A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/648546
we expect to see several harmful amendments offered to appropriations bills this year that would eliminate or limit the use of official time. NATCA has successfully defeated amendments on appropriations bills in recent years that would eliminate or limit official time. As always, NATCA GA staff will closely follow the issue and strongly oppose any efforts to el iminate or limit official time. COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT NBC TODAY SHOW – MATT LAUER AT JFK TOWER! On March 2, culminating a couple of weeks of work by NATCA Senior Communications and Public Affairs Associate Sarah McCann and FAA Public Affairs , the Today Show aired a segment featuring Matt Lauer interning as an air traffic controller at JFK as part of the show 's special series, "Up for the Job. " As part of this series, each of the show's anchors perform s a one - day "dream internship." It turns out that Matt Lauer's dream internship has always been t o work as a controller at JFK! Lauer watched controllers in the tower work, including NATCA JFK FacRep Steve Abraham and NATCA JFK Vice President Will Gallo. Gallo even got to teach Lauer how to stuff and read flight strips. Later, Lauer took a turn guiding traffic in the facility's simulator and learned not only the i ntense focus and multitasking the job requires, but also the huge adrenaline rush that comes with it. " It was really cool, " Lauer says after the segment ends. " And that ' s one of those jobs where you only hear about those people when something goes wrong. B ut on a daily basis they do that job so well, day - in and day - out." Watch the full story: http://www.today.com/money/matt - lauer - interns - jfk - s - air - traffic - co ntrol - tower - t77201 Here's the text of the story that ran on the Today Show website: Today Show anchor Matt Lauer is known for keeping his cool during heated interviews, but he really got put to the test recently while interning at one of the most pressu re - packed offices in the world – New York's JFK Air Traffic Control Tower. As part of TODAY ' s " Up for the Job " series, Matt needed to tap into his ability to multi - task for the day he spent as an air traffic controller at New York ' s John F. Kennedy Intern ational Airport. More than 1,000 flights come through every day at JFK airport, where 90 airlines move 150,000 passengers in and out of New York City skies. Air traffic controllers must posses intense focus skills, since they could easily be speaking wit h 10 pilots at a time — and as many as several dozen when the weather is poor. They must also have nerves of steel since one small mistake could cost lives. That ' s part of the reason why air traffic controllers never go for long before taking a break. " W e never want to have have them working more than two hours at one time without a break, " said Dave Siewert, JFK ' s air traffic manager.