NATCA Bookshelf

12th Annual Archie League Medal of Safety Awards

A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association

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22 Nines was on position when the aircraft hit 4,500 feet and the pilot stated that he was experiencing a rough ride and requested to return to MRY. Suddenly, the aircraft's altitude dropped to 1,800 feet. It was descending tail-first in a dangerous spiraling turn. Nines: N5188T, NorCal approach, are you alright there? N5188T: Uh, no I'm getting… Nines: N5188T try to level your wings, just level your wings. I'm getting a low altitude alert, check your altitude immediately. The minimum vectoring altitude in that area is two thousand, three hundred. Nines continued to advise the pilot to level his wings. During these transmissions, aircraft on the same frequency became aware that this pilot was in danger. An unknown pilot began to advise the Cessna pilot to activate the autopilot if it was on board because it would assist him in keeping the wings level. The Cessna pilot was able to successfully turn on his autopilot, but because of the nature of his equipment failures, this Ryan Nines, William L. Hoppe Jr., and Luis Ramirez were all controllers on duty when a Cessna 182 departed Runway 28 from Monterey Regional Airport (MRY) and headed towards Lincoln Regional Airport (LHM) on Nov. 18, 2015. RYAN NINES No. California TRACON WILLIAM L. HOPPE JR. No. California TRACON LUIS RAMIREZ No. California TRACON

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