Oct. 6, 2017 // Photo Album: Places NATCA is Making a Difference Across the Country This Week
Chicago Center member Toby Hauck met with Republican Congressman Darin LaHood, who represents the 18th District in Illinois, and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy this month to discuss the FAA staffing crisis and other legislative issues. Thank you, Congressmen, for your support for aviation safety professionals!
To see more great work done by NATCA’s legislative leaders in September, click here.
Kansas City Center (ZKC) NATCA local supported KidsTLC this month. ZKC FacRep Aaron Merrick dropped off a check raised from their annual charity golf tournament.
From the KidsTLC Facebook page: “They did it again! Thank you to our neighbors at NATCA for hosting your annual golf tournament to benefit our children and raising dollars to support our programs!” View their post here.
Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Tower/TRACON (BHM) hosted Legislative Training this week. The training was led by Southern Alternate Regional Vice President Jason Arnold, National Legislative Committee Northwest Mountain Region Chair Richard Kennington, and National Legislative Committee Mentee Stan Parulski.
The trainees then attended a solidarity event at High Point Climbing And Fitness in Birmingham, Ala.
NATCA member Paul Behan of Jacksonville Center (ZJX) was in attendence: “Excellent solidarity event with our Birmingham area NATCA membership! We’re all going to be sore tomorrow!”
Southern RVP Jim Marinitti said: “It was a lot of fun. The BHM Local have been great hosts. It’s such a positive atmosphere and a great way to bring people together from multiple facilities that were present to attend legislative training.”
Over 30 members from Phoenix area facilities joined together for a night of solidarity and legislative activism. Members were briefed on NATCA’s current legislative activities by Arizona State Coordinator and National Legislative Committee Mentee David Skarphol, National Legislative Committee Chair Steve Weidner, and Western Pacific Regional Vice President Ham Ghaffari.
United Airlines and Spartan College hosted an Aviation Career Day at Denver International Airport on Friday Sept. 29. Denver Center (ZDV) NATCA member worked in collaboration with the FAA to provide an air traffic control career booth. Two to three thousand area high school students were bussed in for the event to learn more about aviation.
NATCA President Paul Rinaldi attended a NextGen Advisory Committee (NAC) meeting in Chicago on Oct. 4. Established in 2010, the NAC is a federal advisory committee formed to provide advice on policy-level issues facing the aviation community in implementing NextGen (modernizing the aviation system). The NAC tackles issues that are broader than air traffic management, including safety, airports, the environment, and global harmonization. The Chicago meeting included discussion on Interim Report-Joint Implementation Commitments for improving operations in the Northeast Corridor, Joint Analysis Team performance assessment of Boston/Gary optimal profile descents and DataComm, NextGen Priorities Plan updates, and an executive summary regarding the FAA vision for Trajectory Based Operations (TBO).
