what a mid-air crash sounds like to air traffic controllers

Lee_Teschler — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:11:00 GMT

Another item from the AVweb newsletter: The audio of the ATC handling a mid-air emergency is quite interesting. It runs about 8 minutes.

MIDAIR DRAMA UNFOLDS IN TOWER TAPE AUDIO

A reader sent us the tower tape clip (MP3

exchange between a smooth, professional air traffic controller at

Republic Airport on Long Island and the pilot of a Piper Saratoga

who'd been in a midair collision with a Cessna 152 last Sunday. As we

reported on Monday

both pilots were able to land their aircraft without incident but the

tower tape reveals just what it takes to recover two damaged aircraft

on the same runway during a busy period at a large GA airport. The

first call from the Saratoga pilot comes about 2:15 on the audio file,

but listen to the whole thing to get a feel for what the controller

was up against in getting the damaged aircraft on the ground without

anyone else (including a student launching for his first solo) getting

in the way or into trouble.

from the editor's desk : air traffic control