Narrative:

I had just started my midnight shift working local control. My next departure was aircraft X; I cleared aircraft X for takeoff; told the aircraft to turn to a heading of 260 and contact departure. Approximately 30 seconds later aircraft X came back to my frequency and said he needed to return to land due to smoke in the aft lavatory. I asked the aircraft which runway they would like to land and was told runway xya. I instructed the pilot to enter left downwind for runway xya. At that time I asked traffic on approximately a four mile final if they could sidestep to runway xyz due to the inbound [aircraft] or they would have to execute a missed approach as I did not know how close of a base turn aircraft X would be making. The other aircraft accepted runway xyz and was cleared for a visual approach.aircraft X then asked for an approximate heading and altitude to maintain which I instructed 120 heading and 3;000 feet and then pointed out the aircraft to approach. I told the aircraft [the airport] was at their 3 O'clock and 2 miles in which the pilot told me they were IMC. They also informed me that they could see the smoke and smell the smoke in the back. It was a thin scattered to broken layer in which I could see their strobe lights as they descended. As the aircraft continued on downwind I held all traffic on runway xya and continued departures on runway xyz. Aircraft X asked to make a base turn to intercept roughly a 4-5mile final in which I gave them a vector to 360 and they said they should be able to see the airport once they got turned back. I later gave a heading of 320 to intercept the final in which the aircraft reported the field in sight and was cleared for a visual approach and cleared to land. They instructed me they wanted to clear the runway; open the door right away for crash fire rescue (crash fire rescue equipment) to board. They landed and cleared the runway at taxiway A7 where they were met by crash fire rescue equipment. Throughout the incident I had felt comfortable with keeping the aircraft on my frequency. As a pilot myself the last thing with smoke in the aircraft and making an immediate return to land I would want to do is be making frequencies and hence why I kept the aircraft on my frequency. I do not think there is anything that can prevent an emergency. It shows that we always have to be prepared for the unexpected. As a tower only controller who's never worked radar it shows that knowledge of our sister facility [the TRACON] and having basic approach phraseology in our minds can really help in a situation like this.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Tower Controller reported an aircraft had mechanical issues and was returning to the departure airport. The tower controller elected to vector the aircraft for a visual approach instead of switching the aircraft to TRACON.

Narrative: I had just started my midnight shift working Local Control. My next departure was Aircraft X; I cleared Aircraft X for takeoff; told the aircraft to turn to a heading of 260 and contact departure. Approximately 30 seconds later Aircraft X came back to my frequency and said he needed to return to land due to smoke in the aft lavatory. I asked the aircraft which runway they would like to land and was told Runway XYA. I instructed the pilot to enter left downwind for Runway XYA. At that time I asked traffic on approximately a four mile final if they could sidestep to Runway XYZ due to the inbound [aircraft] or they would have to execute a missed approach as I did not know how close of a base turn Aircraft X would be making. The other aircraft accepted Runway XYZ and was cleared for a Visual Approach.Aircraft X then asked for an approximate heading and altitude to maintain which I instructed 120 heading and 3;000 feet and then pointed out the aircraft to approach. I told the aircraft [the airport] was at their 3 O'Clock and 2 miles in which the pilot told me they were IMC. They also informed me that they could see the smoke and smell the smoke in the back. It was a thin scattered to broken layer in which I could see their strobe lights as they descended. As the aircraft continued on downwind I held all traffic on Runway XYA and continued departures on Runway XYZ. Aircraft X asked to make a base turn to intercept roughly a 4-5mile final in which I gave them a vector to 360 and they said they should be able to see the airport once they got turned back. I later gave a heading of 320 to intercept the final in which the aircraft reported the field in sight and was cleared for a Visual Approach and cleared to land. They instructed me they wanted to clear the runway; open the door right away for Crash Fire Rescue (CFR) to board. They landed and cleared the runway at Taxiway A7 where they were met by CFR. Throughout the incident I had felt comfortable with keeping the aircraft on my frequency. As a pilot myself the last thing with smoke in the aircraft and making an immediate return to land I would want to do is be making frequencies and hence why I kept the aircraft on my frequency. I do not think there is anything that can prevent an emergency. It shows that we always have to be prepared for the unexpected. As a tower only controller who's never worked radar it shows that knowledge of our sister facility [the TRACON] and having basic approach phraseology in our minds can really help in a situation like this.

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.