Lancair 200
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Communication Breakdown
Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control
Aircraft
I received a briefing on the North Departure/North High combined RADAR sector. Traffic was routine and uneventful. I accepted a hand-off from South Departure on a VFR aircraft; a Lancair; around at 10;500 FT. Since the aircraft was close to my boundary and about 18 miles from the next sector's boundary I initiated a hand off to the next sector. After a few minutes I heard the South Departure Controller trying to reach out a few times to the Lancair. I looked at the tag and noticed that it was no longer displaying an altitude read out and shortly after showed a CST or coast in the scratch pad. The tag was still being tracked because I had it in hand off status. I took the hand-off back to see if it was a RADAR tracking issue because the RADAR site was OFM or if it really was no longer tracking the aircraft because of something else. The South Departure Controller tried to get a nearby Air Carrier to reach the pilot with no joy. I used Guard frequency to raise him with also no joy. A few seconds later we saw the 7700 code pop up and the emergency sound from the STARs display alert. I attempted again to reach the pilot on Guard and had him 'ident'. After seeing the 'ident' I had him switch to my frequency. After a few seconds I tried to reach him with no luck and also asked a near by VFR SR22 if he was able to hear him respond. The pilot of the SR22 could not hear him. I reach out again and this time got a response from the pilot. He; in a very heavy breath; said that he had an emergency and everything is 'ok' now. I asked his altitude and he replied 4;200 FT. After a few more routine questions I gave him a squawk and asked if he was squawking altitude. He replied that there may have been some damage to other equipment that he wasn't sure of. I asked what kind of damage was he experiencing and what caused the damage (bird strike or something else). He replied that it was an autopilot issue with a slipped trim wheel. I asked his intentions. He replied that he wanted to go to ZZZ. I advised him that ZZZ was over 75 miles away and his original destination was only 25 miles away and there were closer airports that could provide service. He said that he wanted to go to ZZZ. I gave him a suggested heading; clearance through Class Bravo airspace and the approximate distance from ZZZ. After the pilot turned towards ZZZ I again advised him that another airport was only 6 miles away to asses any damage. He again refused. As he was about to leave my airspace I noticed that he was about twenty degrees off course. I corrected his heading and gave a briefing to the Class B Tower Controller of his situation. When I came back from break I was informed that the pilot landed safely at ZZZ and called the facility. He advised the OM that the autopilot was giving him trouble so he disabled it just to find that the trim wheel had slipped and pushed the aircraft into a nose dive. He was experiencing negative and positive G's that were making it difficult for the pilot and his passenger to regain control. He finally did at around 4;000 FT. He had hit his head on the canopy and broke his headset and some of the equipment. He also noticed that one of the latches to the canopy was bent so he was holding it shut during flight. He also told the OM that he heard me calling him on Guard to 'ident' and frantically pushed the button to alert us that he was ok. After getting a new headset he was able to communicate with us. No recommendations. Team work was the key here. The use of Guard; pilots and situational awareness helped in determining the location of the aircraft and the correct method of getting the pilot calm and under control. I only wish the pilot would have listened to the suggested airports and landed sooner.
TRACON Controller described an emergency event involving a general aviation aircraft with loss of control issues; the reporter expressing concern regarding the passing of several landing opportunities by the pilot in question.