Air Controller Guides Stricken Jet to Landing
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CHICAGO — An Air Force pilot was “seconds from ejecting” Saturday when his F-16 lost power 15,000 feet over a densely populated suburb, but a civilian air traffic controller guided him to a safe landing.
The plane was one of two headed for mid-air refueling over Lake Michigan when its oil pressure dropped at 23,000 feet, about 20 miles from O’Hare International Airport. The engine failed seconds later.
Pilot Vince Amato of Lafayette, Ind., was guided to an emergency landing at Glenview Naval Air Station by Jeff McCoy, an air traffic controller at O’Hare.
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