Three Air Controllers Honored For Helping Passenger Land Plane

Three air traffic controllers have been commended for helping save the life of a man who, when forced to land a plane after the pilot died, apologized for his lack of skill.

Leland Capps, 52, of Kent had only limited flying experience and no formal training as a pilot. The single-engine Cessna 206 float plane landed rough, but Capps escaped with minor injuries on Wednesday.

At a Federal Aviation Administration news conference on Thursday, an audiotape of Capps’ conversation with the control tower at the Renton Municipal Airport was played.

A transcript showed Capps called in distress 16 minutes after takeoff from the airport in Renton, a suburb south of Seattle.

“Renton tower,” Capps called. “Hello, Renton tower.”

“Calling Renton tower, say request and your call sign,” FAA controller David Shettleroe responded.

“Yes, sir. I’m in trouble up here. My pilot’s passed out on me, and I’m not an experienced float plane pilot. Can I get someone to help me? …

“I need, I need somebody there to take care of him when I get in, if I ever do.”

“OK, I’m with you sir,” Shettleroe said.

Capps gave his location as over the Microsoft Corp. complex in Redmond, more than 20 miles north-northeast, and reaffirmed that he had no training as a pilot but had control of the plane.

Acting tower manager David Littlefield, a veteran small-plane pilot, then took over. But for more than a minute and a quarter, his repeated calls to the plane drew no response.

“Airplane over Microsoft with problems, can you give me, ah, pick up the radio and call me, sir. Are you able to call me on the radio?” Littlefield asked.

“Yes, I forgot to press the button,” Capps finally replied. “I’m sorry.”

Littlefield got him to turn the plane back toward Renton. As the plane passed over the Interstate 90 floating bridge, about seven miles north of the airport, Shettleroe began monitoring his progress with binoculars.

Littlefield asked Capps whether he wanted to set down on the water or the land.

“Which would be the safest?” Capps asked.

“I think the grass is probably better because we won’t be able to get to you if you’re in the water,” Littlefield replied.

Less than a minute and a half later, Capps made the turn for his final approach.

“Leland, cinch your seat belt down real tight. Get your shoulder harness squared away,” the controller said.

“I’m having a hard time ‘cause his (the pilot’s) head’s right behind my back,” Capps replied.

Shettleroe and controller-in-charge Cheryl Hoyt cheered as the plane hit the water and then the land. The floats crumpled, and the aircraft skidded to a stop on its belly.

“Good job, Leland,” Littlefield said in his final transmission.

“Sorry about the landing,” Capps radioed back.

The Cessna had bounced off the water at the south end of Lake Washington, then skidded across a paved runway to a stop in the grass. The front of the plane was badly damaged.

Capps was checked at a Seattle hospital and released.

Pilot Raymond Ihrke, 46, of Federal Way, was pronounced dead of a heart attack.

On Thursday, Fred Isaac, the FAA administrator for the seven-state Northwest Mountain Region, presented Littlefield, Shettleroe and Hoyt with “outstanding flight assist” awards, triangular glass desk plaques bearing their names.

“You saved a life. Congratulations,” Isaac said.