Ep39: Houston Air Traffic Controller Provides Lifeline to Pilot Struggling in Bad Weather

The NATCA Podcast

Houston TRACON (I90) member Joe Wright was working the Thursday evening arrival streams into Houston Hobby (HOU) and nearby Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base (EFD) when the pilot of a Piper Cherokee struggled to stay on the localizer for EFD and then lost his gyroscope in IFR conditions. The pilot worked to get back onto the localizer, but soon descended into a tight, steep turn. Wright saw his altitude drop rapidly, starting from 2,400 feet, then to 2,000 feet. “I asked him, ‘are you OK?’ and he said, ‘I don’t think we’re OK,’” Wright said. “That’s when I knew it was a dire situation. “He seemed a little rattled and rightfully so. I knew, in my 26 years of aviation experience, with no gyro and those weather conditions, if you get disoriented it can go bad very quickly. My intention was to do the very best I could for him control-wise, but also keep him calm. If I got tense, it may have caused him to have a little bit of a problem in concentration.” What happened next was the incredible, safe conclusion to what Wright called the most traumatic event in his career, which he plans to retire from soon after receiving the 2021 Southwest Region Archie League Medal of Safety Award on June 17 in New Orleans.