A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/656707
W E D N E S D AY, M A R C H 2 3 , 2 0 1 6 N AT C A D A I LY D I S PAT C H 3 #416 As air traffic continues to increase, a greater demand is experienced on airport owners, operators and air navigation service providers. Saab's Remote Tower incorporates new surveillance systems and monitoring platforms, providing superior tracking and guidance. The system sends enhanced 360° views of an airport to controllers, enabling them to operate remotely and perform their duties as if in a physical tower. Saab's Remote Tower technology enhances airport capabilities and improves situational awareness, efficiency and safety. This breakthrough technology is currently undergoing operational testing at Leesburg Executive Airport in Virginia. ✈ 9:30 am Improving Safety Through Collaboration moderators: Steve Wallace Collaboration Facilitator, NATCA Vern Huffman Collaboration Facilitator, FAA ✈ 11:45 am International Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) Fireside Chat PANEL PREVIEWS WEDNESDAY: United Airlines Flight 232 Capt. Alfred Haynes AGAINST ALL ODDS: Nearly 300 people were aboard the seemingly normal United Airlines Flight 232 that departed Denver, headed for Chicago, on July 19, 1989. Sixty-seven minutes into the flight, Captain Alfred Haynes notified Minneapolis air traffic control that the number two engine had failed, and the aircraft was only marginally controllable. The flight crew had to make an emergency landing, so they steered the aircraft towards the closest airport at that moment – Sioux City, Iowa. As they tried to guide the plane in to land, witnesses say the right wing dipped slightly and hit the ground, sending the plane into cartwheels and into a cornfield between runways. Of the 296 souls on board, 184 survived the crash. Today, Haynes will discuss the crash landing, and how five main factors contributed to the survival of those 184 people: luck, communication, preparation, execution, and cooperation. Haynes believes impeccable air traffic control assistance, effective cockpit and cabin crew training, proper inter-communications training among ground units, and proper use of available facilities also made a huge difference in the survival rate. Haynes, who retired in 1991, has given nearly 2,000 presentations, raising money for charities while never accepting any money for himself. His goal is to educate other pilots, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, emergency crews, and emergency planners. His narrative of the "Against All Odds" crash landing is a tremendous teaching tool. Haynes was born in Paris, Texas, and was raised in Dallas. He attended Texas A&M University before joining the Naval Aviation Cadet Training program in 1952. He was released from the service in 1956 after serving as a marine aviator. He joined United Airlines that year as a flight engineer, and served in that capacity until his promotion to first officer in 1963. He flew the DC-6, DC-7, DC-8, Boeing 727, and DC-10. Haynes was promoted to captain in 1985 and flew the Boeing 727 and DC-10 until his retirement, accumulating over 27,000 hours of flight time. Haynes has been a volunteer umpire for Little League Baseball for the past 40 years, and a stadium announcer for high school football for the past 35 years. Collaboration facilitators Steve Wallace of NATCA and Vern Huffman from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will co-moderate today's panel, Improving Safety Through Collaboration. They will focus on teamwork, how highly collaborative teams conduct business every day, and how they help facilities recover when things go wrong. "Our intent is to highlight good practices from three facilities and some of the science behind teams and teamwork," Wallace said. "We hope that the audience will gain a deeper understanding of what it means to collaborate in the interest of safety along with a few tips and suggestions on how to get teams of people working together more effectively." While the core of FAA employees' jobs is very serious in nature, Wallace said, highly collaborative teams of people are able to solve extremely complex problems in a way that is not only positive for the workforce but also educational and acceptable by all in the process. At every highly collaborative facility that Wallace and Huffman have visited, one thing is always evident from the moment they walk into the building, Wallace said: "they have a facility standard of excellence or a commonly understood motto that everything else is built around." "We intend to spread the message that this is something that is facility-specific and derived by the workforce," he said. "It's not something that one person says everyone will do or how they will act. It's something that everyone plays a part in." Across the modern world, Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) in different countries have taken different approaches to governing their air traffic operations and safety regulators. The United States has a fully government-owned, operated, and regulated system, but in most countries that is not the case. Today, NATCA President Paul Rinaldi will sit down with union leaders from Canada, Great Britain, and Australia to discuss the pros and cons of each country's operations. Each country has a different model for governing its air traffic control organizations and keeping its airspace safe. With FAA Reauthorization being discussed in both the House and Senate, NATCA has thoroughly studied these international organizations to ensure that any change that were to occur in the U.S. would implement these organizations' best aspects, and observe the lessons these organizations learned during their transitions. A government chartered not-for-profit, a quasi-government corporation, and a government owned corporation comprise these countries' ANSPs. Joining Rinaldi for this important discussion are Peter Duffey, President of the Canadian Air Traffic Control Association; Paul Winstanley, Prospect, ATCOs Branch Chair; and Daryl Hickey, Civil Air President.