News : Remembering 2011: Dave Cornell receives Air Traffic Safety Award

Editor's Note: This story was published in June of 2011.

Dave Cornell's colleagues in the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) have called him a hero and a life-saver, and given him national recognition. He's been on every television station and major newspaper in Eastern Iowa in the past few weeks.

Yet Cornell, who was also the first Vinton-Shellsburg head girls soccer coach and continued to serve as an assistant coach this year, hopes the stories about him are about over.

But when you save the life of a fellow pilot, you can expect to make a few headlines.

For the past several weeks, Cornell has been in the news as one of the 2011 recipients of NATCA's Archie League Medal of Safety Awards.

In January of 2011, Cornell was chosen for the Central Region Medal of Safety Award, to honor him for helping an eastern Iowa pilot who was running out of gas in the fog on Jan. 18, 2010. He received the honor March 23.

That pilot, Doug Tindal of Washington (Iowa), crash-landed in a field a couple of miles from the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, where Cornell has been an air traffic controller for 18 years. Although the plane was significantly damaged, Tindal survived, suffering only a broken arm.

Tindal's wife had died four months earlier; his son, Eric, has served as city attorney for Williamsburg and most recently, Marengo.

On the morning of Jan. 18, 2010, Tindal was in Tulsa, Okla. He had heard the weather was foggy in Iowa, so he delayed his flight until 4 p.m., according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB.) Flying solo in his four-seater Cessna P172D, Tindal approached the Washington, Iowa airport and he realized conditions were too foggy for a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) landing. Although the pilot had hundreds of hours of flight time, he only had a few hours of IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) experience. He was also down to about 30 minutes of fuel, and fog covered the sky for many miles around.

That's when he called for help, and found Cornell on the other line.

Below is the summary of the incident, as provided by the NATCA:

On the evening of Jan. 18, 2010, 17-year veteran controller David Cornell received the call many controllers dread. Cessna N8584X was declaring an emergency.

In an area suffering from low ceilings and visibility, this aircraft was currently stuck on top of the clouds with only 30 minutes of fuel remaining, and it needed to land. Cornell radar-identified the Cessna and asked all the correct questions in order to gather as much information as he could on the situation. After checking with other facilities in regards to weather in other areas, as well as Flight Service, it became clear that there were just no options within the range of this aircraft.

Cornell decided that his only choice was to try to get this pilot to the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids(CID). Learning that the pilot did not have any approach plates for CID, Cornell began giving instructions on how to set up the aircraft for the ILS approach.

An Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) pilot himself, Cornell would have to talk this Visual Flight Rules (VFR) pilot all the way down. Contacting the airport safety office to put the airport on alert status, he then called a front line manager at home to inform him of the situation, knowing that they were now out of alternatives – the pilot’s aircraft was coming down somewhere in 25 minutes.

While relaying instructions to the pilot, with an intent focus to keep him above the top of the clouds as to not get disoriented, Cornell even took the time to ask pilot Doug Tindal his name so as to further calm him during the remainder of the stressful situation. Given the reporting ceilings, the only approach available to get the aircraft below the bases of the clouds was an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach – an approach that Mr. Tindal had never attempted before – and now only had one shot at making. In essence, Cornell was working the aircraft on a modified Airport Surveillance Approach, one that is not published or conducted at the Eastern Iowa Airport, combined into an ILS approach. Making sure the aircraft didn’t descend too early or spend too much time in IMC during descent, Cornell carefully instructed the pilot towards the airport until lights were reported about one and a half miles from the runway.

Cornell received indication that the plane was now only 100 feet above the ground due to its rapid descent rate, and he quickly reacted with a low altitude alert. After receiving no response, and simultaneously losing the aircraft on radar, airport rescue vehicles were dispatched.

Cornell later learned that the aircraft, first come across by a passing snowmobiler, had crash-landed in a field about a mile short of the runway. Remarkably, the pilot walked away with only a broken arm after an event that could have so easily ended with the worst.

Cornell's supervisor at CID that day was Jerry Reichenbach, CID the on-duty Controller-In-Charge.

Reichenbach told the NATCA that Cornell handled the incident expertly.

“Dave remained calm and cool during the event, knowing full well that he might very well be the last person on earth to talk to this man. But I knew good and well that if anyone at the tower that day could get Mr. Tindal on the ground safely, it was Dave," said Reichenbach, himself a 23-year aircraft controller. “This incident is a textbook example of what personifies us as air traffic controllers."

Cornell's associates call him the "primary reason that this pilot is alive today."

“Dave’s calmness and attention to duty exemplifies who we are as air traffic controllers. His actions on this foggy night at the Cedar Rapids Airport were nothing but outstanding," said NATCA Central Region Vice President Kevin Peterson.

Cornell, however, resists the "hero" label. He makes it clear that although he was the man on the radio that night, the art of air traffic controlling is a team effort.

"As a group, there are numerous times we have do deal with issues with an aircraft, or inexperienced pilots who are in over their heads, or weather issues," said Cornell. "We also coordinate with law enforcement and emergency personnel. There is always a combination of people working together."

Tindal returned to Cedar Rapids a few days after the incident, where he drove to the airport and went to the control tower to thank Cornell for his role in helping him land safely. And to say "Thanks."

The Archie League Medal of Safety is made in honor of a pilot named Archie League, who is generally considered to be the world's first air traffic controller. One of the judges of the 2011 Medal of Safety program was Capt. Jeffrey Skiles, who was the co-pilot who helped bring US Airways Flight 1549 to a safe landing on the Hudson River in 2009.

Click HERE to read some of the transcripts from the Jan. 18, 2010 incident for which Cornell received the Archie League Medal of Safety Award. Click HERE to hear the radio conversation between Cornell and Tindal.