A ground controller reported detecting a pilot taxiing displayed signs of being inebriated. The cont...

Narrative:

I was controller in charge and ground control. Aircraft X called to taxi to the runway. Winds were moving every five minutes so I gave him the winds; and asked what runway he wanted. He said '38'. I thought this was odd. I told him there was no such thing and taxied him to runway 30. He read back instructions without a call sign. I had him try again and he got it wrong. One of the many times I tried he got stepped on. The next time I tried to give it to him he said going to '38V 28V'. At this point I told him to hold his position. I looked at my local controller and said I don't want to taxi this guy out something is wrong. Local control said ask if there was an instructor on board or if he was familiar with the airport. The pilot's response was slurred and not intelligible. I called airport operations to go check on the guy. They called on the phone and stated he was drunk. I saw the pilot was taxiing the plane back to the hangar. I called my air traffic manager and got a little more guidance on what to do. I called airport operations to suggest they call 911. 911 was called. The pilot was arrested for a dui. Local control; ground control both filled out statements on what happened.there should be some type of training to help controllers recognize these types of situations.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Ground Controller reported detecting a pilot taxiing displayed signs of being inebriated. The Controller had airport operations and law enforcement meet the airplane.

Narrative: I was Controller in Charge and Ground Control. Aircraft X called to taxi to the runway. Winds were moving every five minutes so I gave him the winds; and asked what runway he wanted. He said '38'. I thought this was odd. I told him there was no such thing and taxied him to Runway 30. He read back instructions without a call sign. I had him try again and he got it wrong. One of the many times I tried he got stepped on. The next time I tried to give it to him he said going to '38V 28V'. At this point I told him to hold his position. I looked at my Local Controller and said I don't want to taxi this guy out something is wrong. Local Control said ask if there was an instructor on board or if he was familiar with the airport. The pilot's response was slurred and not intelligible. I called airport operations to go check on the guy. They called on the phone and stated he was drunk. I saw the pilot was taxiing the plane back to the hangar. I called my air traffic manager and got a little more guidance on what to do. I called airport operations to suggest they call 911. 911 was called. The pilot was arrested for a DUI. Local Control; Ground Control both filled out statements on what happened.There should be some type of training to help controllers recognize these types of situations.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1443821
Time
Date	201704
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	M-20 E Super 21
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Taxi
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Supervisor / CIC Ground Flight Data / Clearance Delivery
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2.5
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A ground controller reported detecting a pilot taxiing displayed signs of being inebriated. The controller had airport operations and law enforcement meet the airplane.