Narrative:

Aircraft X (IFR) was inbound from the east of ZZZ airport from approach and needed to land runway xx priority due to a report of a rough running engine but was not declaring an emergency or requiring any assistance. Upon checking in with tower; I as the local controller immediately cleared the aircraft to land and asked if the pilot required any assistance. The pilot responded 'not at this time.' on his base turn; I noticed that he was coming a little faster than a normal aircraft X type would land at but should be fine with the length of our runway. Upon initial contact with the runway; the pilot struggled to maintain contact with the runway surface and started bouncing and I was under the impression he may go-around until he touched down again and there was not enough runway for him to turn off at the end and continued into the emas (engineered materials arresting system) we have at the end of the runway. This is when we immediately notified our local fire department. My ground controller believed that it appeared the front nose landing gear was swiveling upon trying to make contact with the runway. I did not see this myself. I did not think it was safe to issue a go-around to the pilot as they were experiencing the rough running engine. The pilot and passengers did not experience any injuries and there was damage to the landing gear from the incident. Throughout the day; I also began to find out that my atm (air traffic manager) was ordering my fellow co-workers to check and see if any wind was issued to the pilot with the landing clearance. I was confused because I believed that liveatc.net is not an official FAA means of performing audio checks. My recommendation for the pilot is to slow as much as possible when arriving on a possible emergency especially if you cannot initiate a go-around. Make sure the aircraft was properly maintained and all pre-flight checks were done thoroughly. I also heard that my atm was out of town and could not come in to the facility for checking the audio tapes and thought that it was inappropriate to order another controller to listen to tapes via an unofficial website.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller reported an aircraft experienced engine issues resulting in a runway excursion during landing.

Narrative: Aircraft X (IFR) was inbound from the east of ZZZ airport from approach and needed to land Runway XX priority due to a report of a rough running engine but was not declaring an emergency or requiring any assistance. Upon checking in with tower; I as the local controller immediately cleared the aircraft to land and asked if the pilot required any assistance. The pilot responded 'not at this time.' On his base turn; I noticed that he was coming a little faster than a normal Aircraft X type would land at but should be fine with the length of our runway. Upon initial contact with the runway; the pilot struggled to maintain contact with the runway surface and started bouncing and I was under the impression he may go-around until he touched down again and there was not enough runway for him to turn off at the end and continued into the EMAS (engineered materials arresting system) we have at the end of the runway. This is when we immediately notified our local fire department. My ground controller believed that it appeared the front nose landing gear was swiveling upon trying to make contact with the runway. I did not see this myself. I did not think it was safe to issue a go-around to the pilot as they were experiencing the rough running engine. The pilot and passengers did not experience any injuries and there was damage to the landing gear from the incident. Throughout the day; I also began to find out that my ATM (Air Traffic Manager) was ordering my fellow co-workers to check and see if any wind was issued to the pilot with the landing clearance. I was confused because I believed that liveatc.net is not an official FAA means of performing audio checks. My recommendation for the pilot is to slow as much as possible when arriving on a possible emergency especially if you cannot initiate a go-around. Make sure the aircraft was properly maintained and all pre-flight checks were done thoroughly. I also heard that my ATM was out of town and could not come in to the facility for checking the audio tapes and thought that it was inappropriate to order another controller to listen to tapes via an unofficial website.

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.