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The pilot was flying to CMH after starting his long journey in Guatemala.
He had been in the air all day. Weather in the area was instrument flight
rules (IFR) with a 200-foot cloud ceiling and a half-mile of visibility. Kilgus
began vectoring the pilot to instrument landing system (ILS) Runway 10R
at CMH, but he was having a hard time understanding his instructions.
English was not the pilot's first language, and the difficult flying conditions,
combined with the lengthy flight, made that barrier even harder for him
to overcome.
Suddenly, the pilot made a hard right turn towards final approach without
instruction, directly into oncoming inbound traffic. Kilgus immediately
caught the pilot's error and issued him a hard right turn away from traffic
to get the pilot back on track. Kilgus then began vectoring the aircraft
towards Runway 10R for a second landing attempt.
The pilot had difficulty maintaining the ILS and his altitude and flight course
did not line up with the required final approach. Kilgus continuously gave
corrections as well as the ILS frequency, after which the pilot asked Kilgus
to "keep an eye on me." It soon became apparent the pilot could not make
the approach into CMH due to his inability to navigate the ILS approach.
Kilgus decided to offer the pilot the location of nearby satellite airport,
Rickenbacker International (LCK). LCK had reported better weather than
CMH. The pilot accepted this suggestion and was given short-range
clearance and a weather report by air traffic control. The pilot was still
having difficulty navigating this new approach and was constantly setting
off low altitude warnings.
David Kilgus plugged in to position on March 10,
2015, and began working a Piper Comanche.
DAVID
KILGUS
Columbus ATCT
