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20 20 NEW ENGLAND REGION Neil Cóspito, Michael Jacobson, and Jeffrey Aulbach, Boston Center On a snowy Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 20, 2018, Boston Center (ZBW) air traffic controller Neil Cóspito was working low altitude airspace over northern Vermont and New Hampshire. Cóspito was working an F-16 (VENOM01) from the 158th Fighter Wing of the Vermont Air National Guard, based in Burlington, Vt. The jet had been holding outside of Burlington (BTV) due to poor weather conditions. The weather spanned from the Canadian border down through the Catskill Mountains in southeastern New York and over to the Atlantic coast. It didn't appear to be improving. Cóspito searched the region for airports with suitable weather conditions. The pilot of VENOM01 informed Cóspito that he would be diverting to Syracuse, N.Y. (SYR). Cóspito cleared the aircraft direct SYR and issued a climb clearance. He asked the pilot on his estimated time en route and his fuel remaining. The pilot replied, "15 minutes en route and 15 minutes of fuel." After the pilot told Cóspito his ETA and fuel remaining were the same, Cóspito knew that this was an emergency aircraft. It was considered that when Cóspito handed off the aircraft to fellow NATCA ZBW members Jeff Aulbach and Mike Jacobson, who were working busy airspace over northern and central New York. Aulbach was also working a flight of two KC-135 tankers (BISON21), which were maneuvering in a refueling track to eventually rendezvous with another receiver. Jacobson worked the D side when Aulbach took the handoff and did all coordination with SYR to ensure the weather was suitable to send VENOM01 there. Aulbach asked VENOM01 if he would like to rendezvous with the tanker on his way to SYR and asked the tanker flight if they would be able to assist the fighter with refueling. At this point, the fighter was in an emergency fuel situation.

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