Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 12
Workload; Troubleshooting; Training / Qualification; Situational Awareness; Distraction; Confusion; Communication Breakdown; Time Pressure
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Procedure; Human Factors; Airspace Structure
I was advised that CMH Approach was going ATC Zero for cleaning.  The time was XA:00-XC:00Z.  The supervisor at CMH Approach called just before XA:00 telling me they were going zero and they had a LOT of planes to hand us.  The controllers received the airspace.  We were waiting on the down time for one aircraft.  Problem #1 with us taking CMH airspace.  The pilots cannot communicate with us when they are on the ground at CMH.  We have to wait for them to call us.  We ended up calling the company of the aircraft and received a confirmation that the aircraft was down.  The pilot called about 30 minutes later to report his down time.  In the meantime; I had phone call after phone call from pilots requesting a departure clearance.  A couple of them wanted clearance to push off.  They were calling the supervisor phone; rather than the sector phone. I advised them that it was going to be 30+ minutes before we could give a clearance as we were waiting for a down time.  One pilot called for his take off clearance but he said there were 2 planes in front of him waiting at the runway.  We had no way of knowing who was out there waiting.  The biggest problem of all was Command Center refusing to put out a stop to CMH until AFTER they were ATC Zero.  When we take their airspace; it is one in; one out.  That is it.  When we clear someone in; it takes a minimum of 20 minutes for the pilot to call us with a down time.  Slowing down the traffic; unless you do this cleaning in the middle of the night; is a must when a center takes over an approach control's airspace.  This was a set up for failure.  The FAA did not provide Indy Center the tools we needed for success.When a facility goes zero; a stop or slowing down the traffic is a must.  Not an optional thing. If there are more than 3 aircraft inbound; they need to be slowed down.  Weather or no weather; we can only have one in or out at a time.  ONE.  Putting extra workload on other area's/facilities because someone at Command Center doesn't know how air traffic in a Center works is a set up for failure.The next solution is to STOP cleaning facilities in the middle of the day.  They need to be done late night or very early morning.
CMH app went ATC zero around XA:00 Local yesterday for COVID cleaning. Never did our sector team do anything unsafe and I am proud of our work. Besides that; it was chaotic and confusing. There were so many people in our ears asking us questions and causing distractions. At one point at the sector; there was: R-side; D-side trainee; OJTI (me); name; on the FLM phone; and Name 1; Name 2; Name 3 from 3; Name 4 from 5 all pow wowing in a very small area a few steps away. It was loud and confusing. It did not help sector ops one bit. When we took over the airspace; Aircraft X was the last aircraft to land CMH. We NEVER got a down time from him so it tied up all 3 of the airports for a good 15 mins. Also; due to automation; his track just disappeared so no one remembered his exact call sign. CMH should have waited until he was on the ground before handing it off to us. Also; we could not let anyone depart because of it. The departures were calling the sup desk which is a terrible idea. No one was getting phone numbers so we couldn't call them back to give them a clearance. When name was on the phone; I asked him to get the phone number and he did. It didn't matter anyway because we never released anyone. That being said; there was PRESSURE put upon the sector team to start departing aircraft. It was uncalled for and added to the sector stress. How can we depart anyone if we are still waiting for a down time or aircraft on approach? I was going to call Aircraft Y to give a Hold for release clearance but no one had a way of getting a hold of him (phone number). I asked Name 1 to call dispatch to get his phone number and I believe she tried. We were specifically told to treat CMH; OSU; and LCK as one airport by management. For management to start pressuring us to depart aircraft that are safely on the ground is unsafe and irresponsible. Because CMH went ATC  ZERO we had numerous automation issues which complicates matters. My trainee attempted to inbound an OSU arrival doing an RNAV approach but OSU tower blew us off and told us that CMH app was going to open soon and to wait. Wait?! why? A few minutes later; CMH app opens and calls us but the controller has no help. I had roughly 8-10 planes to manually hand off and he couldn't take them all because it was too many for him at one time. I specifically gave him the OSU arrival first because he needed an arrival clearance that we couldn't give him because OSU wanted us to wait. I could hear the CMH app controller silence that inbound when the arrival was 1-2 mins away from the IAF while I was attempting to hand other aircraft off to him.  About 4-5 minutes later I called back and handed 2 more aircraft off to him trying to give him time. 1 aircraft he was blocking for and another was new caught in the transition time.Recommendations: DO NOT COVID clean in the middle of the day.If it MUST happen; no departures scheduled during that time.No taking approach airspace while a CMH arrival is still on approach.
ZID FLM and Controller reported CMH airport going ATC zero and described all the issues associated with the closure.