Air Traffic Controllers See Happy Landings

Everyone knows the story of Capt. "Sully" Sullenberger, and how he put that U.S. Airways jet safely into the Hudson River on an ice-cold day New York. Pilots, they get all the glory.

Well, not always. Next week, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association will give out its annual Archie League Medal of Safety Awards, honoring those air traffic controllers who got pilots old and young, flying big and small planes out of various jams.

One award winner, John Charlton from the Lake Charles Regional Airport in Louisiana, was featured on NPR recently. The story of his grace under pressure and assisting a young girl and her Cessna down from the skies, and safely onto the runway, is a great one. The girl was taking one of her first solo flights, and just couldn't land her plane. Charlton was calm, friendly, reassuring — and because he's a pilot himself, knew just what to do. Charlton got her down just fine.

From the story:

"I was very glad I could help the young lady out," Charlton told NPR's Melissa Block. "There's a lot of controllers our there these days that have a pilot's license and I think they would have done the exact same thing I did ... So I don't really think it's spectacular. It's probably the norm for most controllers who have any flight experience, to be honest with you."

Interestingly, Charlton never met the young pilot, and she didn't want to be interviewed by NPR for the story. That's fair enough, since folks like Charlton deserve the spotlight every once in a while.