Charlotte Pilot Makes Son’s Birth After Air Traffic Controllers Clear Path Home

A Charlotte pilot reached the hospital before his son arrived, thanks to help from air traffic controllers and fellow pilots. Cody Burd, who captains planes for Pacific Southwest Airlines, was 402 miles away in Lexington when his wife went into labor.

Burd's phone rang around 4 or 4:30 that morning. His wife, Caitlyn, was on the line. "She called and said, 'Hey, I think you need to come home,'" he recalled to Channel 9.

Caitlyn had worried this might happen. "I was like, I just have this sinking feeling that labor or my water or my water's gonna break or go into active labor when you're gone. And lo and behold, that is exactly what happened," Caitlyn said.

The captain grabbed the jump seat in a packed flight bound for Charlotte. "Oh, I'm very grateful. We always try to fill the jump seat if we can," Cody said.

The plane neared Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Crew members radioed air traffic control about Cody's predicament. Radio chatter from the landing caught what happened next. The pilot asked controllers: "Hey, we got somebody who's, uh, onboard whose wife is in labor. Can we get around Piedmont?"

The controller shot back fast: "Yeah, man, we can do that!" A different pilot on the runway throttled down his aircraft so Cody's plane could pass. He said, "Alright, we'll slow down here a little bit, let them go around. We heard, uh, labor. Piedmont 5827. Congratulations!"

The crew hustled to the gate. Cody bolted straight to the hospital. He got there before Baker, his son, entered the world.

"Oh, it was amazing, it was great!" Cody said. His wife told Channel 9 that what the aviation team did changed everything. "I think that one little thing that they did really did make all the difference," Caitlyn said.

Mom and baby are both doing well now. The Burds thanked the pilots and controllers who helped the father win his race against time.