Narrative:

We had pireps indicating light to moderate rime icing and light chop from 14000 to FL190. A regional jet departure off ord checked on climbing to 15000; I gave him the PIREP info and climbed him to FL230. He acknowledged. As aircraft was climbing thru FL180 he said (with urgency); we need lower immediately and return to ord. I descended him to 16000 (the aircraft was still over C-90 airspace which goes up to 15000). I then called C90 and told them that I needed lower on said aircraft and that he needed to return to ord. The controller acknowledged and said descending to 16000 approved. This is still my airspace at 16000 and I wasn't given any lower. As the aircraft reached 16000 he again stated (with urgency) that he needed lower. Believing that he was in an emergency status; I issued a descent to 11000; at this point the aircraft was at the edge of C90 airspace; and I'm not sure if he may have clipped it as he descended. There was no other aircraft or limited beacon codes in the immediate area. After the aircraft descended; I inquired if he were declaring an emergency; he responded 'no; we're ok now'. I asked him if he could accept routing over the inbound fixes back to ord and he said yes. I coordinated with the receiving controller and shipped him to that sector. I later found out from the plano controller that the aircraft did not have any operating de-icing equipment; and they were in moderate rime icing; thus his urgency.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A commuter jet flight crew; suffering from the loss of de-icing capability; asked for and received special handling to return to ORD when they encountered moderate icing. In the process the flight may have entered C90 airspace wihtout authorization.

Narrative: We had PIREPs indicating light to moderate rime icing and light chop from 14000 to FL190. A regional jet departure off ORD checked on climbing to 15000; I gave him the PIREP info and climbed him to FL230. He acknowledged. As aircraft was climbing thru FL180 he said (with urgency); we need lower immediately and return to ORD. I descended him to 16000 (the aircraft was still over C-90 airspace which goes up to 15000). I then called C90 and told them that I needed lower on said aircraft and that he needed to return to ORD. The Controller acknowledged and said descending to 16000 approved. This is still my airspace at 16000 and I wasn't given any lower. As the aircraft reached 16000 he again stated (with urgency) that he needed lower. Believing that he was in an emergency status; I issued a descent to 11000; at this point the aircraft was at the edge of C90 airspace; and I'm not sure if he may have clipped it as he descended. There was NO other aircraft or limited beacon codes in the immediate area. After the aircraft descended; I inquired if he were declaring an emergency; He responded 'no; we're OK now'. I asked him if he could accept routing over the inbound fixes back to ORD and he said yes. I coordinated with the receiving controller and shipped him to that sector. I later found out from the PLANO Controller that the aircraft did not have any operating de-icing equipment; and they were in moderate rime icing; thus his urgency.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.