Cedar Rapids air traffic controller honored for helping pilot

As a pilot and son of a retired commercial airline pilot, David Cornell knows the importance of remaining calm and focused in the face of potential disaster.

On the night of Jan. 17, 2010, the 19-year veteran air traffic controller was working radar in the control tower at The Eastern Iowa Airport when he received an emergency call from Doug Tindal, a Washington, Iowa, pilot who had about 30 minutes of fuel left in his Cessna single-engine aircraft.

“It was one of those winter nights when the entire Midwest was fogged in. The weather was so bad that the airlines were canceling flights and the commercial airliners were not doing too many takeoffs and landings,” Cornell said. “The pilot had planned to land in Washington (Iowa), but it was socked in as well. He was about 50 miles south of Iowa City and really needed a place to land.”

After determining that Tindal was not rated for an instrument landing, Cornell tried to locate another airport nearby where the weather was better for a visual approach, but the closest was Ottumwa. Tindal, knowing he was low on fuel, wanted to try for an instrument landing in Cedar Rapids.

“It just so happened that I'm an instrumented-rated pilot. I've been trained to fly in those kind of weather conditions,” Cornell said. “My father is a retired airline pilot who spent many an hour making sure I knew how to fly.”

Cornell walked Tindal through the procedures for an instrument landing and guided him to the correct approach to the main runway at The Eastern Iowa Airport.

“We lost contact with him about a half mile east of the airport,” Cornell said. “That was a stressful time because we knew he had touched down, but we didn't know what had happened until we heard he was OK.”

Tindal crashed in a farm field near Kirkwood Community College, walking away with a broken arm.

“It was a good thing that he came down when he did because if he had been closer to the airport, there are a lot more buildings, roads and things that you can hit and really get yourself in serious trouble,” Cornell said.

Tindal dropped by the control tower several days later, paying a visit to Cornell and his fellow traffic controllers to thank them for their help.

“It's always nice to put a face with a voice,” Cornell said. “It was good to see that he was OK and get a chance to shake his hand.”

For his calm handling of what could easily have ended in a fatality, Cornell in March received a National Air Traffic Controllers Archie League Medal of Safety Award, one of 10 air traffic controllers honored nationally for their exceptional skill, professionalism and dedication.

“This incident is a textbook example of what personifies us as air traffic controllers,” said 23-year veteran Jerry Reichenbach, airport facility representative and the on-duty controller-in-charge assisting that day.

“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 the pilot on the ground safely, it was Dave.”

Cornell was quick to call it a team effort.

“It's a shame that the award goes to one person,” Cornell said. “I just happened to be the one sitting there that night. Someone was coordinating with the other controllers, someone was communicating with the airport police, fire and rescue, and I was talking with controllers in Waterloo, the Quad Cities and Chicago Center, which handles more high altitude aircraft.

“Everybody pitched in and was very helpful.”