15 March 2007
The CAA has announced that there are three finalists in this year’s CAA General Aviation Safety Awards. The Awards aim to recognise those in GA who have shown ‘outstanding airmanship, practical skills, quick thinking and common sense [to avert] a serious or possibly fatal incident’.
The three nomination are:
• The ‘B Watch’ air traffic control team at Newcastle Airport, who aided a pilot who was experiencing engine problems. The ATC team guided the pilot through deteriorating weather and failing light to overhead Eshott Airfield.
• Steve Clarehugh, manager of Eshott who, as part of the same incident, positioned his car at the end of the runway to illuminate the strip (which is unlit), and passed – via mobile phone to the Newcastle controllers – instructions to help the pilot find and line up with the runway.
• Dominic Underdown, a helicopter instructor who heard a Mayday issued by a Pitts pilot who had force landed in a field. Although conducting a lesson at the time, Mr Underdown landed next to the wreckage of the Pitts and using his medical skills (he had previously been a nurse) and along with his student, freed the Pitts pilot from the wreckage and offered medical support until the emergency services were able to attend.
The winner of the Award will be announced at the RAF Club in London on Tuesday 1 May.
