DENVER (AP) -- The air traffic controller who handled the breakup and fire of jetliner at the Denver airport in December will be honored by a union next week.
Controller Tom Hedeen will be one of 16 honored by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association for their handling of 11 emergencies last year.
They will receive the union's Archie League Medal of Safety, named for the man considered to be the first air traffic controller.
The awards will be presented Tuesday in Las Vegas.
A Houston-bound Continental Airlines Boeing 737 veered sharply off the Denver International Airport runway and into a ravine on Dec. 20 and caught fire. The flight was carrying 110 passengers and five crew members; 38 people were injured but no one died.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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