Narrative:

I was the radar controller at the parkersburg; pike; and columbus lo sectors combined. I took the position with an aircraft in the middle of pike sector that was not in contact with ATC. He was originally in contact with area 2; and then his electronics failed. They tracked and handed off a primary to us. The aircraft was landing at dlz; in columbus approaches' airspace. We did not know what altitude he was at; and we coordinated with cmh and area 5 to let them know to protect. After the incident; we found out that a supervisor in area 2 attempted to contact flight service to get the pilot's cell phone number and aircraft search and rescue information. The local flight service said they did not have this information because the flight plan was filed in another flight service region. The supervisor in area 6 tracked down the pilot's cell phone number by looking up the aircraft registry and calling the company; who gave him the cell number. The supervisor was able to reach the pilot in the air; who told him he was at 3000 ft. The supervisor read the pilot the weather and he asked for vectors to an instrument approach. We realized we do not display the approach course/centerlines and were not allowed to vector this aircraft. The supervisor told the pilot he would call cmh approach and tell them to call the pilot immediately since they have the centerlines; etc. We tried to contact cmh on the landlines multiple times and they did not answer; a problem we've had a lot recently. The supervisor tried to call them on the phone and they didn't answer the first time. They finally answered and the supervisor gave them the information. The plane safely landed. The ZID local safety council tried to get a map of the centerlines for other airports; but it was turned down by management. In this situation; I can't imagine what it was like for the pilot to have someone tell him they had to hang up and expect a call from cmh approach. If we had the centerlines; I would have been able to immediately issue a vector to join the approach course; or even do an ASR (airport surveillance radar) [approach]. We weren't sure exactly what equipment he did or didn't have working at the time. I've worked at approach controls where we had to remain current on ASR approaches. We should have a map of at least the contingency plan airports in our airspace. Another issue that we've been dealing with is the culture at cmh approach. I know there are ssrs (system service reviews) and it's being dealt with; but add another event that cmh hindered the safest possible result. Their issue with ZID should not come before the safety of all aircraft. I'm also a little confused about the flight service information. We had to jump through hoops to get the guy's information; and it seems like it should be easier. If flight service doesn't have access to each region's information; we should fix that. All in all; this turned out well but it could have ended badly. I'd like to see us be able to help aircraft without so many restrictions.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZID Center Controller reported a lack of available map display to assist while working an aircraft that had an electrical failure. The Controller also reported difficulty contacting CMH approach for coordination.

Narrative: I was the radar controller at the Parkersburg; Pike; and Columbus Lo sectors combined. I took the position with an aircraft in the middle of Pike sector that was not in contact with ATC. He was originally in contact with Area 2; and then his electronics failed. They tracked and handed off a primary to us. The aircraft was landing at DLZ; in Columbus approaches' airspace. We did not know what altitude he was at; and we coordinated with CMH and area 5 to let them know to protect. After the incident; we found out that a supervisor in Area 2 attempted to contact flight service to get the pilot's cell phone number and aircraft search and rescue information. The local flight service said they did not have this information because the flight plan was filed in another flight service region. The supervisor in area 6 tracked down the pilot's cell phone number by looking up the aircraft registry and calling the company; who gave him the cell number. The supervisor was able to reach the pilot in the air; who told him he was at 3000 ft. The supervisor read the pilot the weather and he asked for vectors to an instrument approach. We realized we do not display the approach course/centerlines and were not allowed to vector this aircraft. The supervisor told the pilot he would call CMH approach and tell them to call the pilot immediately since they have the centerlines; etc. We tried to contact CMH on the landlines multiple times and they did not answer; a problem we've had a lot recently. The supervisor tried to call them on the phone and they didn't answer the first time. They finally answered and the supervisor gave them the information. The plane safely landed. The ZID local safety council tried to get a map of the centerlines for other airports; but it was turned down by management. In this situation; I can't imagine what it was like for the pilot to have someone tell him they had to hang up and expect a call from CMH approach. If we had the centerlines; I would have been able to immediately issue a vector to join the approach course; or even do an ASR (Airport Surveillance Radar) [approach]. We weren't sure exactly what equipment he did or didn't have working at the time. I've worked at approach controls where we had to remain current on ASR approaches. We should have a map of at least the contingency plan airports in our airspace. Another issue that we've been dealing with is the culture at CMH approach. I know there are SSRs (System Service Reviews) and it's being dealt with; but add another event that CMH hindered the safest possible result. Their issue with ZID should not come before the safety of all aircraft. I'm also a little confused about the flight service information. We had to jump through hoops to get the guy's information; and it seems like it should be easier. If flight service doesn't have access to each region's information; we should fix that. All in all; this turned out well but it could have ended badly. I'd like to see us be able to help aircraft without so many restrictions.

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.