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Midday on Saturday, April 6, 2019, near
the border of Washington and Idaho,
Shane Daily was piloting his two-seat,
single-engine Lancair 320 when he
encountered instrument meteorological
conditions (IMC) while flying visual
flight rules (VFR). Daily was not
instrument flight rules (IFR) certified.
"I'm on the autopilot, still trying to climb
out of this, but unfortunately I am in the
soup and have no visibility at all," Daily
reported on frequency.
Seattle Center (ZSE) air traffic
controller Joe Asmundson was working
a low altitude sector. He declared an
emergency for the aircraft. He then
assisted Daily in trying to re-establish
visual meteorological conditions (VMC)
but Daily was stuck on top of the clouds
at altitudes of up to 20,000 feet.
Asmundson, with the help of other
controllers, was able to split a sector
off to better serve the emergency and
obtain weather information to assist
the pilot in finding an airport with VMC
conditions. In all, he worked with the
aircraft for over an hour, eventually
guiding him to a hole in the clouds 50
miles south of Daily's airport of intended
landing in Lewiston, Idaho.
"It's getting larger and looking very
welcoming," Daily said on frequency in
describing the hole.
Asmundson was assisted by Matt Rhea,
who split off two low altitude sectors so
Asmundson could focus more closely on
the emergency, and also Nicole Coffey,
who signed on to the D-side to help find
VFR airports, and Devin Carlisto, who
eventually relieved Nicole after getting
NW MOUNTAIN REGION
Joseph Asmundson, Devin Carlisto,
Nicole Coffey, and Matthew Rhea,
Seattle Center
