NATCA Bookshelf

6 Michael Collins retired last year after having served the National Airspace System (NAS), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and NATCA with a deep commitment to improving safety. Collins was a founding member of both NATCA's Aircraft Certification (AIR) bargaining unit and the Seattle Local Engineers Northwest Mountain (ENM) safety committee. He was on the NATCA negotiating team with National Safety Committee (NSC) Chairman Steve Hansen and ENM retired member Mike McRae for the AIR voluntary safety reporting process. He also served over five years as NATCA's Region X AIR representative on the NSC. In that capacity, he participated in monthly NASA safety team meetings and authored and coordinated submissions on NATCA comments to aircraft Airworthiness Directives (ADs), exemptions, and proposed rulemaking. He also drafted and coordinated comments to numerous FAA regulatory proposals, pointing out safety issues that should be addressed on transport airplanes. AIR member Tomaso DiPaolo from the Engineers Great Lakes Region noted that Collins was one of two founding NATCA reps on the Safety Review Process (SRP) panel that reviewed and made safety determinations on all aircraft certification SRP reports. The SRP replaced the FAA's Safety Issues Reporting System (SIRS) for NATCA-covered AIR employees. "Dozens of safety recommendations were created by SRP and forwarded to FAA top management for implementation," DiPaolo said. "He was instrumental in helping to improve the air safety system in AIR these past few decades." AIR member Della Swartz from the Region X local in Anchorage, Alaska, said Collins "advocated tirelessly for safety within the FAA, even when that conflicted with his management." As the AIR representative on the NSC, Swartz said Collins brought safety concerns within AIR to the attention of NATCA leadership. "He wrote white papers to explain the issues, as well as taking the lead in writing comments to FAA rulemaking on REGION X COMMITMENT TO SAFETY AWARD Michael Collins

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