PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Confusion; Distraction; Troubleshooting
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert
Airspace Structure; Human Factors; Procedure
Aircraft X was executing the published missed approach at GHM. I noticed a VFR aircraft that appeared to be inbound to the airport; but from the opposite direction. I called Aircraft X when I first saw him on radar on his missed. 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 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.In my [XX] years I've never encountered this situation. I'm [reporting] this because if it happened again I might take action below the MIA. The MIA in this case is 2500 ft and with the potential collision at 2200 ft I might turn the [aircraft] at 2000 ft. I don't think I had time to ask if he could maintain his own terrain and obstruction avoidance. Plus; he was a student pilot and; in my experience; this question causes confusion. So; 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 GHM 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.
Controller reported issuing traffic to an aircraft on a missed approach. Both aircraft were below the MIA and the Controller could not turn the aircraft to avoid traffic. Controller later questioned if he should have done something different.