Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Metro columnist Dan Casey: Control in a crisis
When a North Carolina pilot got into trouble, Roanoke's Steve Flickinger got him down.
Photos by Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times
Steve Flickinger works in the Roanoke Regional Airport tower as an air traffic controller. Flickinger, a 22-year tower veteran, was able to guide a plane through a difficult landing in November, an action that earned him an Archie League Medal of Safety, one of the profession's highest honors.
Steve Flickinger wears an Archie League Medal of Safety pin in recognition of his work in helping a pilot who was in trouble over Roanoke.
Dan Casey is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.
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Walt Namitz was in a bit of a fix.
He was flying his Piper Cherokee back to his home in Cary, N.C., on Nov. 30, after a Thanksgiving with family in Michigan. As dusk approached, his plane was about 15 miles north of Roanoke Regional Airport.
Problem No. 1: headwinds. At 70 mph, or more, they were far stronger than Namitz had reckoned. They slowed his usual 110 mph airspeed to a 40-50 mph crawl, at best.
Problem No. 2: visibility. With a thick and low cloudy blanket covering the ground, Namitz, 57, couldn't see anything below.
Problem No. 3: fuel. At most, Namitz (pronounced NAY-mits) had an hour's worth left. There was no way to make it to Cary on that. It was barely enough to attempt one landing in Roanoke.
Problem No. 4: no approach plate for the airport. That's a kind of map that shows pilots how to land here.
A pretty big deal
The 10-year licensed pilot wasn't freaking out, yet. He put out a call and raised the Federal Aviation Administration's airport tower in Roanoke.
Air traffic controller Steve Flickinger had just begun his sixth shift of that week and picked up the flight. The 22-year tower veteran was at a radar scope, also handling a bunch of other planes landing and taking off on the tail end of one of the busiest travel weekends.
We won't get into the jargon-laden airspeak that followed (though you can listen to it below). Suffice it to say that Flickinger guided Namitz away from the other aircraft. He told him when to descend and how much, and kept Namitz on course. He described how to make a rather tricky turn that would line up his plane with the runway, and what to look for once he was out of that pea-soup sky.
The story has a happy ending. Namitz made a safe landing. He refueled and made it back to Cary that night.
Recently, Flickinger was one of 16 air traffic controllers honored nationally for such lifesaving actions by the Air Traffic Controllers Association. At a convention in Las Vegas, he and the others won the Archie League Medal of Safety award for heroic flight assists, named for one of this nation's first air traffic controllers.
In the air traffic control world, it's kind of like journalism's Pulitzer Prize. It's a pretty big deal.
'Fun' landings in Roanoke
Most of us airplane passengers never get closer to a cockpit than when we walk onto an aircraft to board.
But talk to pilots who fly in and out of Roanoke Regional Airport and you'll hear about how much fun it is to land here. That would be "fun" as in challenging, says Bill Kesel, a commercial airline pilot who lives here.
Our very convenient and often pricey (in terms of fares) airport is nestled into the crotch of two mountain ranges. It often has wacky crosswinds and a bad-weather approach that's not aligned with the runway. All of that makes it one of the most "fun" places to land a plane in the East.
But flying blind in the clouds, with darkness approaching, low on fuel, with a single shot to get it right and no map to guide him, Namitz was not having fun on Nov. 30.
"I couldn't see anything the whole time I was making the approach," he said.
The calm and composed Flickinger made it sound easy.
Listen to air traffic control during the incident
"He was giving me good information, and obviously accurate information, otherwise I wouldn't be here right now," Namitz said.
Hero among us
Flickinger, 45, is the son of George and Carol Flickinger. He grew up outside Pittsburgh, studied air traffic control at the Community College of Beaver County and later earned a bachelor's degree from Robert Morris University.
In 1987, after his graduation from the FAA Academy, Flickinger was assigned to Roanoke's airport. He, his wife, Melissa, and their 17-year-old son, Cameron, live in Salem.
He is one of 28 air traffic controllers who staff the tower and radar room at Roanoke Regional Airport 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.
They help all of us airline passengers and private pilots land safely at our "fun" little airport.
Flickinger is mostly modest about his actions that day. Similar emergency events occur at the airport six to 10 times a year, he estimated.
"I don't feel like I did anything extraordinary," he said. "Most guys here with a couple years' experience would have done the same thing."
He's the kind of hero we don't hear enough about. Let's make sure we celebrate them.
Dan Casey's column runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
