European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 7, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Dan Goss leaves the Tower America s oldest air traffic controller John Barbour associated press Dan Goss retired quietly just before the end of August Al the age of 74, perhaps the oldest Mon m a Young game air traffic in Irol two Days later and 2,100 air Miles away at los Angeles internal Ronal a midair crash killed is Many As 81 people including an shr naked m on the ground. The More go a heard of he details the surer to became that in was nol the Ault of an Bir traffic controller most of Gojii 44 years in control Lowers have been spent Al relatively quid airports and Here at the Beaver county. Airport teaching youngsters the rules of the in As prospective pilots and controllers. He s naturally on la air Side. When something goes wrong he says right away they want to Lay it on the controllers and say the controllers goofed up. They Don l know the conditions thai los lied in the Cru a i definitely feel for Iho people m Chr towers cams Lov i private flying but to feels that Iho general i Ulion planes and pilots need to he qualified to enl i Cuni Tolbird air space. He s nol sure that was the Case   sunday Over los Angeles. You inn i Ivelo to an airline Caplain to go into Ivory an per i to says but some people who Are week Oriel Kums or once a month fliers should consider it Well til Fot. Hts go into a Busy  Sonio us fi.-. Lormer students Are flying airliners and Manning i n i k vers there s a lot of sky out there he says bul it s a matter of managing it right and people knowing the limits of controlled air space. Beaver county Community College to one of the few a the country offering degrees in the flying arts and perhaps the Only one providing on the of experience. The space Over Beaver county Airport is controlled from a a curly built and College operated Tower where Goss spent Long Houis Al the end of his career. The same old sky up above he same old stairs under his feet up la four floors More slowly now for a bettor new of Hal s Imo old sky. To still visits the lower and his working students when to gets into Iho Tower quadrangle win is Shade  ind us Greer vol Magenta weather radar and Ifica i icky Little planes kissing the runway below he looks around ind almost everyone else is 50 years younger it ihfii.1 lire Potik r air traffic controllers around they arc in Lisnic is Lor items Clos. Government traffic con Lillei. Have to retire earlier. About 25 Miles South of Here is another . Operated by the Federal  admits Lvalion to handle the traffic coming into Pittsburgh Airport. It s newer and about 10 times As tall As Dan s Home designed control building Here. Bul then everything at the Pittsburgh Airport is Al least 10 times whal to is Here exc Ftp Dan Goss. But thai does t mean that discipline is any the less Al Beaver county just because the business is somewhat slower whatever he goes Goss mind is on the skies and the sanely of planes that fill them. Whenever he flies he keeps an Eye out for other planes. Ii i m nol in the right hand seat the co Pilot s Posti m watching Lor  on commercial lights where it s possible he listens to air control on tha entertainment channels. When he s delayed at an Airport like los Angeles he pulls a receiving radio tuned to air control frequencies Oul irom his Luggage and tape records the conversations to listen to them Lalor. Things Are getting better he says. There arc More air solely devices in the golfing including air collision avoidance devices that will help prevent accidents like he los angelas crash. I think allot us get a Tittle impatient Goss says. I think Hal in the next live years maybe even two. There will he  he remembers limes when Tew planes had radios when there were few instruments to gel Tho pilots through weather when radar was a baby. He s worked Dan floss 74, Evlewt we runway from inside the control Tower Al Beaver country Airport a. Some 1 airports in his time Lor the military Tor airlines for private air controllers. Twenty years ago As a military air traffic controller he remembers an air Force Captain flying a Douglas a20, coming in without radio and his Landing gear Only Hall Down. He did t know  using a Light gun thai can be aimed right Al to cockpit. Goss gave him a red sight. To came around a second time. I gave him another red  to emphasize there was trouble Goss shot off a flare. Tho Pilot sensed something wrong with his Landing gear he headed skyward again and by bumping the plane up and Down in the sky Gol the gear to lock. He called later and said Goss had saved his life. So deep was the impression thai years later me Captain now a colonel sent him a picture of himself in his plane  to tie Best Tower control operator in the  the sky forgives sometimes. Mountains do not. Once Goss was tending the skies Over a Small Airport in Pennsylvania when a Crystal Clear Day turned into a Winter snowstorm. He received a Catl from a Small plane lost in the lowering Clouds. By using Cross Navta Lional beams. Goss was Able to locate the plane and give it a heading to his Airport. But when the plane got near the visibility was Down to one mile and the Pilot could not find the Airport. Another Pilot look Oil to try to locale him and guide him in. When thai failed Goss called in the powerful Federal aviation administration radar in Cleveland. They located the plane on their screen and tried to direct in to goss1 yield Goss listening in. He asked the Pilot now Hying Al less than 75 feet whal a could see on the ground. The Pilot noticed a parking area with school buses in the Snow. Goss suddenly realized what the Faa radar could not. The Pilot was heading right into a Mountain Ridge. I said make a 180 immediately " Goss remembers. After the Pilot quickly turned and landed safely at another Small Airport the engine quit on the runway to was out of fuel. His alertness saved the Pilot s Lite but gobs blamed himself Lor not checking on the fuel Supply. He could t have done anything about it anyway but he still considered in a sin of omission. Oan Goss fell in love with air planes around the ago of 10. Kids in those Days would Cross two rulers together in the semblance of a plane and guide them through classroom skies. Or when they were old enough they would whittle their air planes out of real Wood nol that soft Balsa stuff. Goss1 Home burned Down in 1928 Wilh All his Early models bul he s Long since acquired a fresh Leet including a six fool Model of the dirigible Hindenburg that he built. He s been leaching air traffic controlling and commercial tying to generations Al Community College students some of whom now people the Beaver county Tower. Aboul is of his former students work in the Pill Burgh Tower and some 50 Are commercial pilots he takes Wilh him p mental scrapbook of mementos of his sky watching giving Landing Inspru Lions to air Force commander. Gen. Hap Arnold seeing an aged Orville Wright Al Wright Patterson air Force base meeting Gen. Jimmy Doolittle Iho Man who bombed Tokyo getting a message from an Hying Arnie Palmer at the Latrobe. A. Held asking please to Call his Wile and say hell be late and giving Landing instructions to the Memphis Belle the first b-17 to Complete 25 missions Over Europe. A Low Lime beads of sweat White knuckle Pilot himself Goss in a sense flies the air planes he  i look at an air plane and talk to in it s More than a person something with a soul. More than wings and slats and Canvas and aluminium. I m talking to the Pilot sure but Mote. I m talking la the air plane. I m seeing that air plane react to me. I say turn left turn right cleared to Lake Oil cleared to land and i see that air plane doing whal i say Lodo not the  he has been an air traffic controller Lor some 44 years sandwiching in another career As a business and. Manager Lor the Brownsville Telegram. Retired As of lha end of August he will still hang around the Field but a has a new Job sports photographer Lor his old paper. His hero is Chuck Yeager the test Pilot who broke the sound Barrier and set record after record for Altitude and Speed. He was a Young aviator in the 1940s, flying out of old Patterson Field near Dayton Ohio where Goss was working the Towar. Goss especially tikes Yeager s motto for life you do what you can As Long As you can. And when you cant you Back up but you Don t give  Page 16 the stars and stripes tuesday. October 7,1986