FILE- This May 9, 2016, file photo, shows an air traffic control tower at their gates at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta. With a broken throttle Cathy Lewan, the pilot of a small plane, found herself over the world’s busiest airport and facing calamity, but air traffic controllers guided her to a safe landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Feb. 14, 2016. On Tuesday, March 14, 2017, Lewan had a reunion with the Atlanta air traffic controllers who were her lifeline. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File) (The Associated Press)
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. – With a broken throttle, the pilot of a small plane found herself over the world's busiest airport with the flashing lights of firetrucks gathering on the runway below, preparing for the worst.
Fearing calamity, Cathy Lewan asked Atlanta's air traffic controllers to call her husband and request immediate prayers.
But air traffic controllers guided her to a safe landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Feb. 14, 2016.
On Tuesday, she had a reunion with them.
Air traffic controller Mason Braddock said he could hear the distress in Lewan's voice, and tried to keep her calm.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said Braddock and other air traffic controllers from the FAA's facility in Peachtree City, Georgia, will soon receive one of aviation's highest honors for live-saving work.
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