Narrative:

Aircraft X was handed off and was initially going to land at ZZZ airport. [Adjacent] TRACON coordinated that the aircraft had missed a couple approaches in their airspace due to low visibility and ceilings and that fuel may be an issue. I asked the pilot if he could make ZZZ or if he would like an airport closer. At this point; he was not [requesting priority handling]; but wanted a closer airport if the weather permitted. My supervisor gathered weather form local airports closer to the aircraft and we decided on dlz. He put the RNAV approach in his GPS and flew the approach course. Outside of the final approach fix he asked what the minimums were for the approach and I gave them to him. He then asked if I could step him down because his ipad's battery had gone out and he didn't have a backup. I asked if he could make it to an airport which was roughly 15 miles west of his current position because there was better VFR weather being reported there. He said he was unable and [requested priority handling]. He also had reported that he could see some breaks in the clouds below him so I descended the aircraft to 2;000 feet and pointed out the airport. The MVA (minimum vectoring altitude) in the area is 2;500 feet. There is an antennae southeast of the airport that is 900 feet and wanted to wait until he was over the airport to issue a further descent in case he veered from the final approach course. He reported the field in sight about a 2 mile final and proceeded visually.if I had to do it over; I would have asked for more information earlier to make sure of the equipment he had on board. I would have then been able to possibly set him up for an approach surveillance radar (ASR) approach earlier on.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CMH TRACON Controller reported descending an aircraft that had a fuel issue below the Minimum vectoring Altitude so they could visually acquire the nearest airport and land.

Narrative: Aircraft X was handed off and was initially going to land at ZZZ airport. [Adjacent] TRACON coordinated that the aircraft had missed a couple approaches in their airspace due to low visibility and ceilings and that fuel may be an issue. I asked the pilot if he could make ZZZ or if he would like an airport closer. At this point; he was not [requesting priority handling]; but wanted a closer airport if the weather permitted. My Supervisor gathered weather form local airports closer to the aircraft and we decided on DLZ. He put the RNAV approach in his GPS and flew the approach course. Outside of the Final Approach Fix he asked what the minimums were for the approach and I gave them to him. He then asked if I could step him down because his IPAD's battery had gone out and he didn't have a backup. I asked if he could make it to an airport which was roughly 15 miles west of his current position because there was better VFR weather being reported there. He said he was unable and [requested priority handling]. He also had reported that he could see some breaks in the clouds below him so I descended the aircraft to 2;000 feet and pointed out the airport. The MVA (Minimum Vectoring Altitude) in the area is 2;500 feet. There is an antennae southeast of the airport that is 900 feet and wanted to wait until he was over the airport to issue a further descent in case he veered from the final approach course. He reported the field in sight about a 2 mile final and proceeded visually.If I had to do it over; I would have asked for more information earlier to make sure of the equipment he had on board. I would have then been able to possibly set him up for an Approach Surveillance Radar (ASR) approach earlier on.

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.