AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2022 - 44

BRIEFING
MI L ESTONES /
'Something just wasn't right'
Air traffic controllers honored for their assistance to pilots in trouble
BY ALICIA HERRON
FORT WORTH CENTER controller Kerri Fingerson cleared the flight for another
approach on a rainy April afternoon in Oklahoma, but something was not quite right.
Fingerson recalled in an account of the incident on April 23, 2021, posted by the
National Air Traffic Controllers Association, that deteriorating weather prompted
her to call other airport towers for a weather update after clearing a Cessna 172 on
the miss for a second approach to Clinton Regional Airport. She said her " Spidey
sense " told her " something just wasn't right. "
The Cessna deviated from the published missed approach and got her full attention,
turning early and contacting departure 1,200 feet short of the expected altitude
for that call.
" I knew at that point that he knew he was in trouble even though he really hadn't
admitted it verbally yet, " Fingerson said.
Fellow controller Megan Baird returned from break without having yet been
assigned a duty station and sensed Fingerson had trouble on her hands, so Baird
sat down alongside and plugged in her headset. The two divided the work of calling
around for weather reports and identifying an airport with higher ceilings
that was still in range of the Cessna's rapidly dwindling fuel. They arranged for a
restricted area to be deactivated to shorten the route, and kept the pilot updated
on weather.
A report from another pilot who had just landed at a closer airport with better
weather changed the equation, and the Skyhawk pilot diverted to a safe landing with
14 minutes of fuel remaining.
44
AOPA PILOT / December 2022
NATCA Executive Vice President
Andrew LeBovidge, AOPA Air
Safety Institute Flight Assist
honoree Ryan Hampton, ASI
Senior Vice President Richard
McSpadden, honorees Chelsea
Arias and Dylan McLoughlin, and
NATCA President Rich Santa.
Their teamwork and technical proficiency
earned Fingerson and Baird particular distinction
among the many controllers honored at the
NATCA Communicating for Safety conference
in Las Vegas, which featured the presentation of
Archie League Medal of Safety Awards to controllers
from various regions.
The President's Award, which is chosen by
NATCA President Rich Santa as the best flight
assist of the year, was presented to Fingerson
and Baird.
" [This event] stands out even among the previous
presidential award winners. Not because it
was particularly dramatic or the scale of the crisis.
It stands out because the controllers' work
was outstanding from a technical standpoint, "
said Santa. " Among all the nominated tapes that
we reviewed this year, all who have listened to
this tape were immediately struck by how well
the controllers involved performed their job.
They didn't seem overly nervous, every word
they said to the pilot was necessary and exactly
ALICIA HERRON
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2022

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