The tower confirmed it heard his request.
"Good luck to that pilot," the person in the tower is heard saying in the just released radio calls from Tuesday night. The pilot brought down the twin-engine Beechcraft on a Wheeling street, just missing an apartment complex in the Chicago suburb.
The pilot was the only person on board, and was not seriously injured. No one on the ground was hurt.
The pilot of the Beech Super King Air 200 turbo-prop plane was headed to the Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling.