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18 NW MOUNTAIN REGION Morgan Farmer Denver Center (ZDV) Jake Zakrzewksi Denver Center (ZDV) Anytime controllers face an emergency, it can be challenging. In this case, an added challenge was that training was in progress. Jake Zakrzewski has been a controller at Denver Center (ZDV) in Area 1 for 10 years and is the primary on-the-job training (OJT) instructor for Morgan Farmer. Farmer has been in the Agency for nearly four years and had been training on R side for the sector for only one month when she and Zakrzewski helped N340JS, a twin engine Cessna 340, work through an emergency. "Expect the unexpected. This should be the motto for Area 1 at Denver Center," said ZDV FacRep Megan Nowak. "Area 1 has some very unique and challenging layers that add to its complexity. Mountainous terrain, unfavorable winter weather conducive to severe icing, severe turbulence, and IMC, on top of the traffic volume all play into the complexity of this low altitude sector at ZDV." On December 23, 2021, when Zakrzewski and Farmer plugged in to train on their first session of the day they were greeted with reports of severe icing and severe turbulence. Shortly after plugging in, N340J checked on. Zakrzewski and Farmer immediately noticed that he was having trouble maintaining altitude. They later determined that N340JS encountered severe icing, was unable to maintain altitude and descended below the Minimum IFR Altitude (MIA). Though the pilot never declared an emergency, the training team treated the situation as such. "For me, as you gain more experience, especially working in a low altitude sector, you sort of have those alarm bells that are going off in the back of your head," Zakrzewski said. "I knew there was lower terrain to the north, so we started vectoring him that way as he was descending." By Lydia Baune (Spokane ATCT, GEG)

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