M-20 E Super 21
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2.5
Situational Awareness; Distraction; Communication Breakdown; Confusion
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Police / Security Involved
Human Factors
I was Controller in Charge and Ground Control. Aircraft X called to taxi to the runway. Winds were moving every five minutes so I gave him the winds; and asked what runway he wanted. He said '38'. I thought this was odd. I told him there was no such thing and taxied him to Runway 30. He read back instructions without a call sign. I had him try again and he got it wrong. One of the many times I tried he got stepped on. The next time I tried to give it to him he said going to '38V 28V'. At this point I told him to hold his position. I looked at my Local Controller and said I don't want to taxi this guy out something is wrong. Local Control said ask if there was an instructor on board or if he was familiar with the airport. The pilot's response was slurred and not intelligible. I called airport operations to go check on the guy. They called on the phone and stated he was drunk. I saw the pilot was taxiing the plane back to the hangar. I called my air traffic manager and got a little more guidance on what to do. I called airport operations to suggest they call 911. 911 was called. The pilot was arrested for a DUI. Local Control; Ground Control both filled out statements on what happened.There should be some type of training to help controllers recognize these types of situations.
A Ground Controller reported detecting a pilot taxiing displayed signs of being inebriated. The Controller had airport operations and law enforcement meet the airplane.