In January I wrote about some of the horror stories, such as when a controller watched an airplane flying into extreme weather or actually gave a heading towards high terrain at night without trying to warn the pilot. While the pilots in these situations certainly contributed to their own demise, it is hard to believe that a controller would not even push a transmit button to try to save them.
At the other end of the scale there are many controllers who have gone far beyond the normal call of duty to keep a pilot out of trouble. For many years their feats have not been recognized, but for the past four years the controllers responsible for the best saves in each geographic region of the country have been given the Archie League Medal of Safety Award. The award is named after the first air traffic controller and is presented at the National Air Traffic Controllers Association safety conference.
