ORLANDO, Fla. – A Central Florida woman will be honored for her quick response after two planes veered off course and headed dangerously close over Orlando International Airport.
[AUDIO: Air Traffic Control transmission ]
The Oct. 24 incident between a Cessna Citation and a JetBlue plane was recorded on radar and audio transmissions between the Cessna pilot and radar controller Sarina Gumbert, who spotted the possible disaster and gave the pilots an urgent warning.
Both planes had just taken off from parallel runways. The Cessna on the left turned too far right and headed in the direct path of the JetBlue plane.
Gumbert: N76C, traffic alert. Traffic immediately beneath you E-190, 1000 feet. Say your heading.
Gumbert: N76C, turn immediately, heading 2-7-0. Immediately.
"I saw a situation that looked bad from the second it started to the second it ended," Gumbert told Local 6. "I knew he wasn't heading north, he was heading east. I noticed it off. It was too far off. It was just a split second that I caught it."
On radar, the plane's course appeared off only a fraction -- hardly noticeable by even the best controllers. But a sharp eye and instinct took over. With seconds to act, she saved dozens of lives -- most of whom had no idea anything was ever wrong.
Gumbert called what she did, "Divine intervention."
On March 4, she will be awarded the highest honor a controller can receive, the Archie League Medal of Safety Award.
"Named after the first air traffic controller, Archie League, NATCA gives this award to controllers who ensured safety and saved a life or lives during an emergency situation in the previous year," said Sarah McCann, senior communications and public affairs associate for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.