DENVER—The air traffic controller who handled the breakup and fire of a jetliner at the Denver airport in December will be honored by a union next week.
Controller Tom Hedeen will be one of 16 honored by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association for their handling of 11 emergencies last year.
They will receive the union’s Archie League Medal of Safety, named for the man considered to be the first air traffic controller.
The awards will be presented Tuesday in Las Vegas.
A Houston-bound Continental Airlines Boeing 737 veered sharply off the Denver International Airport runway and into a ravine on Dec. 20 and caught fire. The flight was carrying 110 passengers and five crew members; 38 people were injured but no one died.
Heeden, who was handling three runways at the time of the accident, will be honored for his composure after the crash, when helped direct emergency personnel to the scene, said Rick Foster, president of the union’s Denver chapter.
“We felt we were watching people die,” Foster said.
Under that pressure, Heeden delivered directions to emergency personnel that were “extremely precise,” Foster said.
Continental has not released the name of the pilot.
Others to be honored Tuesday:
Mark Harris, Anchorage, Alaska, terminal radar approach control; Christian Manglona, Des Moines, Iowa; Steve Flickinger, Roanoke, Va.; Robert Zeman, Chicago Midway; Stephanie Bevins, Cleveland Center; Jay McCombs, Cleveland Center; Stephen Roebuck, Boston Center; Bruce Clough, Boston Center; John Therrien, Boston Center; Bill Wood, Boston Center; Kenny Ellis, Memphis Center; Joe Mackie, Greer, S.C.; John Charlton, Lake Charles, La.; Neil Irvin, Northern California terminal radar approach control; Tom Gallagher, Northern California terminal radar approach control.
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