Human Performance
Aaron Katz is the National Human Performance Representative
Background: The Human Performance Representative is the NATCA liaison to AJI 155, the FAA Human Performance office. The office is comprised of a group manager (currently Jason Demagalski) and 5 scientists (the office only has two currently on board) with expertise in a wide variety of fields. The three main areas of focus are Human Factors, Health and Well-Being and Fatigue.
Ongoing projects:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all field research projects are on hold, as many other projects in the NAS are.
New Human Performance Initiative
Background: The Human Performance Team was involved in the creation of the Fully Charged initiative. For several years, the joint program has gone under-utilized. It has been decided that a new initiative should be created to replace Fully Charged. However, unlike Fully Charged, the new initiative will serve as a more complete Human Performance Portal. The new portal will serve as an educational vehicle that members can enjoy “one stop shopping” for all human performance related items.
This month has been spent mostly continuing work on this project. Due to the scale, open avenues and impact, it will be taking up most of the time spent each month for the time being. The team is discussing and strategizing all of the current channels, that an increase in HP application and education can benefit the workforce. Once all the potential ideas and avenues have been vetted out, each member of the team will undertake a specific portion of the initiative to develop. The ultimate goal is to have the largest positive impact as possible on virtually all facets of daily life in our profession.
Internal HP Team Restructure
Background: There has been some ongoing discussion around moving the HP Team to AJI 3 and adding a number of new specialists.
The decision to move the HP Team from AJI 1 to AJI 3 is now official. The move occurred in late November. The new structure will have Larry Beck managing the team in AJI 3 under Director Kim Pyle. There have been several vacancy announcements put out both within and external to the FAA. The team is anticipating being able to add multiple experts very soon. As a result, there has been a slow down while waiting for this process to reach completion.
Standing modes of conducting business
During the quarantine, the team conducts 2-3 group meeting a week via the zoom platform. Emails and phone calls also occurred.
