PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 28.5
Human-Machine Interface; Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance
Airport; Airspace Structure; Procedure; Chart Or Publication
Aircraft X was executing the published missed approach. I noticed a VFR aircraft that appeared to be inbound to the airport from the opposite direction. I called Aircraft X when I first saw him on radar on his missed approach. On the second call I received a reply and immediately issued traffic. I issued traffic several times and said something to the effect of 'I can't turn you because you're below the Minimum IFR Altitude (MIA) but...'. Aircraft X finally got the traffic in sight and stated he was turning. After climbing above the MIA I cleared the aircraft on to his destination.I've never encountered this situation. I'm filing [a report] because if it happened again I might take action below the MIA. The MIA in this case is 2;500 feet. With the potential collision at 2;200 feet I might turn the aircraft at 2;000 feet. I don't think I had time to ask if he could maintain his own terrain and obstruction avoidance. He was a student pilot and in my experience this question causes confusion. Next time I would probably ask if the pilot had ground contact and suggest a turn. This is an unusual situation because at most of our airports I wouldn't be able to talk to aircraft at this low an altitude. The sector transmitter is at [fix] so I was able to communicate early at this airport. I would have thought that the two involved aircraft would have known about each other through Unicom.I'm wondering if this should have been treated as an emergency and I should have had a 'deal' with the MIA and would have turned the aircraft while he was slightly below the MIA. I would have felt better if I had done this.
A Controller radar identified a departure and noticed they had converging VFR traffic. The IFR departure was below the Minimum IFR Altitude so the Controller could not vector the aircraft to avoid the traffic.