Narrative:

This company operates a high altitude relay/coordination flight for numerous low altitude VFR aircraft. These flights are evenly split between IFR and VFR operations; regardless of prevailing VFR conditions. This particular flight had been maneuvering IFR east for about 2 hours when I noticed that it had deviated further east of its allotted airspace. I was conducting a position relief briefing at the time of the incident. I attempted to contact the pilot and ask his intentions. I did not receive a response. The aircraft had been assigned its requested block altitude of 100 to 110. During the course of the briefing it was noticed that the aircraft had dipped below his altitude by 300 ft. I attempted to instruct the pilot to maintain the assigned block altitudes and received and unintelligible response; but it appeared that the aircraft was climbing back to assigned altitude. As the briefing continued it was noted that the aircraft had now descended to approximately 085. I attempted to contact the aircraft again to determine the pilot's desires and needs; but got no response. In a moment of exasperation and a desire to settle this situation for the relieving controller; I exceeded my authority as a controller and cancelled the pilots IFR clearance. Again I received no response. This was in my opinion a 'clerical' move which in no way affected the service that the pilot would or did continue to receive. The reported weather in the vicinity was VFR; clear above a broken layer at approximately 065. To the great benefit of all involved there was no other IFR traffic within 20 miles of the flight. I completed my briefing and turned the sector over to my relief; with the instruction that they needed to get back to the aircraft to clarify intentions. A helicopter came on the frequency to inform us that the pilot of aircraft X had experienced a medical/physical issue and was incapacitated. A passenger in the aircraft was now flying the aircraft with assistance from other pilots on the ground using the airport unicom frequency. The flight did not have any further contact with ATC. Center was later advised that the flight had made a safe landing and the stricken pilot was taken to hospital. The issue here appears to be mine alone. If I had not felt pressure to get the sector turned over to relief; due to my being at the end of my shift and trying to avoid issues of overtime; I doubt that I would have felt compelled to unilaterally cancel the flights IFR. I would have simply worked through the situation without the pressure to achieve near term closure. I remain certain that I still would have asked the pilot if he could maintain VFR conditions but not have considered canceling the aircraft's IFR.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Center Controller described an event where an IFR aircraft assigned block altitudes was observed starting an uncoordinated descent with no communications; he later discovered the pilot experienced medical issues.

Narrative: This company operates a high altitude relay/coordination flight for numerous low altitude VFR aircraft. These flights are evenly split between IFR and VFR operations; regardless of prevailing VFR conditions. This particular flight had been maneuvering IFR east for about 2 hours when I noticed that it had deviated further east of its allotted airspace. I was conducting a position relief briefing at the time of the incident. I attempted to contact the pilot and ask his intentions. I did not receive a response. The aircraft had been assigned its requested block altitude of 100 to 110. During the course of the briefing it was noticed that the aircraft had dipped below his altitude by 300 FT. I attempted to instruct the pilot to maintain the assigned block altitudes and received and unintelligible response; but it appeared that the aircraft was climbing back to assigned altitude. As the briefing continued it was noted that the aircraft had now descended to approximately 085. I attempted to contact the aircraft again to determine the pilot's desires and needs; but got no response. In a moment of exasperation and a desire to settle this situation for the relieving controller; I exceeded my authority as a controller and cancelled the pilots IFR clearance. Again I received no response. This was in my opinion a 'clerical' move which in no way affected the service that the pilot would or did continue to receive. The reported weather in the vicinity was VFR; clear above a broken layer at approximately 065. To the great benefit of all involved there was no other IFR traffic within 20 miles of the flight. I completed my briefing and turned the sector over to my relief; with the instruction that they needed to get back to the aircraft to clarify intentions. A helicopter came on the frequency to inform us that the pilot of Aircraft X had experienced a medical/physical issue and was incapacitated. A passenger in the aircraft was now flying the aircraft with assistance from other pilots on the ground using the airport UNICOM frequency. The flight did not have any further contact with ATC. Center was later advised that the flight had made a safe landing and the stricken pilot was taken to hospital. The issue here appears to be mine alone. If I had not felt pressure to get the sector turned over to relief; due to my being at the end of my shift and trying to avoid issues of overtime; I doubt that I would have felt compelled to unilaterally cancel the flights IFR. I would have simply worked through the situation without the pressure to achieve near term closure. I remain certain that I still would have asked the pilot if he could maintain VFR conditions but not have considered canceling the aircraft's IFR.

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.