[REAL ATC] Major Earthquake strikes Anchorage, Alaska | AIRPORT CLOSED

[@VASAviation]

*And this, ladies and gentlemen, is an extract of how professional these controllers and pilots worked at Anchorage! Leave your THUMBS UP for their awesome job! Well done!*

[@rkan2]

VASAviation - And this is how you do it... Airports, especially not too busy ones work fine without ATC, just the separation increases..

[@elcastorgrande]

"Professional;" is an overused word. It applies to these ATCs and pilots. And VAS.

[@Noble-p]

Well THAT was fast! :P

[@southjerseysound7340]

@@Noble-p I know, I wouldn't be surprised if the news channels are using him as a source. It'd be a improvement over their "experts" that's for sure.

[@brianbecker3696]

@@southjerseysound7340 The runways were inspected and cleared for operations. 2:32

[@MegaMech]

this is the tower, I'd like to declare an emergency.

[@airwipe1639]

MegaMech I doo, declare

[@tornado15555]

Fuel and souls onboard?

[@weasdown]

@@tornado15555 "Zero fuel, five souls" "So you're emergency fuel?"

[@Petr75661]

tower, clear to land watch out!

[@singledad1313]

What is your intent?

[@DBR00]

The FedEX should have been given priority to land. I am expecting an Amazon package and I need it now. it’s a spare charging cable for my phone.

[@asiphyn1814]

DBR00 would u rather be delivered a broken charger or a delayed package lmao

[@TKettle]

@@asiphyn1814 whoosh

[@rachidb7227]

@@asiphyn1814 woooosh

[@nursenick06]

What a beautiful arc that made sailing right over the top...

[@theredrover3217]

LOL

[@doomfork]

Really impressive. There's been a natural disaster, the tower may be at risk of collapsing, and the controller still shows concern about getting the medevac plane out if he needs to go. Incredible.

[@southjerseysound7340]

ATC is like a art and it's a selfless, thankless job that nobody cares about until something bad happens. But we have the best controllers on the planet and thanks to channels like this they're finally getting a little bit of the credit they deserve.

[@DT-vl8xm]

Responsibility

[@Keaton0801]

Considering the magnitude of the earthquake, and the location, the medivac plane probably did.

[@jdanon203]

@@JohnDoe-zw6to Planes needing to land have a higher priority than aircraft already safely on the ground.

[@liesdamnlies3372]

Undoubtedly if the medevac pilot said that they really needed to leave as soon as they possibly could, those airport guys would have moved heaven and earth to get him out. Probably the only plane there who would've gotten special treatment.

[@HungryGuyStories]

I can't imagine what those FedEx pilots were thinking at that moment: on final and the tower suddenly tells you to go around in a panicky voice.

[@rebelfighter5249]

Def wake them up, that's for sure.

[@sfbptank]

@@rebelfighter5249 do you mean, shake them up?

[@carolynfoster1541]

What a recording! You hear that breathing?This is someone who handles stress all the time.....and he's hyperventilating. I'm guessing FedEx got the message loud and clear. We all saw video of the airport in Japan. No one would want to land in a similar situation.

[@joynthis]

Godzirra?

[@dunning8]

@@carolynfoster1541 sounded to me like he was running out of the building and still directing the aircraft

[@magellan6108]

During the March 11, 2011 earthquake in Japan, approach control at Narita just quit talking, nothing to anyone. Dozens of aircraft inbound and nothing but static. Pilots began talking amongst themselves and someone remembered the approach freq for Yokota air base. After a few minutes of coordinating with Yokota and them coordinating with their command authority, they began bringing all of the flights into Yokota. No facilities for that many people. No customs agents. Plenty of ramp space, though. They brought them in and made it happen. Great job, USAF. To the ANC controllers who stayed on the air in spite of everything falling down around them, Outstanding!

[@SI-wq8xf]

I had been based in RJAA as well as flying out of Yokota AFB some time many years ago. When the Tsunami came to hit Fukushima and upper east coast of Japanese Main Island, I was at home in Tokyo, watching the live video of the incoming waves... Anyhow, I just want to ask you, Mr. Goeker, is your write up based on your first hand experience or anything else? I have several friends in Japanese ATC and haven't heard anything like what you report described. Consider my inquire as a mere fact checking, please. Safe flight.

[@magellan6108]

I have a few sources for this. My wife was driving that day with two friends to Yokota. The quake hit while they were en route. Comm was down, but one her friends knew Tokyo well enough to get them to Yokota. As they were approaching the base, there were airliners going into Yokota. My wife and the third lady thought they were lost and at the outskirts of Narita. The other lady was very insistent she knew where she was, but had no explanation for the airliners. They made it to Yokota, and the ramp was full of airliners from all over the world. The story they heard was the same as I related. The second source was my next supervisor. He was a Lt Col on special staff to the Wing Commander at Yokota during this timeframe. When we compared notes at that next assignment, he related the same story. I am curious about your friends' take on the events of the day. It has never made sense to me that they would stop talking. What would make sense is that their power or transmitters were knocked out, and as soon as they restored comm, they were back up and running. If you know any pilots from that day, I would like to have their corroboration, modification or even rebuttal to the story. There are a few things that speak to the veracity of the story. 1) Lots of commercial airliners did divert to Yokota. 2) Yokota's command authority was completely taken by surprise. Meaning, there was no contingency plan for such an event - no prior coordination. 3) The earthquake knocked power out, disrupted comm, and generally, scared the bejeebers out people everywhere. 4) Saving face in Japanese culture is synonymous with breathing. Your friends may be saving face for those who were on duty that day. The Japanese are very honest people, but when it comes to honor, there is a tendency at times to hedge, not lie, just hedge. Let me know what you hear. I have no dog in this fight other than to know the truth.

[@SI-wq8xf]

Thanks for your sincere and timely reply, sir. Let me do more research and I will get back to you.

[@mgroh5564]

​@@SI-wq8xf … Here's a link I found... www.yokota.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/411711/commercial-aircraft-diverted-from-narita-iap-to-yokota/

[@mgroh5564]

And here's one more link with more photos: www.airlinereporter.com/2011/03/photos-of-large-airlines-diverting-to-yokota-air-base-due-to-earthquake-in-tokyo/

[@calyodelphi124]

It's amazing to see how all the pilots quickly and smoothly switched into "uncontrolled airspace mode" with the information content of their communications and announcing all of their intentions and actions to all aircraft on frequency, and maintaining the safety of the airspace accordingly. It reminds me of your earlier video with the ATC who suffered a stroke on-duty.

[@uy_spotter]

This remembered me the ATC that died at the Indonesia Earthquake after the Tower collapsed. Kudos to the controllers!

[@VASAviation]

Working to the last second having their airplanes in safe positions. Absolute respect.

[@naamah7041]

@@VASAviation do you have the audio for that one?

[@erikjohansson1814]

VASAviation - What option do they have? Drop everything and run?

[@zanekelvinator6661]

VASAviation - Make my colleagues look even more useless.

[@ariqasym7826]

Pablo Lapadjian If you want to see the airport before and after the earthquake in Palu, Indonesia, just wacth Capt. Vincent Channel

[@codyman144]

Wow your dedication is incredible, can’t believe you have this up already.

[@VASAviation]

Thank you, John! Always working hard

[@southjerseysound7340]

@@VASAviation thanks, you truly do great work and its nice to see and hear facts asap.

[@gtoger]

@@VASAviation And with subtitles, no less! WTG!

[@g00gle-]

Quicker than them news

[@VoraciousAvgeek]

The tower hit turbulence on the ground

[@BluegrassFilmsKY]

That's one way to look at it.

[@koverpy426]

Turbulence on the ground: Hurricane or tornado. It's lieral ground turbulence, turbulence from the ground.

[@lonememe]

If it was a Delta tower it would have been reported as "light chop"

[@TheDemocrab]

@@lonememe If it was a Tigerair tower, the ATC guys would say "Yeah we're having problems here, we'll update you eventually" and fuck off down to the pub for 3 hours.

[@joeychristiansen8701]

Lol

[@itsjohndell]

Since not all of us are here are pilots I will explain that CTAF stands for Common Traffic Advisory Frequency. It is used for non-towered Airports and as in this case ATC outages. It means that each aircraft announces its position and intentions on the frequency regularyy at key points on approach and after landing. In this case the ILS (instrument Landing System) remained operational. If that were not the case the crews would have the option to either make a full visual approach or execute a go around procedure and contact the nearest ATC Center for diversion. In IFR (inclement weather) that would be an automatic procedure. My 2 cents, if the tower had not stayed operating as long as it did and advised traffic that the runways were intact I would have diverted.

[@DavidWsTrainVideos]

SavedForThis Fairbanks is the closest at 363 Miles away. Everything else is over 2000 miles.

[@dfor]

@@SavedForThis this why commercial flights have reserve fuel. That reserve fuel is based on the destination airport and where the flight should have to divert to in case its needed. The closest large enough airport for the flights would be Fairbanks which is just under an hour away depending on wind, so all of these flights would be carrying more than enough reserve fuel to divert there if needed.

[@CurseTheDarkness]

Thanks from us non-pilots for the description.

[@nic12344]

@@DavidWsTrainVideos The Kenai Municipal Airport is way closer at 100 km! The 2L/20R is paved and 2.4 km long.

[@saeefullahmohammad1402]

Uh good old 122.8?

[@fejic]

You uploaded this before they finished inspecting the tower lol

[@gibsop1]

I'm not sure what's more impressive. Your time to air, or the pilot and ATC professionalism. Cudos to all and you.

[@bulldogg50]

Cudos is Kudos, but Canadian

[@elweewutroone]

What is Cudos? What is Kudos? Is this some Spanish/Portuguese/Japanese word?

[@dudeinak5653]

I live in anchorage and you uploaded this before the aftershocks stopped! I’m impressed

[@afh7689]

1:00 rest of Alaska pilot's message was "uhh so you're kind of on your own for a little bit"

[@pesto12601]

"FEDEX GO AROUND... FEDEX GO AROUND!!!"...... "uh... was that for FedEx?" :)

[@jameswormsley460]

hahahahahahaha wow

[@ZebPalmer]

The first call didn't sound right, for obvious reasons... Pilots are used to talking to voices that are calm, cool and collected -- that's what we hear 99.99% of the time. Go from that to suddenly out of breath, quite garbled, hollering at the radio and it's quite jarring, not something you will process the same. Always ask for repeat or clarification on any instruction you are given that you aren't sure about.

[@stillline]

Well he said "was that for Fedex 49?". Thers a bunch of fedex planes at the airport. The ATC instruction coukd have been for another fedex plane.

[@milan1969]

He did say it rather quickly - hard to understand the first time around...

[@jameswormsley460]

lol true

[@phapnui]

Tower gets their very own "Hours of Boredom Punctuated by Moments of Sheer Terror" moments...

[@richardmourdock2719]

WIth a moderate duration "7" I'll bet that tower was flexing like a fly rod. Not a comfortable place to be. Pros up there for sure.

[@alternatelives8559]

@@richardmourdock2719 Anchorage resident here; I was around 10 minutes south of the tower when the quake hit. It was a wild ride at ground level, so I can't even imagine how bad it was up there!

[@Dutchovenderlinde]

Man, it's been two years now. My wife and I were still living in Anchorage at the time and it was easily one of the scariest moments of my life. My office building was heavily damaged along with many others. I'll never forget driving our friend home and seeing people celebrating survival by holding up cases of beer outside the liquor store. It was certainly a memorable day.

[@aps-pictures9335]

Damn. The professionalism of those controllers was extraordinary. The ceiling is collapsing, you’re atop a tower and there’s a hard earthquake shaking you, knocking all your equipment. What do you do? Well if you’re these legends you prioritise the safety of the planes even over your own. Faith in humanity bolstered 🖤 Hope everyone is doing okay, must be a horrible situation to be in, wishing them all the best.

[@youngtschakaloff]

Count to 7 billion and then tell me again that so few people can make you lose or regain your faith in humanity. Stop saying that please

[@aps-pictures9335]

WaterFucKing lol I can tell you mean well, but that’s a nonsensical statement to make.

[@Luckingsworth]

@@aps-pictures9335 No, "faith in humanity restored" is nonsensical (and cringey). If that was enough to restore your faith then you are blind to all the good that goes on around you.

[@aps-pictures9335]

Jon M hmm, yet 81+ people disagree with you. Our daily worldview is informed by our circumstance and intake of information. Our narrative on life by our personal experiences. For some we are surrounded by more evil than most, which means these glimpses of hope are perhaps a lot more meaningful. I’m very glad your life is filled with such a positive environment, unfortunately mine hasn’t been thus far. I know these actions occur, but the majority of my time is occupied with suffering and trying to alleviate it. Perhaps you may wish to re-evaluate your response and consider why you feel this makes you uncomfortable, indeed makes you ‘cringe’. That would be more productive, no?

[@Luckingsworth]

@@aps-pictures9335 There are millions that "like" flat earth comments too. Doesnt make them right. Either you have a very sad small worldview and a terrible conception of the greatness of humanity, or you are simply using an overused statement in Hope's to get attention for virtue signaling.

[@Girlwithlotsofnames1]

So cool to hear this from ATC’s POV. I was working on the lower level of the airport this day. My goodness it was terrifying.

[@BobMcCoy]

*_This is nothing but minor turbulence for Ryanair_*

[@yas1334]

Big facts

[@scottsen2128]

Light Chop

[@VASAviation]

Does Ryanair create earthquakes on touchdown?

[@omgdann7805]

LOL

[@naamah7041]

@@SavedForThis or Tarom back in the 90s! Their small Russian planes were going up and down, up and down lmao! I wasn't scared of flying back then, developed it later. I really enjoyed the roller coaster rides!

[@coltinyancey3671]

For context this earthquake made it difficult to stand at ground level, I can't imagine being in the tower when it hit.

[@TheEmeraldMenOfficial]

Hopefully they were sitting in office chairs. The only risk is falling over and the wheels of the chair would dampen some of the shaking...

[@ravingcyclist624]

Plus there would be aftershocks. Some very strong.

[@punnequraq]

@@ravingcyclist624 There were three above mag5.0 in the first hour following the quake

[@j134679]

@@TheEmeraldMenOfficial I've experienced an earthquake in an office on the 11th floor. The office chairs make it worse as they roll all over the place.

[@cageordie]

I tuned in to listen to them operating 7R arrivals and 33 departures from a vehicle next to the runway. Exciting day. Taxi was at pilot's risk.

[@sct913]

@4:17 Tower is saying "until we get the structural damage assessed.", not "they said." Still, excellent clip and kudos on posting it so fast.

[@VASAviation]

Thank you!!

[@Smiley1701]

As much as I enjoy these videos I do catch a few transcription errors in each one and they bother me more than they should

[@barley-pt]

Smiley1701 feel free to join the discord server and help with the transcription :)

[@Smiley1701]

@@barley-pt oh I didn't know that was an option, I'd be happy to help. Is it too late once the video is posted though? This one was up really fast

[@Zerbey]

@@Smiley1701 I don't think English is VASAviation's first language, so we can forgive him the occasional error.

[@iAmAlaska49]

Very scary indeed. I live in Anchorage and it shook hard. Epicenter was only 10 miles north of the city at Mag. 7.0!

[@laurawallace4345]

Hope everyone is ok!

[@EdgeRatedR007]

Eric Ellis Was there any damage in the city?

[@iAmAlaska49]

Z In Chains Quite a bit. Roads have sink holes in them and power outages. Buildings have some damage such as broken windows etc.

[@Bl4ckw0lf1]

@@iAmAlaska49 Curious, does the city have any action plans online for this situation?

[@cristycreates2887]

Same here.. Hope everyone is OK!!

[@keithmichaels6188]

Thank you VASaviation for getting this up so fast. And Kidos to all the controllers and pilots for their calm quick response under pressure.

[@arnoldsherrill6305]

Ladies and gentlemen this is how you get it done, equipment is getting moved ceiling tiles are falling and you still get the mission done .nothing more needs to be said

[@davidcox2459]

I was hoping you’d have a video about this, didn’t imagine having it up so soon!

[@danielramsey1959]

And I'm flying from Anchorage to Oahu monday! It really shook my house up, toppled several widescreen tvs and all my dishes, house is ok. Got power back.

[@egroenen]

As someone who also lives in an earthquake prone area, all tvs, shelves etc must be anchored. It doesn't take long to screw everything to the walls. Especially if you have kids. A tv falling on a kids head does and has killed.

[@Elizabeth-tg7jo]

Thanks for posting same day - amazing. I live here in Anchorage and will rest easy knowing that our controllers are among the best.

[@kennethkirk4944]

4 years ago today, I had just arrived at work when the quake hit. I hurried home to a panicky and disheveled household. After picking up for a while, I sat down to check the news and found this video. Hearing the controllers handle things so well in the middle of a huge quake was calming for me. Thank you, VASAviation, for posting this so quickly on that crazy day.

[@therightstuffAK]

My grandfather used to work in the new control tower & around the airport as a radar technician for the FAA. In the 1964 9.2 magnitude quake he was here when the old tower collapsed. I got to tour the newer tower in 2005. It was pretty cool to see everything.... I also got to tour the JBER (Elmendorf) tower in 2008. Glad this quake wasn't any stronger or things may have turned out much differently!

[@freevillein9763]

I LOVE hearing the professional and successful way the pilots managed things without a tower in such a busy airport. And also Tower Guy, where you could hear the fear in his voice, he CLEARLY wanted to evacuate for safety, and yet he still calmly and professionally answered people and navigated for people as well as he could.

[@arnoldsherrill6305]

It was so well done don't be surprised if this becomes FAA operational policy for this type of emergency: announce to all Aircraft what the situation is on the ground ,while the staff sets up a on-the-fly Command Post using radios ,binoculars and vehicles set up along the runways.You can tell where controllers and Pilots prior experience in the military has kicked in, nerves from the first few seconds are kicked into the closet, and professionalism and concern for others comes to the front and stays there. This will be a situation that controllers not only in this country ,but around the world will be talking about for years. Ladies & Gentlemen, the bar is open you have definitely earned this round, congratulations on a job well done, and the same observation also goes in regard to the flight Crews involved as well.

[@glennroberts461]

Glad it was VFR conditions. Couldn't believe that controller was still in the tower.

[@stephanieritter4771]

Just everybody involved was outstanding..... The ATC guy absolutely a badass.... The pilot's coordinating with each other just as amazing... And for posting this amazing video in such a short period of time kudos to you.... You are my favorite of aviation channels.... You explain it to those of us who have no experience in this whatsoever and make sense and just over the last 2 months I've learned more than in my entire lifetime about avionics.... There's probably two other ones that I really love to you and I just really appreciate the job that you guys do to get these done

[@devingraves8044]

You can hear the fear in the ATC voice at the start.

[@cymbala6208]

OMG... parts of the ceiling came down... that must have been a terrible shock for the controllers in the tower. I hope there were no injuries!

[@iatsd]

Terrible shock? The controllers in the Indonesian and both Christchurch quakes kept working as best they could and those were all far more serious than the Alaskan quake just now.

[@CombatMedicTM]

@@iatsd So that means one cannot be shocked by the damn ceiling coming down, because somewhere at some point someone else was not? You're an idiot.

[@iatsd]

Sunshine No, that means that people should try to resist the temptation to over react (I know, an American national sport) at something that happens all over the world without such reaction. Surprise and alarm? Sure. It's an earthquake, albeit not a major one really. (Large jolt, short duration) I just get stuck of all the melodramatic BS that Yanks insist on wallowing in. Sorry if you're so fragile that that offended you.

[@jamescunningham3891]

iatsd How do you know? Were you there? 🙄

[@Astrogarlic]

@@iatsd "Not a major one really"? It was a 7.0 earthquake that lasted for over a minute. smh

[@keelyh6190]

Wow you’re fast at uploading. I live about 350 miles away from Anchorage and this earthquake managed to shake things off the shelves so it must’ve been crazy inside that tower

[@AndrewFremantle]

A quick suggestion, if you read them on older videos like this. I think it would have been helpful to include 30 seconds or so of radio chatter before the earthquake, so we could get some context for the sudden change in the towers demeanor.

[@davidhoffman1278]

This CTAF scenario is definitely going to be part of every airlines training for a while.

[@itsjohndell]

It's part of every Pilots training. Always has been.

[@purpleduracell]

But this a good sample scenario

[@rachidb7227]

Even a Cessna pilot is used to it. It's what the amateurs use every day in small non controlled airports.

[@cebrady]

It's part of every pilots basic training - everyone learns it.

[@alyssahicks1836]

As an Alaskan this was one of those earthquakes that I still get anxious remembering, I will never forget this earthquake. Probably the most violent one I’ve ever felt,

[@stevedandy973]

I have been in 3 earthquakes while I was stationed in Alaska - 2 out at Shemya and 1 at Anchorage. The Anchorage quake's epicenter was 40 miles west of us, was a 5.5 on the Richter scale and shook us for a solid minute. I felt TOTALLY HELPLESS.

[@highviewarts]

Man if I woulda heard that guy yell "FedEx, go around!" That would freak me out a bit

[@ethodelahunt2824]

That Cathay pilot has such a reassuring voice

[@rayg9069]

Sounds like an Australian drawl.

[@DARANGULAFILM]

@@rayg9069 I wonder if he is Matt Lawrence, who lived in Roleystone, Western Australia when he was a kid. I understand from my late aunt he went on to fly for Cathay. He would probably be close to retiring now.

[@jrobles033]

He’s actually British. He’s a instructor at my flight school

[@BillyAlabama]

I’m glad there are people who keep their cool in a bad situation and keep doing their jobs. Cheers to everyone involved whether on the ground or in the air. I’m not sure I could do that.

[@nickdegroot2445]

Insanely quick upload!

[@marks6491]

It was exactly 15 years ago the same weekend when i landed at ANC for a one hour fuel stop on the way to Taipei. My Airbus A340 was ok, but the window seat sucked. Three of our backup computers failed after landing and we were stuck in downtown Anchorage for about 23 hours until the tech guy flew in from Taipei. It was 10 degrees F with snow on the ground.

[@deuxshed]

As soon as I heard that there were ATC issues surrounding this event, I >knew< you'd have a post within hours. Great job, and many thanks.

[@marspp]

Some of those pilots likely haven’t been flying in uncontrolled airspace for many years and went straight into they themselves delivering the situational awareness that is normally given to them and others by controllers and their radar screens/procedures and pilot position reports. Uncontrolled airspace RT is there so everyone can form a picture of what’s going on. Hear it all the time flying GA but very cool to listen to the switch to self-declaring traffic on airline ops and also the way the controller intermittently slotted back in in what appeared to be a semi-involved as he was able to fashion.

[@gw5033]

Having participated in a 7.8 a while back, I can appreciate the professionalism of all involved here. Life becomes challenging when mother earth is letting you know who the boss is.

[@kelvinparker7877]

I live just 29 miles north of Anchorage. We got rocked hard. We ran outside after the second earthquake and could see a convoy of planes circling around us first heading north then back south to Anchorage.

[@snoozer998]

I just got home, saw this on the YT breaking news feed. I wondered how soon you would have a video of this, and it's already up. That's awesome!

[@rrastetter]

Same here! Came straight here after hearing that there was ATC audio.

[@skywagon185]

Anchorage controllers are absolute best anywhere. Just one more proof of that fact. All or us pilots owe them a huge thumbs up and thanks. 👍👍

[@naamah7041]

You're a pilot? What kind of plane do you fly?

Great video, as always! However, at 3:00 the ATC allows Connie 936 to run down 7R and exit at F, but at 3:20 he clears Fedex 49 for 7R. I'm waiting for the untrimmed version, since there might've been a confirmation from 936 that wasn't picked up (or there was a long period of silence?). Just my speculations, I found that interesting.

[@VASAviation]

Hi Erik, That situation is not included in the untrimmed (shows APP in the majority) but don't worry because that might be due to the silences trimmed.

[@jeremyvancil2132]

This is true professionalism. As their workplace is being thrown about them they continue doing their jobs. Not even a moment to catch their breath. Well done!

[@shawnbreshears5616]

My nephew works at ANC approach... professional level headed group. As a pilot this is what I experience just about everywhere I fly. SNA is my home airport.

[@joemeyer6876]

It hit, and tower immediately had trucks drive the runways checking for cracks! Cool heads, pucker factor high!

[@bobbypaluga4346]

Brilliant operating as a unicom. Under the circumstances being heavy with freighters who may be low on fuel this is a smart idea. I'm not sure Fairbanks can deal with a large number of 747 and 777 freighters and it's what 200-250 miles north. Is Elmendorf AFB open to detoured traffic, if they weren't affected by the quake?

[@ElonMuckX]

Hope the pilots realized that they could be landing during aftershocks. There have been a bunch not to far from the airport. Wonder what Elmendorf had? They were two miles from epicenter.

[@mamalillycat8756]

Wow! I hope everyone is ok! Very professional control towers and aircraft. I just love when you get this kind of people. Even when the earthquake hit, the control was still trying to help the aircraft and the aircraft landing on this airport. Good job to all!!!!!

[@tundramanq]

Makes for a very busy uncontrolled airport for a while. Great job!

[@StackableGoldMC]

Turned on my phone after school and seen the notification. Definitely shocked me.

[@dmmchugh3714]

Respect to the control tower professionals . As I non- pilot I am asking how were in in progress flights handled ? Did controllers work from somewhere else?

[@tomhejda6450]

You always have some long-range radio available, AFAIK.

[@jaydub5515]

Wow, that's actually a picture of the Air Traffic Controllers station in Anchorage. Impressive

[@lolzhammer8281]

I live in ANC. That damned earthquake was my alarm clock that morning and it was something else! Hell of a job these guys did, keeping their cool and everything on track.

[@selftrue670]

As always, thanks for your timely postings!

[@sportsfanjw559]

How did they all stay so calm? Great work

[@tomhejda6450]

Well, if you want a reason for extensive and regular training, psychological testing, etc., here you have it.

[@LetsFocusOnChrist]

Such composure... when you have a very scary event but know people are counting on you.

[@cm2468]

Wow insanely quick upload. And a thumbs up to the controllers, they handled the situation well.

[@kameronevans5339]

I'm based at JBER. I was wondering when this video was going to pop up. We are all ok. Lost power for a while but ok for now. Needing prayers.

[@coltongerth8444]

Good job ANC tower for staying in that long and helping aircraft land

[@TheDominationNetwork]

Good practice for the Zombie Apocolypse. Pilots you're on your own!!!

[@EL_Arson]

I was working on the south side of the runway when this happened. Pretty crazy earthquake. And they had tsunami warnings on top of that.

[@blackvampirecat311]

Oh god I remember this one. I was in my house and we had a lot of stuff falling and breaking. Didn’t even think of how the airports would’ve dealt with it. Especially up in those towers, how scary!

[@IntheeyesofMorbo]

everybody is professional as heck but you can still hear the tension in voices. great to listen to though thanks for posting.

[@skyserf]

As bad as it can be for someone on the ground it’s really got to suck for someone in a tall thin building like a control tower.

[@Pythos_Sapunov]

I live in anchorage, and i was expecting this vid

[@VASAviation]

Here you have it!

[@tomashjelm3271]

.)Dang, you are fast, and I love it, Keep ut the good work :)

[@chrisgast]

I'm curious what the inside of the tower looked like, if they said the equipment was everywhere.

[@neonelitebook]

god, the panic at the beginning is just terror inducing

[@cubie3835]

I got so fucking scared at the pure silence and then, out of nowhere: FEDEX, GO AROUND! FEDEX, GO AROUND!

[@foxkill7]

TWR: 🗣FED EX GO AROUND! FED EX GO AROUND!🗣 FEDEX PILOT: “was that for Fedex?”🤔

[@rebelfighter5249]

The controller was shouting over the comm and that's not normal as pilots usually deal with calm, cool and collected voices. Makes sense he'd be startled as the tower was talking rather fast.

[@hauntedshadowslegacy2826]

@@rebelfighter5249 "HARRYPOTTERDIDYOUPUTYOURNAMEINTHEGOBLETOFFIRE?!?!?!1?1/11?!!" "wot?"

[@rebelfighter5249]

@@hauntedshadowslegacy2826 lol. Pretty much this.

[@geomodelrailroader]

Tower then used airport code and amended the order. Tower "Anchorage Tower for FedEx 49 go around" FedEx 49 "Go Around FedEx 49"

[@pip12111]

Ya wonder why Alaska has all those beautiful high mountain ranges. . .. right there.

[@maxtree6700]

Great video! Well done!

[@Shuffler703]

Extremely well done.

[@KJK9029]

When there’s severe turbulence but you’re still on the ground.

[@jamielonsdale3018]

ATC: This is tower, I'd like to declare an emergency. We had an earthquake. Pilots: Copy that. When able, state souls on board, coffee in pounds and your intentions.

[@Chris_at_Home]

Having gone to that airport thousands of times to catch flight I always would look at that tower and wonder what it would feel like in a quake up there. I was in a communications facility about 10 miles from the epicenter and crap was flying all over.

[@2manyblueberries]

I saw "FedEx go around, FedEx go around" on the news yesterday.

[@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043]

Well done, everyone involved here. Can you imagine this happening at rush hour at Kennedy/LaGuardia/Newark? I just made myself sick.😵

[@rebelfighter5249]

That'd be a war zone and a half.

[@gaberthesnipergaming8335]

7.0 magnitude in a tower... The tower must have been high-fiveing the pavement from side to side holy!

[@ninawallander515]

Probably the only time I have heard a stressed out tower. Not gonna blame him tho, transmitting during an eartquake 😐😐

[@ninawallander515]

At 0:16

[@deezynar]

Notice to all aircraft, be advised that we are experiencing some bumpy air in the control tower.

[@Cucumber_Dragon]

Damn, even after the earthquake they are still managing the airport...imagine all that chaos

[@lelynwilkowski2912]

In the 64 earthquake tower collasped killing the tower controller.

[@BunnySk8rProductions]

What a morning that was, felt like a truck was driving through my room

[@Jdalio5]

Wow atc is as prepared as pilots to maneuver through emergency. I've heard a chick say "our engines on fire, were gonna declare an emergency" but so calm almost didnt believe her.

[@rfmerrill]

If they evacuate the tower, could the controller stay on the freq via portable radio? I assume they wouldn't still identify as "tower" then since they can't do that job.

[@ryansmithza]

Well done to everyone.