As one pilot put it, "Great catch."
The Boeing 747 was bearing down toward the runway at Newark International Airport, only 600 feet above the ground, and the giant plane still didn't have its landing gear down. Newark air traffic controller Scott Dittamo had been scanning the horizon, talking to airplanes and watching as the jumbo got closer and closer to the runway -- with no landing gear.
"Air India 145 heavy, check gear down. Gear appears up," Dittamo said, "heavy" referring to the jet's large size. The pilot acknowledged the transmission, lowered the gear in time for the wheels to hit the runway, and landed safely with 409 people on board. The response from other pilots on the radio was immediate. "Good call, tower," one said. "Great catch," said another.
Dittamo and 11 other air traffic controllers from around the nation received awards for their actions to ensure safety during 2004 from the National Air Traffic Controllers' Association at a ceremony in Washington Monday. Dittamo's "save" was on July 24.
Five controllers from Long Island -- all of whom work at the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center in Ronkonkoma -- received honorable mentions for their quick thinking in two emergencies, one involving a Coast Guard plane and another a military training jet that made an emergency landing at Long Island MacArthur Airport.
On March 23, 2004, a Coast Guard C-130 flying over the Atlantic declared an emergency because of an overheated battery, an event that could have forced the pilots of the four-engine turboprop to ditch the plane -- or attempt to land it on the water. Controllers Dusti Boariu and Jody Cook put together a phone patch so they could talk directly to the pilot, who was flying in an area not covered by radar, and helped find an airport in the Bahamas to land the plane.
On June 25, the pilot of a military T-38 training jet was headed from Cherry Point Marine Air Station in North Carolina to Windsor Locks, Conn., when the plane had a complete electrical failure. Controllers Susan Kelley-Marino, Steve Lund and John Higgins helped the pilot through a high-speed descent from 25,000 feet to where he could see the ground because his instruments weren't working. At one point, the controllers lost contact with the pilot and radioed a nearby Delta flight to relay a message to him. The pilot was unable to put his flaps down for the emergency landing and the jet blew a tire when it hit the runway, but no one was injured.
Lund remembers that the pilot stopped by the control center near the airport to thank the controllers. He was slightly shaken, Lund said. Everyone felt the tension.
"Anytime an aircraft declares an emergency, there's pressure involved, yeah," Higgins said.
"It gets your blood pressure going," Lund said.
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