am requesting a reference for me to study and retrain myself on so I can be exactly sure when an IFR flight plan can be cancelled in the future. I have seen landing gear emergencies numerous times in my career but I have never seen any specific computer based instruction (cbi)s or training videos on this specific type of emergency. I think a cbi or video that covers this issue would be helpful.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An AZO Tower Controller tells an aircraft to maintain VFR on the go-around due to a gear problem. The Controller is confused after the aircraft lands in that he told the aircraft to maintain VFR and cancelled his IFR clearance.

Narrative: Aircraft X on a visual approach to RWY 35 went around due to a landing gear issue. Aircraft asked to go hold somewhere while he sorted out his landing gear issue. I told Aircraft to make left traffic and maintain VFR. Weather conditions were such that I could easily provide visual separation between Aircraft X and any other arriving or departing traffic. I had Aircraft make a right 360 on the downwind to separate him from an arriving aircraft. The other arrival landed. Aircraft called ready to come back and land after he got 3 green lights on his landing gear; but advised he wanted the emergency vehicles standing by. I had already called an Alert II and had the rescue trucks on the field at this point. Aircraft landed safely. In hindsight; I think I made a mistake by putting Aircraft in my local pattern and telling him to maintain VFR. If I had been thinking clearly; I would have remembered that an IFR flight plan cannot be arbitrarily canceled by a controller. I know that the IFR flight plan can only be cancelled by the pilot in the air or at uncontrolled fields on the ground. At controlled fields I know that an IFR flight plan is considered cancelled when the aircraft lands. This was an unexpected go around; not an IFR inbound requesting pattern work or a VFR aircraft with gear issues. Maybe I made the right choice by keeping Aircraft close to the tower so I could see his gear; but I think I was wrong to tell Aircraft to maintain VFR. I am requesting a reference for me to study and retrain myself on so I can be exactly sure when an IFR flight plan can be cancelled in the future. I have seen landing gear emergencies numerous times in my career but I have never seen any specific Computer Based Instruction (CBI)s or training videos on this specific type of emergency. I think a CBI or video that covers this issue would be helpful.

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.