ross leadership in action...the advocate for aviation leaders march/april 2013 vol. 11 no. 2 14...

T h e A d v o c A T e f o r A v i A T i o n L e A d e r s

Mar/Apr 2013 • vol.11 no.2

Leadership in Action

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fAAMA is a company, not an Agency group. FAAMA is not an

internal Agency organization. We raise

our own funds, follow our own path,

are free to lobby Congress, and are free to create

alliances with like-minded organizations within

and outside of government.

We actively and successfully lobby congress. FAAMA has an

active Legislative Committee that

represents FAAMA issues to members of

Congress who can support our causes. The

force of FAAMA advocacy was demonstrated in

December 2009 with the successful passing of

comprehensive federal workforce legislation.

With the addition of an Executive Director in

2011, we are expanding FAAMA’s voice and

reach in our nation’s capitol.

fAAMA collaborates with our Agency. With the

formal signing of a Consultative

Relationship between the

Association and the FAA in

December, 2011, FAAMA achieved a new

level of collaboration with the Agency.

FAAMA members have an opportunity to

participate in Agency workgroups or serve

in leadership roles where they can influence

a positive outcome that benefits the aviation

community.

fAAMA supplies superb information. There is

a great deal of information

available relevant to what we

do, who we are, and what is

happening within the aviation industry.

FAAMA provides current information

through the award-winning Managing the

Skies magazine, the dynamic Association

website, and through the efforts of

Association leadership. If members have

questions, FAAMA can find the answers!

networking opportuni-ties are unsurpassed. Local FAAMA Chapters provide

networking opportunities that

otherwise may be missed.

FAAMA-sponsored events such as Chapter

Leadership Training and the annual

Gathering of Eagles convention offer a

wealth of networking opportunities both

in local areas and in Washington, D.C.

These five reasons for joining FAAMA

build a strong case for why being a member

is a positive and beneficial experience

for professionals in all FAA lines of business.

Spread the word about the benefits of

FAAMA membership to your FAA friends

and colleagues so that they may have a clearer picture of

what it means to be a member.

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Top5reasons for Joining fAA Managers Association (FAAMA)

The AdvocATe for AviATion LeAderswww.FAAMA.org

The AdvocATe for AviATion LeAders

March/April 2013 vol. 11 no. 2

14 features

08 Leadership in Action: A Dialogue with Mark Ward –

A Man with a Mission

14 Stop the Presses: 2013 NextGen Plan is All Electronic

16 Relocating the San Juan CERAP

18 The US Supports a Collaborative Approach to Improving the Global Aviation System

departments

04 Washington Watch: • FAAMA’s Finest Hour • Letter to FAAMA Members

06 Opinion: The Sequester – A Call for Change

28 Money Talks: Other Ways to Save for Retirement

30 Membership Corner: Does Anyone Really Retire?

31 Spotlight: Deborah “Debbie” (Gannon) Umbaugh

02 Top Five Reasons to Join FAAMA

07 Accountability in Leadership

13 A Baker’s Dozen Space Missions to Watch in 2013

21 FAA Wins International Award for Proactive Safety Efforts

22 IHS’s Jane’s ATC Awards 2013 Acclaim the Best of Breed

23 CANSO Comes of Age

24 Conflict Coaching: • CME Credit Now Available

• Helping Managers Get a Handle on Conflict

26 Do Women Pay Too Much for FEGLI Option “B”

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fAA MAnAgers AssociATion, inc. 888 16th street nW, suite 530Washington, DC 20006-4103tel 202.741.9415 | www.faama.org

MissionWe promote aviation safety and efficiency, advocate for our members’ interests, prepare the managers of today to be the leaders of tomorrow, and support the highest ideals of the Federal government.

officerspresident, David ConleyVice president, stephen smithsecretary, Julie Fidlertreasurer, tom Dury

direcTorsDirector of administration, andy taylorDirector of Communications, anita EngelmannDirector of Legislative affairs, tony tisdallDirector of Membership, David Chappuiesparliamentarian, Vacant Membership Education Committee Chair, hal albertpolitical action Committee Chair, Dan CunninghamCorporate relations representative, Vacantalaskan region, Darla gerlachCentral region, Joyce DavisEastern region, rich bakergreat Lakes region, Vacantnew England region, rick Winchnorthwest Mountain region, Dan Dohnersouthern region, billy reedsouthwest region, Michael (hitch) CombeWestern pacific region, phil Freed

pubLisherKathleen Cummins Mifsud

MAnAging ediToranita Engelmann

sTAff ediTorpam adams

conTribuTorsLouis Dupart, David Conley, J. David grizzle, robert W. poole, Jr., sam silverstein, Jack allen, Mark D. Ward, gisele M. Mohler, hector plaza, teri bristol, Kathleen Cummins Mifsud, Carmen s. Quiles, gail puckett, glenn Livingston, Michael Livingston, and David Chappuies.

iLLusTrATion & phoTogrAphYCover photograph by Jon J. ross, Faa; page 14 illustrations supplied by Faa; and page 16-17 photos supplied by paul Lore, Faa.

designsagetopia, 703.726.6400, www.sagetopia.com

AdverTisingMarshall boomer, sales representative800.501.9571, [email protected]

ediToriAL & subscripTion inquiriesManaging the skies1775 East riviera Drive, Merritt Island, FL 32952telephone: 202.251.0386Email: [email protected]

Managing the skies is a benefit of membership in the Faa Managers association, Inc. to become a member, go to www.faama.org. For all others, the annual sub-scription rate is $49. please address your inquiries to [email protected] and [email protected].

Managing the skies is published bi-monthly by the Faa Managers association, Inc.

the views expressed herein are solely those of the authors and should not be construed to be the opinion of the Faa Managers association. suggestions and opinions expressed in Managing the skies are not necessarily endorsed by the Faa Managers association. nothing in these pages is intended to supersede operators’ or manufacturers’ policies, practices, or requirements, or to supersede government regulations.

© 2013 Faa Managers association, Inc. all rights reserved.

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32 FAAMA 2013 Convention Las Vegas, Nevada

march/april 2013 | maNaGiNG ThE SKiES 3

AbouT The cover: The cover photo by fAA photographer Jon ross was taken during the 2011 sun ‘n fun airshow. The “Trojan horseman” demonstration team (flying North American T-28 Trojans) had just finished their performance and were lined up and taxiing down Lakeland Linder regional Airport (LAL) taxiway f.

T H E A D V O C A T E F O R A V I A T I O N L E A D E R S

Washington Watch fAAMA’s finest hourA message from the executive director

A s i write this, we are once again approaching another fiscal crisis in Washington, D.c. This

time it is march 1, the date the “seques-tration” of $85 billion of discretionary spending will begin unless congress acts. i fear the planned cuts across every agency and Department of the Federal Government will be made; there is no sign that the president and congress will avert sequestration.

This will impact everyone at the Faa through unpaid furloughs, delays in NextGen, and deferred maintenance and collateral decisions to suspend contracts or let pending ones languish.

“demonstrate Leadership – no Matter What comes”Faa chief Operating Officer David Grizzle and Faama president David conley recognize the challenges facing the Faa, which will make an already difficult job with greatly

diminished resources even more complicated. They jointly wrote to each of you on February 12, 2013, to “exhort you during the coming weeks to demonstrate the greatest leadership in your respective organizations, no matter what comes our way.” This is what you do best every day. You take what is thrown at you – bad weather, surging traffic, difficult directives, or old equipment – and you soldier on.

You Will find resolve and solutionsThe nation will be watching you, eager to pounce on your reaction to seques-tration to state that “the sky is falling.” We know when the time comes – the sky will not fall – because you are the leaders who will find the resolve and solutions to weather the impending storm. rest assured you are not alone; you have friends and colleagues on whom you can count to help you run

an operation that maintains the high-est level of safety with the smallest impact possible on your users.

in every crisis, men and women step up to answer the call to duty. Unfailingly, you have never neglected to answer this call. i remain awed by your sense of duty and willingness to serve.

We will weather this storm together as we will other crises in the future. For each and every Faama member, it will tax all of your inventiveness, resource management, and most importantly, your leadership skills. When it is over, we will once again rally together knowing that Faama has lived its finest hour.

You can reach me at [email protected] or at 202.223.8950.

The Advocate for Aviation LeadersLouis Dupart, Executive DirectorFAA Managers Association, Inc. £

“We have been working very diligently in the past year to implement the provisions of reauthorization. a year later, however, we again face fiscal uncertainty and unpredictability.

The sequester is looming, and massive budget cuts are set to go into effect just two days from now… First, almost all of our Faa accounts would be affected. Therefore, this would affect almost all of our employees.

We are looking at all options to reduce costs. We’re looking at a hiring freeze, and at cutting contracts and travel and other items not related to day-to-day operations. But, to reach the large figure we need to cut, we have little choice but to make up the rest through furloughing employees. This is not some-thing that we take lightly.

Unlike a government shutdown, under the sequester, almost all of our employees would be affected,

even what we would traditionally call “essential personnel.” The vast majority of our employees, including “essential workers” would have to be furloughed.

Under sequestration our flex-ibility is very limited because we must cut proportionately from all affected accounts. We can’t move money around and we have limited flexibility to choose what it is that we’re able to cut.

Finally, we have a very short time frame to make the bulk of these massive cuts – about six months. and that means the cuts would need to be deeper to have the same effect as if we could spread them out.

it is my hope, and the hope of everyone at the Department of Transportation that our lead-ers can work together to rally around the improvements that we need for our nation’s air transportation system.

Excerpts from a Feb. 27, 2013 statement by FAA Administrator Michael Huerta before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Subcommittee on Aviation:

FAA Reauthorization – One Year Later

4 maNaGiNG ThE SKiES | WWW.Faama.OrG

February 12, 2013

Fellow FAAMA Members:

You’ve all gotten a lot of communication recently about the possibility of a March 1 “sequester” or “fiscal cliff” event, with forecasts of what the impact will be on individual employees and on the FAA as a whole. We both share your hope that an approach other than sequester will be found to confront our challenges.

As the President of the FAA Managers Association and the Chief Operating Officer of the Air Traffic Organization – and as FAAMA members – we exhort you during the coming weeks to demonstrate the greatest leadership in your respective organizations, no matter what comes our way. Especially during times of uncertainty, those who work for you will look to you for guidance and reassurance.

We are stakeholder-oriented safety organization and it is our responsibility to use all of our leadership and creativity to run an operation that maintains the highest level of safety – with the smallest impact possible on our users. We will be looking to you to find some way, safely, to make it work.

Times of challenge call forth the very best in us. We have great respect for you and great confidence in your abilities. Throughout our history, FAA managers have always shown remarkable leadership during adversity. This gives us confidence that if we end up in a sequester situation, we know that we can count on each of you to lead with commitment to our colleagues, our customers, and our country.

Sincerely yours,

David Conley J. David GrizzlePresident Chief Operating OfficerFAA Managers Association Air Traffic Organization




T he Faa’s reaction to the implementation on march 1st of the 2011 sequester law illus-trates the perils of leaving the nation’s air

navigation service provider – the Faa’s air Traffic Organization (aTO) – embedded in a government agency subject to politically determined budget cuts.

The administration’s marching orders to all government agencies covered by the sequester law (including Faa’s parent, the Department of Transportation) seem designed to inflict maximum pain on the traveling public, in hopes of mobilizing aviation stakeholders, the media, and the traveling public to demand that congress change the law.

i have tried to figure out how a mandated cut of $600 million – under 5% – in the Faa’s $12.75 billion budget (excluding the exempted airport grants program) could possibly require all-hands furloughs reducing 47,000 daily personnel by 10% and the shut-down of 100 low-activity (mostly contract) towers and ending midnight shifts at 60 or more low-activity towers (which should have been done in any case).

This appears to be a classic example of the “Washington monument” strategy of trying to prevent budget cuts by proposing the worst possible method of coping – rather than finding 5% of the budget that could be eliminated or deferred with the least harm.

But that, i guess, is politics as usual. We should not be surprised that the aTc system is once again being held hostage to the vicissitudes of budget politics in Washington, Dc. This has happened again and again – most recently with the partial shut-down of the Faa in august 2011 (due to congress failing to extend authority to collect aviation excise taxes).

There was a previous suspension of aviation taxes in FY 1995, and similar suspensions in FY 1981 and 1982. how many times does this kind of thing have to happen before the aTO’s customers – everyone who flies planes in the system – acknowledge that both the funding mechanism and the governing mechanism are broken and need to be replaced?

This kind of political interference in the safe, orderly provision of air navigation services cannot happen in australia, canada, Germany, the U.K.,

and some 50 other countries. Over the past two decades they have all de-politicized their air naviga-tion service providers (aNSps). Though the specifics vary a bit from country to country, two common elements are (1) direct payments by customers to the aNSp, keeping the money safely outside of the government budget and its annual appropriations process, and (2) arm’s-length safety regulation of the aNSp by the government’s air safety regulator.

The vast majority of these de-politicized aNSps are government corporations, so nobody can argue that the governments of these countries are failing in their responsibility to make sure that air traffic management is done professionally and in accordance with agreed international aviation law (but note that icaO also accepts nonprofit aNSp corporations like Nav canada and public-private partnerships like NaTS in the U.K.).

The case for doing likewise in the United States has been made again and again, starting with a serious proposal from the air Transport association in 1985, and a very detailed plan put forth by the clinton administration in 1994, following initial work by Vice president Gore’s National performance review.

That proposal was embraced by DOT Secretary Federico pena and Faa administrator David hinson, and was introduced in congress by rep. Norm mineta; it had the endorsement of air traffic controllers union NaTca. But it died because of opposition from various aviation stakeholders, as well as powerful house aviation Subcommittee chair James Oberstar. a milder version of this plan, including a bondable user-fee revenue stream, was the unanimous recommendation of the mineta commission in 1997, but it, too, went nowhere in congress (for the same reasons).

Whatever happens with the current sequester law, the ongoing pressures to reduce government spending will be a background condition for federal policymaking for the next several decades. So it’s incumbent upon the customers of the air traffic control system to address the problem, sooner rather than later. The aTc funding and governance system is broken. and it needs to be replaced. Not somewhere off in the next decade, but by the time of the next Faa reauthorization. £

The sequester: A call for changerobert W. poole, Jr. | Director of Transportation Studies, reason Foundation

reprinted with permission from the february 2013 issue of ATC Reform News.

Opinion


W hen we think of leadership and leaders it is only natural to look to business and the military. Successful

companies grow because of high-quality, focused leadership. We all know the stories of the companies that almost went under only to be rescued by the leader who rides in and turns everything around.

likewise, history is filled with stories of great military leaders who led their troops into combat, overcame great odds, and won monumental battles.

leaders show up in many other areas of society. Universities that impact the lives of millions of people have important leaders in place. They design education systems, find ways to bring higher education to a broader base of people and insure the growth of the people who will lead our society moving forward.

high school youth groups have leaders who share a vision of service and community, attract others to the organization, and deliver value to both members and society on a broader basis.

Women’s auxiliary units at hospitals have leaders who understand the needs of families caring for sick loved ones and the challenges that health care providers face. They create an army of people who show up and make a differ-ence in millions of lives.

Great leaders are encountered in all aspects of our life. The one central attribute that ties great leaders together is accountability. Great leaders know what they are accountable for and to whom. They take their

accountability seriously, and communicate the accountabilities in clear concise terms so others on the team can achieve success.

as we all look to grow as leaders in our families, communities, and professionally, we need to stop and remember that our willing-ness to be accountable is what sets us apart. We must also take the responsibility to teach others on our teams and in our lives the importance of and the skills necessary to be accountability masters.

Be accountable! £

About the Author

Sam Silverstein is the author of “no More Excuses” and the founder of the accountability academy®. sam works with leaders who want their organizational culture based in accountability and to grow their organization. he is the international expert on proactive accountability™ and is a past president of the national speakers association. For a copy of his free accountability Zone™ ezine or more information on sam silverstein, please call 1-888-MotIVatE (888-668-4828) or check out the website: www.NoMoreExcuses.org

Copyright © 2012 sam silverstein Enterprises, Inc. all rights reserved.

The one central attribute that ties great leaders together is accountability.

Accountability in Leadership sam silverstein, csp | motivational Speaker, international author & accountability Expert



W hen i flew to atlanta to meet mark, he told me he had already made his selections but to come down to his

office for a talk. That was the best job interview in history, because talking to mark was incred-ibly easy.

Two months later when i arrived to be a Front-line manager (Flm) in atlanta, mark Ward had been selected to serve as the manager of Tactical Operations (mTO) for the Southeastern U.S. later he was selected as the System management (530) Branch manager and served simultaneously in both the mTO and the 530 Branch manager posi-tions at the Southern region Office.

after becoming a Front-line manager, i joined the Federal managers association (Fma). When i attended the first meeting, mark Ward was there. he was a very active Fma member. although not a chapter officer, it was obvi-ous he was one of the leaders. he voiced his opinions and suggestions when we discussed the direction Fma was heading, and eventu-ally Federal aviation association managers association (Faama) evolved from Fma.

mark invested time in mentoring new man-agers, and took a significant role in all Faama atlanta chapter 157 annual holiday parties. he attended association conventions for many years, and for the last three consecutive gath-erings, sat in the front row with our chapter.

mark has continued to be an incredible sup-porter of Faama throughout his career. During

the last three years, atlanta chapter 157 held “The riley and Friends Benefit concert” and mark was instrumental in its success. mark has donated thousands of dollars, dozens of his per-sonally hand-crafted wooden pens, and freely donated personal time by providing free flights in his piper Dakota to the highest bidders. This is a man who supports his beliefs not only in words but also in action.

Eventually, i was transferred to the Operations Support Group at the Eastern Service center. mark was Group manager at the time and finally became my boss. having a more professional relationship with him provided me with a whole new insight to mark Ward.

he takes a great deal of pride in mentoring his employees on both a professional and personal level. i consider him my friend. When i was asked to participate in this article, it was with great pleasure that i took on the role of “interviewer,” allowing me to introduce the rest of you to mark Ward, Director, Eastern Service center.

What inspired you to take on the role of Eastern Service Center Director?

» i was considering retirement when Felix Enriquez (former Eastern Service center Director) announced his own retirement. contemplating the opportunity, i asked myself these questions: if not me, then who? Who has the background to step in here and do this job? is the Eastern Service center going in the right direction? i didn’t feel it was.

it wasn’t in adherence to the model, and i felt we needed to get back to basics and start doing things the way they are supposed to be done. Whether it is right or wrong, i wanted to make sure we are going in that direction. it definitely was more in line with the views of Gus Nezer, central Service center Director, and ron Beckerdite, Western Service center Director, about where we needed to be.

Leadership in Action:A Dialogue with Mark Ward – a Man with a Mission

In December 2000, Mark Ward was the Air Traffic Manager at Atlanta Air Traffic Control Center (ARTCC). I was working as an Air Traffic Controller at Miami ARTCC and was interested in a Front-Line Manager’s position that he had posted.

Jack Allen, eastern service Area Air space

redesign Manager, fAA

FAAMA Interview

It’s really up to the Service Center directors to run the three Service Centers as a whole, and interface

with Mission Support Services and the Vice Presidents at the

Headquarters level.


You told me there was a lot of top-down leadership and you wanted Group Managers (GMs) leading the Service Center instead of just following orders.

» Yes, i wanted Gms to take back the Service center. Originally, the model was that Team managers (Tms) run the groups and the Gms run the Service center. Gms were running the groups and also were managing business in the groups, and they cannot do both.

The manager for Operations Support Group (OSG) could not be the same Branch manager that he had been in the old 530 office (Operations Office). The responsibility was too big and varied. Everything from maine to puerto rico was under one manager – it is just not possible for that manager to be knowledgeable and in the weeds the way the preceding branches had run.

There had to be a different model, and the new model is that Tms take on that role. Tms are the previous Branch managers on steroids. in each of the old divisions, we used to have an airspace Office (520) and a 530 office. in the New England region, the Eastern region, and the Southern region, you had a 520 and a 530 manager – two branch managers in each region, which makes six people.

Today, you have two Tms doing the same job of those six people. They are working the same airspace and the same issues. Today, OSG does the same work that the 520 and 530 branches used to do. it is still the same airspace, but we are down to two Tms and a Gm. The Gm can’t be expected to

know everything. Even the Tms have a struggle knowing everything that is going on in their area of specialization.

So i took the Eastern Service center job with the idea that we would get back to the model and get the Gms engaged at the leadership level, with me taking a back seat and running the service center.

We talk about the concept of one service center in three locations; it’s really up to the Service center directors to run the three Service centers as a whole, and interface with mission Support Services and the Vice presidents at the headquarters level.

How did your past jobs prepare you for the Service Center Director position?

» my background is in air traffic (2152 job series). i used to believe that you didn’t really need to be an air traffic per-son to be the Service center Director. after being here for a year, i realize it’s necessary to be operationally savvy. i don’t know if the background has to be a 2152, but it sure helps.

my boss is lynn ray, Vice president of mission Support, and her whole world is about the operation. if she needs an answer from me as the Service center Director and i’m not a 2152, that means that i have to find the answers someplace else.

Ultimately, if i don’t know who to go to for an answer, my job is that much more difficult. it also takes time, and there never seems to be enough time. i think the job requires a 2152 with facility manager experience.

i was manager of atlanta center for four years with 450 employees. Now, at the Service center, i have almost 400 employees. There is not a lot of differ-ence between the two jobs, except pos-sibly a different mentality, especially in the leadership and management ranks. The facility is in place to run the opera-tion, and we are here to provide staff support to the directors of operations.

As Director, what are you doing to enhance the Service Center and its functions?

» The first thing i did was get out of the way. Within the first few weeks, i brought in the Gms and told them i was going to attempt elevating the perception of the Gms and Tms – not just in my eyes, but also in the eyes of everybody else.

The Directors of Operations: Who are they looking to for support? if they are coming to me to do everything instead of going to their individual Gms or Tms, the focus is off – and that’s what was happening in the past.

The Director of Operations would go to the Service center Director and ask a question that would then be directed to a Gm or Tm; it should be the Director of Operations going directly to the Gm/Tm.

my goal was elevating that and making the new process happen. First, i met with the Gms/Tms and told them we were going to change the way we were doing business. Next, i talked to the Directors of Operations to get their buy in to a new way of doing business.

Gms needed to step up to the plate and start running the Service

LefT To righT: Mark Ward and Jack Allen; Mark Ward and Jack Allen.


For one drowning child, an out-of-towner was at the right place at the right time as he jogged along the Trinity river Wednesday evening in Fort Worth.

after receiving a call about a drown-ing, a diving team and emergency crews rushed to the Trinity river banks to discover a total stranger had already done the job… Jogging along the Trinity Trails, mark Ward – who was in town on business – said he spotted something unusual.

“i noticed there was some commotion going on in the water,” he said. “There were three little heads bopping up and down in the water in the middle of the current.”

Ward said he ran down the hill, took off his shoes, dove into water and swam into the middle of the river.

“i said, ‘Who do i need to take first,’ because they were all drowning,” he said. “There’s no doubt about it, but they were playing toss with this boy trying to keep him above water.” They tossed the child to Ward.

“i grabbed him [and] i put him on my chest,” he said. “i said, ‘You hang on.’ he said, ‘i don’t want to die,’ and he must have said that five or six times.”

Ward got him safely to the river banks as the other two women in the water made their way out of the river… The child and his mom were checked out by medStar and were okay.

center – they needed to start making decisions on how the Service center is functioning. if we are short of money, collectively they need to figure out how we are going to budget. if we are short staffed, collectively they should decide where they are going to set their priorities for staffing.

at the same time, Tms needed to step up to the plate and run the groups. The only way they can do that is if the Gms get out of their way. i have been trying to lead the Gms in getting out of the way and allowing Tms to run the Service center groups.

What method did you use to map out your career?

» There was a tool called appendix 9, which mapped out career progression: if this is the position you seek, this is how to go about doing it.

in my career path, everybody who wanted to progress through the ranks

was first a controller, then an Flm, then a second-level manager, then a deputy, and then a facility manager. i always looked at my career goal as a facility manager. That was all i ever wanted to do.

So appendix 9 laid that out for me. When we did away with appendix 9, a lot of folks struggled to find a path. Where do i go? What is the next step for me? mike mccormick, Vice president of management Services, and his organization have worked on (and may already have implemented) a computer-driven program where an employee can map a career.

For example, if someone wants to be a facility manager, the new program shows the jobs necessary for experience and the training needed. it is being modeled at nine different facilities.

Without access to a formal mapping tool, try talking to people and asking, “What do i need to do for

my career? Where do i go?” always remember that even when you go to someone for advice, it is still your choice. Ultimately, the path you choose is your own personal decision.

People have different views on managing and leading. How did your career path influence your thoughts on the difference between them?

» To me, being a manager is a job. When you manage things, you are try-ing to make things happen because you need them to happen.

leading is a verb. When you are a leader, you are doing it day in and day out. it is doing the right thing when nobody is looking; it is helping people when there is no benefit for you; it is getting away from yourself and trying to give back to the organization; and it is doing the right thing for the right reasons.

Secretary of Transportation’s Valor Award

In October 2009, Mark Ward Received the Secretary of Transportation’s Valor Award “For disregarding

risk to his own life by jumping into a river to rescue a young child who had fallen in.”

excerpt from an August 15, 2009 report by WfAA-Tv, fort Worth

coming to the rescue


leading is really about showing people the way business should and can be done. i am only the kind of leader that i can be. if i look behind me and people are still following, then i think i am doing a pretty good job of leading; if they’re not following, then maybe i am not doing so well.

it is not about mark Ward. it is about what is best for the organization and where we need to go from here.

What are the top three traits of an effective leader?

» have a vision of where you want to take the organization. always treat people with dignity and respect. and the biggest thing for me is to get out of my own way.

i always know that i have 51 percent of the vote, but i don’t want to use that vote. i want the people who work for me to know that they are the leaders of their organization.

Who comes to mind when you think of a great leader?

» let’s look at the organization here. i have looked for people that bring some-thing to the table and people who aren’t just “yes men.”

angela clements, my senior advi-sor, comes from a Technical Operations background, has a strong personality, is not afraid to tell me if i’m wrong, and will let me know if i am going down the wrong path.

That is what i need and this is an example of what it means to be a great leader. i want someone who will chal-lenge me and ask me if this is really the direction i want to go.

Has your leadership style changed from the time you were an FLM?

» Oh, for sure! i was a very inclusive manager, even as an Flm. i tried to ask opinions and get input before i made decisions. i still do that today, but i think that i am a little more open and honest today than i probably was then.

Today, i am willing to tell you, “Yes, that is a good move,” or “No, that’s not a good fit.”

Has your management style changed? Have you always used the “51 percent rule?”

» For a while, i used Quality Through partnership (QTp). my management style hasn’t changed too much other than maybe being a little more trans-parent. i am willing to show my feelings a little bit more and let people know how i feel about a situation.

One of the reasons i was chosen for QTp was that i did not take the position of “it’s my way or the highway” if we couldn’t come to an agreement on how to resolve a situation. Not necessarily con-sensus, but at least get some input from people to decide the right thing to do.

What is your definition of success?

» leaving a legacy was always impor-tant to me, but now i don’t think that anybody really leaves a legacy. What i would like to do is leave the place better than i came into it and change some minds about the organization as a whole.

it is a great place to work, we are paid well, and we should be proud to be working in air traffic. rick Ducharme once said we need to put some swag back into our step. it is about being proud of the job that we do.

What is the most exciting project you’ve worked on?

» Standing up the Service center. i was selected to be the lead air Traffic person to stand up the Operations Support Group, previously Systems Support. i instigated the name change to “Operations Support,” because it seemed to fit better.

Working with Booz allen, Jim Bedow, and laurie Neduski, we set up Operations Support. There were a mas-sive number of interviews. We had to interview people to find out what kind

of work they did, how much they did, their backlog, who they worked with, and what processes they touched.

This ensured that when we set up System Support, nothing was missed. There have been more changes to Operations Support since then. in the original model, the Tactical Team did not exist; but we discovered this need and filled it.

Flight procedures came in a few years after we stood up, so the whole operations support has changed. This was the most exciting project that i ever worked on. it took about a year and half to complete. Now i can look back and say that “i helped build that.”

Back to the career piece – what guidance would you give a technician or a controller who is ready for career progression?

» a couple of different things. i would say their attitude is their altitude. if you want to move up, you need to keep a positive attitude. a positive attitude is going to be seen, and it’s contagious.

You have to set your goals and you have to share them with your manag-ers. Train for it. Get the education for it. Be a good employee. Don’t burn your sick leave unnecessarily. Do things that show you in a positive light.

The most fun i have is going out to the academy and doing the “meet and greet” with new employees. There are 110-150 new students going through their first phase of training. i remember sitting in those very seats when i was in the academy, and the executives were coming in to talk to us.

There is a script that we go by now, but one of the things that i try to find out is how many students have an aviation background. What kind of experience is it? Were they a pilot, a technician, working the lines? What kind of college experience do they have? Where do they want to go with their careers?

These are brand-new controllers who need to start thinking about their attitude today, because your attitude


determines how you progress. it’s really cool for all of the directors to go to the academy and see the 22-25 year-old students who are bright-eyed and moti-vated – we get to have some influence on them early in their careers.

i have had people come to me and say they want to get into management. Sometimes these are people who don’t get along well with others – but then they want to be managers. Why? it needs to be because you want to add something to the organization. it shouldn’t just be about you.

How long have you been an FAAMA member and what convinced you to join?

» Originally, i was inspired by the ability to network and to belong to a

professional organization. i have been a member of the Faama for so long, that i don’t remember when i first joined. although i joined Fma immediately after becoming a manager and before Faama existed.

There have been times when the association may have been viewed as a “union” of first-level managers, but Faama is a very professional organiza-tion. i have been to a lot of conven-tions, and i see them taking on a strong leadership role in the agency.

You’ve been an active member for a long time. At times, being an FAAMA member was not popular. Why have you continued to be so supportive?

» There was a time when people left the organization for a variety of

reasons. When i went to my first con-vention, i was in awe of how well it was run – how well the entire Faama organization was run. i wanted to con-tinue to be a part of it. Even though we have had a few bumps here and there, Faama is still going where i want to see it go.

You’ve always been an Atlanta Chapter 157 member. What are your thoughts on the Chapter?

» When i first joined, i was amazed at the size and level of activity in this chapter. most importantly, it wasn’t just all first-level supervisors. it was all lev-els of management.

coming into atlanta as an air Traffic manager, if chapter 157 had solely consisted of Front-line managers, i might have looked at it but acted differently. But because the chapter was diverse, i stayed in Faama and was active in the chapter.

chapter 157 really has membership from all specialties. it consists of En route, Terminal, Technical Operations, and now the Eastern Service center. all parts are active in this chapter.

Describe yourself in three words?

» Down to earth.

Nice. I think that is accurate too. £

This includes Faa headquarters programs for air traffic rules, policies, and standards for airspace structure, design and allocation; obstruction evaluation; air traffic environmental policy; the management of unmanned aircraft systems operating authoriza-tions; the design and implementation

of area navigation/required navigation performance procedures; air traffic procedures development; instrument flight procedures production/charting; support for litigation and enforcement activities; and aeronautical informa-tion management.

mission Support also is responsible for the Service centers in atlanta, Dallas, and Seattle that provide support to the Directors of Operation in airspace and procedures, quality assurance, equip-ment installation, hiring, and training.

The role of the Mission Support is to provide shared services which promote standardization of processes, efficiency, and effectiveness while achieving results for the five service units: En Route and Oceanic, Technical Operations, Terminal, and System Operations.

Mission Support Services

About Mark D. WardMark D Ward, Director, Eastern service Center, air traffic organization, Faa, was born and raised in Delta, ohio. Mark attended Embry-riddle aeronautical University, receiving a bs degree in professional aeronautics. he also holds an airline transport pilot certificate, LearJet type rating, commercial instrument helicopter, and a flight instructor license.

In 1981, Mark began working for the Faa. During his agency career, he has served as air traffic Manager, operations/procedures branch, southern region; Manager, tactical operations, southeast Us; and Manager, atlanta, air route traffic Control Center (artCC). he also was assistant air traffic Manager, new york artCC; area Manager and supervisor, Chicago artCC; staff specialist, great Lakes regional office; and Quality assurance staff and air traffic Control specialist (atCs),Indianapolis artCC.

Mark’s outside interests include running, woodworking, motorcycles, and flying his 1979 piper Dakota. he ran the inaugural goofy race (you must be goofy to do it) at Walt Disney World – a total of 39.3 miles in two days.


1 NASA’s Mars Maven, a mars orbiter due to launch between Nov. 18 and Dec. 7, 2013 to enable it to orbit the red planet in September 2014.

2 NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Experiment (Ladee), a moon orbiter to study the moon’s transient atmosphere, due to launch aug. 12.

3 NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (Iris) satellite is a sun-studying mission to analyze the flow of energy through our star’s atmo-sphere – scheduled for april 28 or 29.

4 SpaceX Dragon Flights, hired by NaSa to carry supplies to the international Space Station (iSS), will launch march 1 and Sept. 30 from cape canaveral air Force Station.

5 First Cygnus Flights by Orbital Sciences corp., one of two firms with a NaSa contract to deliver cargo to the iSS, will launch from Wallops island, Virginia in February.

6 ISS Crew Launches will lift off from Kazakhstan on march 28, may 28, and Sept. 25.

7 ISS Cargo Launches include (in addition to SpaceX and cygnus) three launches from russia, one from Japan, and one from the European Space agency (ESa).

8 ESA’s Space SWARM Constellation will give scien-tists a 3-D view of Earth’s magnetic field; to launch in april from russia.

9 Canada’s Cascade Smallsat and Ionospheric Polar Explorer (Cassiope) due to launch aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 from california in april.

10 China’s Shenzhou 10 mission will be fifth manned spaceflight from china, taking three astronauts to dock with china’s Tiangong 1 module in orbit.

11 South Korea’s Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV) is a third try to launch – scheduled for January 2013.

12 Indian/French Satellite with ARGos (SARAL)/Ka-Band Radar Altimeter (AltiKa) Satellite, a collaboration between india and France, to study surface height of Earth’s seas from space (ocean altimetry) – due to launch Jan. 28 from india.

13 Suborbital Text Flights by Virgin Galatic’s SpaceShipTwo and a first test flight by XcOr aerospace, a private rocket engine and spaceflight development company, of its lynx suborbital vehicle. Both firms aim to carry passengers in 2014. £

A BAker’s Dozen

space Missions to Watch in 2013National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) space shuttle may be retired, but there is plenty of action planned worldwide – here are 13 to watch:


LAdee vibration Testimage source: nAsA Ames



stop the presses:2013 nextGen Plan is all electronic, offering More Information and ongoing Updates gisele M. Mohler, director | NextGen performance and Outreach, Federal aviation administration (Faa)

T he Faa’s NextGen implementation plan is the annual outreach document chronicling the progress of NextGen, which is perhaps

the federal government’s most expansive, compre-hensive, and complicated infrastructure upgrade since the national highway system.

Just as NextGen is about providing the right information to the right people at the right time, the plan is about delivering the latest information on this effort to the widest audience in the most accessible format.

The plan will be available as a downloadable e-book, easily accessible on mobile and tablet devices as well as desktop computers, and as a full-layout pDF. The move from print to online-only distribution follows cost-saving trends in government and industry communications.

More detail, regular updates Available onlineThe new approach will also provide added value with links to more in-depth information on our public website in some cases. These greater levels of detail on specific topics, as well as links to regu-larly updated material, such as the publication of performance Based Navigation (pBN) procedures, will give Faa employees, contractors, and the pub-lic ongoing access to the most current information the agency has to offer.

For our e-book readers, access to appendix B will be through an online portal that takes full advantage of the capabilities offered by today’s tablet computers.

nextgen performance snapshots (nps)The plan is one of two primary outreach and reporting vehicles for updating the aviation community and Faa employees on the progress we have made while presenting an overview of our plans for the future. The other is the NextGen performance Snapshots ( faa.gov/nextgen/snapshots), a website launched last year to track NextGen performance metrics.

refreshed annually, the plan describes how the Faa is implementing NextGen now. it details

plans for the years ahead and provides the avia-tion community with the information necessary to take advantage of NextGen capabilities. Our international partners will find a summary of our planning timelines in support of the agency’s global harmonization efforts.

highlights from the 2013 planThe latest information on Optimization of Airspace and Procedures in the Metroplex (OAPM) initiative, which has seven active metro-plex sites in or entering the design and evaluation phases. metroplexes are metropolitan areas where several airports are located within close proximity of one another.

Oapm is a fast-track effort to implement pBN procedures and airspace improvements to help air carriers and other types of aircraft operators reduce fuel consumption and harmful engine emissions. By this summer, the first three sites – Washington, D. c., North Texas, and houston – will have entered the implementation phase.

The status of Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) ground station deployment, which surpassed the 500-station milestone in 2012. making use of Global positioning System (GpS) and Wide area augmentation System (WaaS) technology, aDS-B is the NextGen suc-cessor to ground radar for tracking aircraft in the National airspace System.

in 2013, the program is looking toward stimulating aircraft equipage. aircraft flying in designated airspace must be equipped with aDS-B Out by January 1, 2020. To support aDS-B Out, the aircraft must have a GpS receiver as the position source, and a datalink transmitter to actually send the aDS-B data.

A rundown on technology and procedures that are providing benefits to the general aviation community, including performance-based approaches that capitalize on GpS and WaaS technology. These satellite-aided procedures are providing general aviation operators with greater access to more airports, particularly in poor weather conditions.

scan the qr code here to download the latest copy of

the fAA nextgen implementation

plan or go to faa.gov/nextgen/

implementation.

NextGen is as important and complicated a technological undertaking as any upon which the U.S. aviation community has ever embarked. By making the plan digital, ongoing updates can also be accessed on the web and on mobile devices throughout the year as new information becomes available.

nextgen WebsiteThe Faa’s NextGen website also includes a variety of other resources:

}£ NextGen Homepage – brief articles, videos of executive interviews, animations, interactive flash maps and infographics

}£ NextGen for Airports – outlines NextGen benefits for airports and has a downloadable brochure with an online-only section of frequently asked questions about NextGen and airports

}£ Quicklinks – one-click access to documents, including the aviation Safety NextGen Workplan and the airspace and procedures plan

}£ NextGen Videos – videos and animations on topics such as pBN and aDS-B.

Additional nextgen resourcesFaa employees and contractors can also take advantage of the fol-lowing NextGen-related products:

}£ FAA NextGen eNews – a compilation of NextGen-related news items from the past month including coverage of operations, safety, security, capacity, efficiency and environment. The eNews provides an update on what’s new in NextGen, e.g., the latest aDS-B service volumes and new WaaS localizer performance with Vertical Guidance (lpV) procedures. The publication is for the aviation community’s unofficial use. To subscribe, Faa employees and contractors should contact [email protected].

}£ SatNav News – provides the latest information on Faa satellite navigation initiatives that support the aviation community and the general public. SatNav News includes articles on WaaS and the Ground-Based augmentation System (GBaS) program status, operational issues, research and development activities, Faa’s international satellite navigation initiatives, and other topics related to the ever expanding applications and benefits of GpS and its augmentations (WaaS/GBaS). To subscribe, visit http://tinyurl.com/4uyet7n. Send questions or suggest articles to [email protected].

}£ Air Traffic link – faa.gov/air_traffic/details air traffic orders and notices, airport status and delays and state- and airport-specific surface weather observations

}£ Monthly Satellite Navigation updates – formatted as downloadable, searchable Excel spreadsheets of lpV approach procedures are located on the web at http://tinyurl.com/2wc8spf. Data can be sorted by state and airport. The webpage also has links to canadian and European lpVs.

For those working to transform the National airspace System, we welcome your questions at [email protected]. You can also contact us to arrange a NextGen presentation. £

About The AuthorGisele Mohler, Director, nextgen performance and outreach, Faa, has been with the Federal government for 20 years and with the Faa since 2000.

previously, Ms. Mohler managed the optimization of airspace and performance based navigation procedures. she was instrumental in building the Faa Metroplex team construct in response to the rtCa Metroplex recommendations.

she also was Faa Manager of the operational Evolution partnership (oEp) for four years and transitioned that office to the nextgen planning office. other assignments included working in aviation policy, airport planning and in the terminal service Unit.

prior to Faa, she was at the U.s. Census bureau for eight years where she implemented acquisition reform for conducting the Decennial 2000 Census.

she holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, an Mba from Johns hopkins University, and a Certificate of Executive professional Development, Wharton school of business. Ms. Mohler is a private airplane pilot with instrument, land and sea ratings, and owns her own single engine aircraft.


These estimates, through 2020, are highly sensitive to traffic and fuel price forecasts, which has been variable in recent years. In particular, we anticipate that the delay reduction estimate will continue to fluctuate within a range of 25 percent to 40 percent. The estimate aggregates nationwide benefits; local or facility delay reductions may differ.


over the past several months, meetings were held between Engineering Services, air traffic management, National

air Traffic controller association (NaTca), professional aviation Safety Specialists (paSS), and the program office to discuss and implement this control room relocation. This plan called for

establishment of a temporary control room (Tcr) in the south end of the Technical Support Building (TSB).

Using an established set of personnel, equipment, and position requirements, this option was evaluated as being the best choice based on cost, time to implement, and construction feasibility. This option also satisfied the needs of all concerned.

Transition to the new, Temporary Location Was Transparent to ATc customersair Traffic control operations at the new, temporary location officially started on January 29, 2013, at 1155 Universal coordinated Time (UTc). There are no diminished air traffic capabilities as a result of operating from the Tcr and the change was transparent to our customers.

The existing control room in the cErap opera-tions building will remain fully functional during the entire duration of the Tcr’s operation. in the event of a hurricane or other failure in the Tcr, the controllers will be able to move back to the cErap building and continue controlling air traffic as normal, again with no impact to the flying public.

Engineering Services completed the majority of the work with their own personnel to a point that there was little impact to the local workforce or any daily maintenance activities. local person-nel were relied upon for technical guidance from time to time to get this project completed.

They also configured and certified the national air space (NaS) equipment in order to make the Tcr a reality. The development of the Tcr has impacted local technical operations’ daily mainte-nance activities in that they now are maintaining two control rooms.

With the establishment of the San Juan Tcr, it is anticipated that the schedule to com-plete the seismic project can be reduced a great deal. additionally, the impact on air traffic operations and personnel has been extremely reduced, thus allowing for a safer and more hospitable working area.

a great deal of thanks goes to air traffic management, NaTca, resident engineers, techni-cal operations management, and paSS for their support of this relocation and their willingness to accommodate this major disruption to their working environment in order to allow for a more expedient completion of this seismic project. £

San JuanCerAP

relocating the

hector plaza | Staff manager, Faa San Juan cErap

Due to the intrusive nature of an ongoing seismic remediation project at the San Juan (ZSU) Combined Center Radar Approach Control (CERAP), it became necessary to relocate the control room to a temporary location so that construction on the CERAP compound could continue without additional interruptions to the air traffic operation.


The u.s. supports a collaborative Approach to improving the global Aviation system

T eri Bristol, Deputy chief Operating Officer of the Federal aviation administration’s (Faa)air Traffic Organization (aTO) and

recently appointed member at large of the civil air Navigation Services Organization (caNSO) Executive committee (Excom), shares her per-spective on some of the challenges and opportu-nities facing air navigation service providers.

How do you see your role with CANSO?

» it is an honor to join the caNSO Excom at this pivotal moment for the industry. The aTO is a strong supporter of caNSO, and our col-laboration with its members has been a signifi-cant opportunity to address key issues of mutual concern and exchange best practices both in air traffic management and aviation safety. We all have challenges, and collaborative approaches to these challenges can result in harmonized solu-tions. i am looking forward to being a part of those solutions.

Before becoming Deputy COO, you were Vice President of Technical Operations (Tech Ops) in the ATO, leading a unit with more than 10,000 employees responsible for over approximately 55,000 pieces of equipment. What can you tell us about that role?

» it was incredibly rewarding to serve as the Vice president of Tech Ops. This organiza-tion has an impressive diversity of exper-

tise, which is what you’d expect given the vast variety of systems and installations across approximately 8,000 facilities. Their main focus is the delivery of maintenance, monitoring and engineering services in the National airspace System (NaS).

Given the advances in NextGen, they are at the forefront of innovation and collaboration. Tech Ops understands the need for collaboration across the agency to modernize and sustain the system efficiently, something that applies on the international scene as well.

What would be your overview of the FAA’s progress in deploying technology?

» We’ve made significant progress and will continue to do so. We’re more than halfway to our goal of installing automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (aDS-B) ground radios, with over 400 now operational, and we expect 730 deployed by early 2014.

We have over 50 products available through the System Wide information management System, or SWim, including airport Surface Detection Equipment-model X (aSDE-X), weather products, altimeter settings and pilot reports, and more are in development.

We’re making steady progress on deploying En route automation modernization (Eram), the platform that processes flight radar data, provides communications and generates display data to air traffic controllers.

Eram is now operating in some capacity at 11 out of 20 En route centers, and five of them are using it as the primary technology directing high-altitude air traffic. This means that the fly-ing public benefits from these new technologies now and in the future.

as the Faa continues to implement these new technologies and procedures, we’re also working to achieve a greater harmonization of standards, technologies and procedures across international airspace as well.

There are many advances in safety and efficiency developing in the U.S. and globally, but it’s going to require international collaboration and communication to fully benefit from the investments.

reprinted with permission from

quarter 4 2012 Airspace, a cAnso

publication.


How important is international collaboration to the FAA?

» collaboration and harmonization are very important to the aviation commu-nity as a whole. With new technologies and systems being developed and imple-mented, it is even more important for us all to work together to truly realize the benefits, efficiencies and increased safety to the international aviation com-munity and the flying public.

many of the air Navigation Service providers (aNSp) have similar challenges and changes. and that is why caNSO is so important to us all. its philosophy of providing a partnership forum between its members and stakeholders from the aviation industry and governmental and inter-governmental organizations provides opportunities for collaboration.

The work programs and initiatives in the Operations Standing committee, the Safety Standing committee, and the policy Standing committee have resulted in the development of several best practices that have served the industry in a more global approach to finding solutions.

Outside of caNSO our biggest har-monization activity is with the European Single European Sky aTm research (SESar) program. The Faa is continu-ing to work closely on harmonization issues between NextGen and SESar under a cooperative agreement with the European commission.

We’re working to identify and find solutions in areas where we need to be more closely aligned. To date, we have started work in 20 work plans ranging from data communications to safety management.

Earlier this year, the aTO entered into a partnership with the European a6 alliance of service providers to look at best practices and plans moving into the imple-mentation phases of NextGen and SESar. This includes issues like the engagement of air traffic controllers and technicians in the testing and training for new systems and procedures. We have a lot that we can learn from each other, and the fact that we’re all caNSO members helps.

The asia-pacific region is one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world. many challenges for aviation infrastructure are being created by the increasing amount of traffic coming out of china and india and the launch of many new low cost carriers. So we’re very active in working with current and what we hope will be future caNSO members in that region.

The asia and South pacific initiative to reduce Emissions (aSpirE) partner-ship added eight new environmentally friendly city pairs last year. We’re working closely with china and Japan on the planning for their next generation systems; and we are very excited about the recent signing of a cooperative agreement with Singapore and look forward to working closely with civil aviation authority of Singapore on the development of their centre for air Traffic management (aTm) Excellence.

in latin america, we’re working with the caNSO regional office to sponsor and promote initiatives in performance based navigation, operational bench-marking and safety management. This last point deserves emphasis.

The caNSO safety program has been highly successful in outreach to the different regions. The upcoming Global aTm Safety conference in cape Town will highlight the fundamentals of safety management in aTm to a whole new caNSO audience.

Within caNSO, there is an incredible opportunity to work toward success both regionally and globally. as the Executive committee (Excom) champion for the Operations Standing committee, i look forward to serving as an advocate, particularly as we continue to address harmonization opportunities.

Do you see any shared challenges internationally?

» There are shared successes and shared challenges, one of which includes ensuring the integrity of the systems we already have. The aviation community needs to find the right balance between new technologies and sustainment of existing systems at their extraordinarily high level of safety and reliability.

This is a challenge for all of us given the construction of facilities and deployment of technology over many decades. There are physical and techni-cal challenges, not to mention simply retaining the expertise that keeps all these systems going.

These issues must not be only on the systems side, right?

» That’s right. Just like some of our key technology, we have facilities that were built in waves and are pushing or exceeding their planned lifecycle. Our air route Traffic control centers (arTcc) were built in the 1960’s, and during 1990-95 we had a major capital infusion for what became the Display replacement System. So we’re hitting a lifecycle bubble.

The issue can be something as seemingly simple as keeping the chillers going in those facilities so the equipment can keep working (chillers are industrial-grade air conditioning systems). We have redundancy of course – there are four chillers at each arTcc, and two need to work to keep going. So if one stops working, do we replace the entire system, which is not cheap, or repair it and hope we don’t have to do that all over again?

[CANSO’s] philosophy of providing a partnership forum between its

members and stakeholders... provides opportunities for collaboration.


There are so many pieces we have to properly maintain, things you might think of as mundane – fire protection, fall protection on towers, tower integ-rity, buried power cables, fuel tanks.

my boss, chief Operating Officer David Grizzle, says it’s like a roof. You were told it would be good for 15 years. You’ve never had any problems with it. Now it’s been 20 years – do you fix it now or wait until something goes wrong? and by the way, this isn’t just about older systems that are destined to be phased out. Everything that we now have isn’t destined to be turned off. We will rely on legacy systems for years to come.

So what’s the appropriate response?

» in the aTO, we’re creating a 10-year National air Space (NaS) sustainment plan – we call it our Get-Well plan – to correct deferred maintenance on facili-ties that continue to operate. We have already identified our priorities in this area. and given the fact that we don’t have unlimited funds, we’ll have to decide what to keep, what to repair, what to replace and what to shut off.

We are not going to do that in isolation. We can’t make those kinds of decisions without a comprehensive

and pervasive program of collaboration. really, that’s true of any of our initia-tives, definitely including NextGen and the integration of advanced technology among caNSO members. collaboration touches everything, if you want to be effective.

i am looking forward to working closely with the other Excom members in the upcoming year. all of us, inside the Faa and across caNSO and around the world, have to work effectively together as a team to ensure that new systems and technologies are not just implemented, but that they improve the system for us all. £

Collaboration touches everything, if you want to be effective.


T he Faa won a prestigious interna-tional award February 12, 2013, for the work the agency has done to

develop and implement a proactive safety management system.

The Faa was selected as the win-ner of the ihS (information handling Services) Jane’s air Traffic control (aTc) awards in the Service provision award category from among 65 nominees, a record pool of entrants.

according to civil air Navigation Services Organization (caNSO), which hosted the awards, the ihS Jane’s aTc awards have evolved since 2001 to become the industry’s most authoritative and independent platform for recogniz-ing and rewarding excellence.

The win demonstrates that the inter-national community recognizes the giant steps the air Traffic Organization (aTO) has taken to make sure the U.S. airspace remains the safest in the world.

The winner was determined by a panel of judges made up of high-ranking officials from international air navigation service providers and industry groups.

“This award is a great honor for the entire aTO,” said Joseph Teixeira, Vice president of Safety and Technical Training. “By creating, implementing, and operating a multi-faceted and robust safety management system, the Faa is helping to ensure the safety of every single air traveler in the U.S.”

Teixeira pointed out that 2012 was a year of implementation for aTO safety efforts. The aTO implemented many new programs and procedures, including the Top 5, the risk analysis process, and the Technical Operations Safety action program.

“We’re bringing in more safety data than ever before, which is giving the agency a systematic and repeatable way to analyze and take corrective action,” Teixeira said. “With those and the other components of our safety management

system, we’re making sure risks don’t have a chance to remain in the national airspace system.”

“The award recognized an effort that spanned the Faa,” Teixeira added. Safety and Technical Training worked with En route, System Operations, Technical Operations, and Terminal to get the Safety management System (SmS) in place, and collaborated extensively with National air Traffic controllers association (NaTca) and professional aviation Safety Specialists (paSS).

Thanks to its proactive safety management initiatives, the Faa is now able to identify precursors to risk rather than just reacting to specific incidents. That’s allowed for the identification and elimination of minor hazards long before they grow into major safety incidents.

The aTO’s safety management initiative has three major objectives, each of which has led to significant enhancements of safety information and performance:

1. Develop a proactive safety strategy that places data collection, analysis,

and systematic identification and removal of risk as a core organiza-tional value.

2. The Top 5, which commits resources to identify, prioritize, and most importantly, mitigate the top hazards that contribute to risk in the national airspace system each year.

3. implement the air Traffic Safety action program and the Technical Operations Safety action program, which form the largest voluntary safety reporting system in the world.

Together these initiatives have made, and continue to make, demon-strable improvements in air traffic safety. Thanks to that work, the aTO now collects 10 times more data than it has in the past through a broad variety of sources.

caNSO represents the interests of air navigation service providers worldwide, and its members are responsible for sup-porting 85 percent of the world’s air traf-fic. ihS Jane’s is a group of international magazines that cover topics including air traffic control and aviation security. £

fAA Wins international Award for proactive safety efforts


LefT To righT: dave boone, deputy vice president safety and Technical Training, federal Aviation Administration (FAA); Steve Hansen, National Safety Committee Chairman, National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA); Teri Bristol, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Air Traffic Organization (ATO), FAA; Mary McMillan, Senior Vice president Aerospace safety and environmental, Tetra Tech; and, holding the cAnso award, Joseph Teixeira, vice president safety and Technical Training, ATo, fAA.

service provisionFederal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Air Traffic Organization (ATO) For The Proactive Safety Management Initiative

The FAA’s ATO continues to implement a proactive strategy for safety management that focuses on data collection, analysis and systematic identification and removal of risk as a core organizational value; committing resources to identify, prioritize and mitigate the most severe hazards in U.S. airspace; and implementing the largest voluntary reporting system in the world.

Operational EfficiencyAirways New Zealand for Southern Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) Implementation

Southern PBN Implementation project more than doubled airspace capacity at Queenstown Airport, in addition to simplifying controller workload, with average delays falling to a fraction of previous levels.

environmentGE Aviation, LAN Airlines, Peruvian Corporation of Commercial Airports and Aviation, Inc. (CORPAC), Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC) for the Green Skies of Peru Project

Performance-based navigation (PBN) procedures, designed by GE Aviation and implemented by LAN Airlines on the Cusco-Lima route, reduce journey times, cut fuel consumption and reduce CO2 emissions.

enabling TechnologyNATS (Formerly National Air Traffic Services Limited), Lockheed Martin and Altran for predictive iFACTS controller tools

The iFACTS system predicts aircraft flight trajectories and enables tactical controllers to check for conflicting flights up to 18 min-utes ahead, as well as testing “what-if” op-tions for optimizing flight profiles. Controllers gain a predictive capability that improves their decision-making, and enables them to safely handle more flights while also reduc-ing aircraft emissions.

european ATM AwardSESAR JU and its partners for the Updated European ATM Master Plan

The SESAR Joint Undertaking (JU) and its partners successfully delivered the Updated European ATM Master Plan, a work pro-gram led by Eurocontrol with contribution from SESAR members.

innovationInternational Aeronavigation Systems for its Wake Vortex Flight Safety System

The Wake Vortex Flight Safety System gives situational awareness of current and predicted wake vortices for flight crews and controllers. It is the result of several years’ research and analysis work, involving many stakeholders, including Eurocontrol, and the results show significant potential benefit in terms of capacity and safety.

Technology developmentHoneywell Aerospace for the SmartPath GBAS

This was the first Cat I Ground Based Aug-mentation System (GBAS) to receive FAA and international system design approval. It entered operational service at Bremen Airport in Germany in February 2012. United Airlines conducted the first success-ful U.S. domestic revenue flight with GBAS at Newark Liberty International Airport in September 2012.

special Award for outstanding individual contribution to Air Traffic Management (ATM)Martin AdamsAs program manager for Link-2000, Martin is a key figure in the introduction of data link services in high-density en route airspace. Starting his career with communications between trial ground infrastructure and early pioneer aircraft in the 1990s, he progressed to the broad range of issues needed for data link implementation. These included agreement on technical specifications in the standards bodies of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE), validation and interoperability tests needed for certification, and the ulti-mate political achievement of the European Datalink Mandate.

The Winners

InforMAtIon HAnDlInG servICes (IHs) JAne’s AIr trAffIC Control (AtC) AWArDs 2013 ACClAIM

The best of breedT he awards are an opportunity

to celebrate the technical developments, product innova-

tion, safety and efficiency initiatives that result in real savings for airspace users. almost 400 delegates represent-ing air navigation service providers (aNSps), industry bodies, aviation authorities, airports, airlines and regulators, attended the ceremony dur-ing the civil air Navigation Services Organization (caNSO) air Traffic management (aTm) Dinner at the melia castilla hotel in madrid.

“This year our awards attracted a record pool of nominations, highlighting

the extensive efforts underway today to improve safety, efficiency and environmental sustainability in the skies. Not all nominations were lucky enough to be shortlisted, but their high quality contributed to another strong field of entries,” said Ben Vogel, editor of ihS Jane’s airport review. “This reflects the prestige of the event and to the continued importance of innovation and collaboration in civil aviation.”

Jeff poole, director general of caNSO, said: “The ihS Jane’s aTc awards are now well established and are rightly coveted across our industry. This is reflected by both the number

and quality of this year’s entries. i con-gratulate those shortlisted and particu-larly the winners. They demonstrate the innovative mindset, the develop-ment of cutting-edge technologies, and the drive for efficiency and improved performance across our industry.”

around 70 nominations were assessed and shortlisted by a high-ranking panel of judges, comprised of senior officials from the Federal aviation administration (Faa), Eurocontrol, caNSO, the international air Transport association (iaTa), the international Federation of air Traffic controllers (iFaTca) and ihS Jane’s. £

b esides airways, the oth-ers attending this meeting were airservices australia,

NaTS (U.K.), aeroThai, DFS (Germany), austro control, and the aTc administration of the czech republic. From this meeting emerged a fledgling organization called the commercial air Navigation Services Organization (caNSO).

Seventeen years later, caNSO has broadened its membership criteria (and replaced the word commercial with civil), and now boasts 76 aNSps as full members and another 77 technology providers as associate members. The large majority of the full members are self-supporting, commercialized aTc corporations, but the other full members are non-independent aNSps, including the U.S.’s air Traffic Organization.

caNSO’s aNSp members are responsible for more than 85% of the world’s air traffic. The organization has earned its place as the aNSp counterpart to iaTa for airlines, aci for airports, and iFaTca for control-lers in dealing with global aviation policy. in addition to its European headquarters, caNSO now maintains an office in montreal, for interaction with icaO.

Earlier this month, i attended and spoke at caNSO’s first World aTm congress, held in madrid Feb. 12-13. There was some skepticism in the aviation community about whether caNSO, with its U.S. partner aTca,

could pull off a major international conference and exhibition, especially one occurring just a month prior to the long-established annual aTc Global conference upcoming in amsterdam.

But the results convinced the skeptics. Total registered attendance in madrid was just over 5,000, and the exhibition was dazzling. There were 157 exhibitors, mostly as you might expect, technology providers such as airbus, Boeing, GE aviation, lockheed martin, harris, Saab Sensis, Thales, etc.

But in wandering the exhibit hall and talking with people, i counted 14 aNSps with booths, some of them as elaborate (though not as large) as the aerospace multinationals. Why did airservices australia, airways New Zealand, DFS, NaTS, and Nav canada spend the money on such booths and provide knowledgeable people to staff them?

most of the aNSp exhibitors have products or services to sell, based on their growing experience and entrepreneurial ambitions. Sad to say, our own non-commercial aNSp, the aTO, was conspicuous by its absence from the exhibit hall (though it did win one of the eight Jane’s aTc awards, for its proactive Safety management initiative).

Based on the success of madrid 2013, caNSO has already announced its World aTm congress 2014, march 4-6 in madrid. £

cAnso comes of Agerobert W. poole, Jr. | Director of Transportation Studies, reason Foundation

reprinted with permission from the february 2013 issue of ATC Reform News.

The creation of self-supporting air navigation service providers began in 1987, when a reforming Labor government in New Zealand created Airways Corporation of New Zealand, Ltd. By 1995 there were a dozen such ANSPs, and Pete Proulx, the Airways CEO, invited his counterpart CEOs to a meeting in Auckland to discuss common issues and problems.


caNSO creates an international forum for discussion of air Traffic management related issues, where all aviation stakehold-ers unite to develop and exchange ideas in support of global air Navigation Services. caNSO represents the views and interests of members at the relevant international institutions. caNSO sets itself the following objectives:

1. Act as the voice of Air naviga-tion service providers (Ansps)

as the global association of aNSps, caNSO represents its members by coordinating joint positions and speak-ing out on industry issues. caNSO acts as the global aNSp Voice on both regulatory and industry issues and coor-dinates closely with representatives of both sides; (international civil aviation Organization) icaO, international air Transport association (iaTa), (airports council international) aci, and the many regional bodies.

2. support the improvement of global Air navigation service performance

caNSO members are keen to improve the overall performance of the global aTm network. This is achieved through close cooperation between members in the different fields of aNSp business operations. in order to support the development and promotion of best practices, caNSO unites aNSp experts to stimulate exchanges of information and the development of global policies.

3. optimize the effectiveness of the organization

To ensure that an efficient caNSO orga-nization is in place and that appropriate systems and resources are available at all times, members seek a financially healthy association with a close relation-ship between Secretariat and members. The use of the latest communications technology in combination with central coordination from an active and effective Secretariat ensures members remain closely involved in all caNSO activities.



continuing Management education (cMe) credit now Availablecarmen s. quiles | EEO Specialist, alternative Dispute resolution and conflict coaching program,

National EEO policy and aDr, Office of civil rights, Faa

A ll Faa managers must complete a mini-mum of 40 hours of management train-ing every three years. credit toward

completion of this requirement is available for conflict coaching. participants will receive one hour of credit for every hour of coaching com-pleted. conflict coaching has many advantages as a training tool.

A supplement to classroom trainingconflict coaching is a valuable add-on to conflict resolution and other leadership courses. There are a number of agency courses that cover conflict resolution concepts. however, training partici-pants often do not have sufficient opportunity to practice the skills being taught.

rarely is there follow up for the training to ensure training participants are able to apply what they learn to real life situations. Working with a conflict coach helps managers decide which conflict resolution tools are appropriate for a particular conflict dynamic.

Training tailored to individual needsconflict resolution skills seldom come in a one-size-fits-all package. a conflict coach can help a person “try on” different techniques. coaches can assist with role playing and walk through how a technique might work for the manager.

managers will receive candid and non-judgmental feedback from a trained neutral on the possible outcomes resulting from the use of different conflict management strategies.

on time trainingUnlike class training, there is no wait to get train-ing. managers can arrange for conflict coaching when they need or want the help. There is no classroom training involved in conflict coaching.

coaching is arranged on an individual basis on a schedule that meets the needs of the manager and availability of the coach. Sessions are usually an hour and are held telephonically so no travel is required. The number of coaching sessions are dependent upon the issue being discussed and are agreed upon by the coach and the manager.

proactive developmentare you a newly-selected manager waiting for your Front line managers’ course? Do you want to further develop your conflict management competency? There is no need to wait until a class is scheduled to work on conflict manage-ment. conflict coaching is available for managers right now.

Some people are not comfortable handling conflict and avoid it. conflict avoidance can lead to situations that result in complaints of discrimination or other types of employee complaints. Unaddressed conflict can fester and start to poison the work environment.

awareness of personal conflict handling preferences is important in developing conflict management skills. conflict coaches can help managers explore different approaches and develop an action plan to learn more about these approaches.

Waiting until there is a potential or current conflict or complaint is not necessary. The process affords managers the opportunity to work on areas that need development before a conflict becomes an immediate or urgent crisis. Developing the skills in a proactive manner will help increase the confidence and effectiveness needed to manage conflicts early on.

The goal of the managerial conflict coaching program is to assist managers in becoming more proficient at handling and resolving conflict. participation in the program is voluntary. £

for additional information or to request assignment

of a conflict coach, please contact carmen quiles at [email protected].

ConflICt CoACHInG


helping Managers get a Handle on Conflictgail puckett | Former Director, EEO Training institute, Office of civil rights, Faa

T hese situations are not uncom-mon. many of us struggle with potential or ongoing conflict.

ignoring or mishandling conflict can have a long-term impact on morale and productivity. Good employees may flee a toxic work environment. The good news is that help is available.

The Benefit of a Conflict CoachEarly resolution of conflict often prevents a situation from escalating into a workplace dispute. a new tool for managers, conflict coaching, helps managers intervene and handle conflict early. This service from the Faa Office of civil rights can help managers resolve a conflict before it spirals out of control and becomes an EEO complaint.

conflict coaching is a relatively new practice in the field of alternative dispute resolution. it is a practice with roots in the executive coaching field.

however, conflict coaching focuses specifically on an individual manager’s competency as a conflict resolver.

an Faa conflict coach can help a manager understand the underlying source of a conflict, explore resolution options, decide on a plan of action, and prepare for a difficult discussion with the other parties in the situation.

an individual’s conflict manage-ment or communication style can make it difficult to effectively work through the situation. conflict coaches are agency employees trained to ask insightful questions. These questions will help managers explore the impact of their conflict management style and encourage them to consider other, more effective alternatives.

Luck is What happens When preparation Meets opportunityconflict coaches can help Faa managers prepare for a sensitive, uncomfortable,

or controversial discussion. These types of discussions require the type of careful planning that is normal for other types of meetings and discussions. The coaching process helps managers identify options for resolution.

The process also supplies an opportunity for managers to express their thoughts safely and confidentially. Unlike other alternative dispute resolu-tion processes, e.g. mediation or facilita-tion, this is a one-on-one process. it does not require anyone but the individual to participate. The Faa conflict coaching process can also help managers prepare for other dispute-resolution processes involving other persons.

individual conflict coaching is a vol-untary and confidential service designed to help managers not only identify and understand conflict early but also to partner with managers in creating conflict-resolution opportunities. £

+ CHARLES: charles, a new front-line manager, recently attended a briefing about Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) issues. he heard how to be proactive in handling conflict but does not really know how that translates into his interactions with his employees and peers. his manager doesn’t have time to sit down and discuss all of his questions. charles really does not want to ask a lot of questions anyway because, as a new manager, it might make him look incompetent. isn’t it enough to go along to get along?

+ JACI: Jaci really has been trying to reign in her employees. She reminds them of appropriate behaviors for the workplace. When she asks them to stop a behavior, they take it as a joke and continue pushing the limit. She wants to get the message across but wonders how to do so without antagonizing the union representative and alienating her employees.

+ MAC AND CARMEN: mac, on the other hand, gets along with everyone. he avoids confrontations. “Just let me do my work,” is his motto. lately, he is irritated when he comes to work. carmen, his new peer, sends him emails with remarks that rub him the wrong way. To make matters worse, carmen copies mac’s manager on all the emails. he let the first messages slide and thought that would be the end of it. But more messages with a similar tone have followed. carmen points out things that mac has missed and adds comments that make him look bad. it bugs mac that she just won’t stop. he may have to do something about it and is not sure what he can do without losing it. Sometimes mac hesitates and considers doing nothing about it and just wants to look for another job.

how To Work With an FAA Conflict CoachTo work with a Conflict Coach, contact the

Office of Civil Rights, Alternative Dispute

Resolution Manager for your area:

• [email protected] | 609.485.4177 William J. hughes Technical center and Washington headquarters

• [email protected] | 907.271.5291 Western pacific, alaska, and Northwest mountain regions

• [email protected] | 817.222.5034 mike monroney aeronautical center, Great lakes, central, and Southwest regions

• [email protected] | 404.305.5257 Eastern, New England, and Southern regions

ConflICt CoACHInG

26 maNaGiNG ThE SKiES | WWW.Faama.OrG 26 maNaGiNG ThE SKiES | WWW.Faama.OrG

do Women pay Too Much for fegLi option “b”?supplied by allfeDs, a new feDs Partner

T H E A D V O C A T E F O R A V I A T I O N L E A D E R ST H E A D V O C A T E F O R A V I A T I O N L E A D E R S

visit www.fedsprotection.com for federal employee

professional Liability, LeosA / state ccW

protection, fedAdvantage supplemental disability,

and the allfeds Life options available to you. For specific

questions regarding this article, contact dennis

Stephens at 888-330-1790 or via email at dennis.

[email protected].

FEGli Option “B” comparison

F.E.G.L.I.neW feGlI rAtes

effeCtIve 01/01/2012

Top Rated Carriers Annual Savings

YEAR OPTION B$500,000

MALE$500,000

FEMALE$500,000 MALE FEMALE

1 $1,692 $1,500 $1,125 $192 $567

2 $1,692 $1,500 $1,125 $192 $567

3 $1,692 $1,500 $1,125 $192 $567

4 $1,692 $1,500 $1,125 $192 $567

5 $1,692 $1,500 $1,125 $192 $567

5-yr. total $8,460 $7,500 $5,625 $960 $2,835

6 $2,988 $1,500 $1,125 $1,488 $1,863

7 $2,988 $1,500 $1,125 $1,488 $1,863

8 $2,988 $1,500 $1,125 $1,488 $1,863

9 $2,988 $1,500 $1,125 $1,488 $1,863

10 $2,988 $1,500 $1,125 $1,488 $1,863

10-yr. total $23,400 $15,000 $11,250 $8,400 $12,150

11 $6,762 $1,500 $1,125 $5,262 $5,637

12 $6,762 $1,500 $1,125 $5,262 $5,637

13 $6,762 $1,500 $1,125 $5,262 $5,637

14 $6,762 $1,500 $1,125 $5,262 $5,637

15 $6,762 $1,500 $1,125 $5,262 $5,637

15-yr. total $57,210 $22,500 $16,875 $34,710 $40,335

16 $8,058 $1,500 $1,125 $6,558 $6,933

17 $8,058 $1,500 $1,125 $6,558 $6,933

18 $8,058 $1,500 $1,125 $6,558 $6,933

19 $8,058 $1,500 $1,125 $6,558 $6,933

20 $8,058 $1,500 $1,125 $6,558 $6,933

20-yr. total $97,500 $30,000 $22,500 $67,500 $75,000

GuARANTEED 20 YEAR SAVINGS! 69% 77%

Age 50 standard-Plus rate Class

march/april 2013 | maNaGiNG ThE SKiES 27 march/april 2013 | maNaGiNG ThE SKiES 27

i n the commercial marketplace, life insurance rates for men are 30 to 50 percent higher than those

for women due to standard mortality tables. No such rate consideration is afforded women under FEGli Option “B.” This means women are either paying more than they need to or getting less insurance than they could otherwise get in the marketplace.

“Same Benefit” Comparisonin the “same benefit” comparison, you can see that using a $500,000 benefit at age 50, assuming average health, the female employee saves 30 percent ini-tially and 77 percent over twenty years. Note that the male employee would pay 33 percent more than his female coun-terpart but still saves 69 percent over the FEGli Option “B.”

“same premium” comparisonUsing the “same premium” comparison, based on age 45 in good health, for the same initial cost, the FEGli Option “B” provides $500,000 while the commercial carriers would provide $750,000 for a male but $1,000,000 for a woman. That is a 100 percent higher benefit than the FEGli Option “B” provides and the twenty-year savings would still exceed $40,000.

So here’s the question…if your human resources (hr) office came to you and said that they will double your current death benefit, remove the future increases and reduce your twenty year costs by 70 percent – would you be interested?

important to consider More than priceplease note that there are numerous considerations other than price. Women, even more so than men, need to do their research regarding discounts available outside the government. it is not unusual for a female (age 50) to lock in guaranteed twenty year savings of $100,000 or more. That is the equivalent of increasing your monthly retirement income by $400 to $500 per month. £

F.E.G.L.I.neW feGlI rAtes

effeCtIve 01/01/2012

Top Rated Carriers

YEAR OPTION B$500,000

MALE$750,000

FEMALE$1,000,000

1 $1,038 $1,077 $1,045

2 $1,038 $1,077 $1,045

3 $1,038 $1,077 $1,045

4 $1,038 $1,077 $1,045

5 $1,038 $1,077 $1,045

5-Yr. Total $5,190 $5,385 $5,225

6 $1,692 $1,077 $1,045

7 $1,692 $1,077 $1,045

8 $1,692 $1,077 $1,045

9 $1,692 $1,077 $1,045

10 $1,692 $1,077 $1,045

10-Yr. Total $13,650 $10,770 $10,450

11 $2,988 $1,077 $1,045

12 $2,988 $1,077 $1,045

13 $2,988 $1,077 $1,045

14 $2,988 $1,077 $1,045

15 $2,988 $1,077 $1,045

15-Yr. Total $28,590 $16,155 $15,675

16 $6,762 $1,077 $1,045

17 $6,762 $1,077 $1,045

18 $6,762 $1,077 $1,045

19 $6,762 $1,077 $1,045

20 $6,762 $1,077 $1,045

20-Yr. Total $62,400 $21,540 $20,900

Age 45 same Premium

it has long been known that federal employees’ group Life insurance (fegLi), option “b,” better known as FEGLI Option “B,” generally is not a good deal for healthy federal employees – male or female. What has not been widely discussed is whether FEGLI Option “B” is a demonstrably worse proposition for healthy women.


Money Talks Other Ways to Save For Retirementdirect and indirect opportunities That don’t get enough ink glenn Livingston and Michael Livingston | livingston Federal Employee retirement planning


To reach Michael Livingston or glenn Livingston, call

800.752.8992 or visit www.LivingstonFederal.com

registered representatives of INVEST Financial

Corporation (INVEST), member finrA/sipc.

INVEST and its affiliated insurance agencies offer

securities, advisory services and certain insurance

products. invesT is not affiliated with Livingston

financial group, Livingston federal or any government

agency. invesT does not provide legal or tax advice.

#102444-020814.

Besides periodic Individual Retirement Account (IRA) contributions and elective salary deferrals into 401(k) and 403(b) plans, there are other ways to amass retirement savings, some of them often overlooked.

Put Tax Refunds & Tax Savings To Work

if you get a few hundred back from the internal revenue Service (irS), that is not an insignificant sum. You could save it or you could invest it with the potential to compound that money. The same goes for the dollars you save as a result of tax credits or tax breaks.

Relocation Ever thought about living where lifestyle costs are less? moving to a cheaper part of the country might cost you a few thousand dollars, but the long-run sav-ings could end up dwarfing that expense; you could free up thousands of dollars annually toward your retirement savings effort.

as an example, Zillow’s Q3 2012 home Value index showed the median home value in San Jose as $525,000 and the median home value at $356,100 in Boston. a San Jose resident could move to reno (Q3 median home value: $145,700) and a Boston resident could move to Nashua (Q3 median home value: $186,300).1,2,3,4

You could also downsize as you relocate; moving into a smaller residence could free up even more cash.

Rental Income

While property management means occasional headaches even when a third party assumes the duty, a steady stream of income from a rental home or condo may give you another solid way to ramp up your savings efforts.


ciTATions

1 www.zillow.com/local-info/Ca-san-Jose-home-value/r_33839/ [11/20/12]

2 www.zillow.com/local-info/Ma-boston-home-value/r_44269/ [11/20/12]

3 www.zillow.com/local-info/nV-reno-home-value/r_13478/ [11/20/12]

4 www.zillow.com/local-info/nh-nashua-home-value/r_33031/ [11/20/12]

This material was prepared by MarketingLibrary.net inc., and does not neces-sarily represent the views of the presenting party, nor their affiliates. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however we make no rep-resentation as to its com-pleteness or accuracy. please note – investing involves risk, and past performance is no guar-antee of future results.

The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. if assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional. This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalty.

This is neither a solicitation nor recommendation to purchase or sell any investment or insurance product or service, and should not be relied upon as such. All indices are unmanaged and are not illustrative of any particular investment.

Redirecting Some Of Your Inheritance

if you receive any kind of wealth, think about assigning part of it to your retirement strategy. in fact, this is a good idea for any kind of sudden wealth you come into, whether it comes from a relative, a settlement, a casino, or simply your own talent and initiative.

Sell Products Or Services, Not Simply Your Time

most people sell their time for money. One of the characteristics of the wealthy is the entrepreneurial ability to sell products and services with a value indirectly related or unrelated to a time investment. consider what products or services you could sell to make more money and build greater retirement savings, with the possibility of positively altering the way you work and live. The start-up costs of such a move may be less than you think.

Stay Healthy

hospitalization costs can be a real setback for retire-ment savers. Good health (indirectly) pays off as we age. reasonable daily exercise and smart eating may help to reduce the risk of major hospital, drug, and therapy expenses between now and retirement.

Halt Or Modify Some Recurring Discretionary Expenses

Do you really need cable? Do you have to belong to the most opulent health club in town? must you have season tickets? Fewer such expenses today can translate to additional money you can invest and save for your future.

Refrain From Picking Up Your Child’s College Costs

if you started a college savings account long ago, that’s a different story; you have already dedicated money for this purpose. if you haven’t, remember that no one offers “retirement loans” or “retirement financial aid.” Your son or daughter may have a decade or longer to repay a college loan, and their incomes may rise significantly during that time. if you elect to pay some of their tuition or housing costs, you have comparatively fewer years to recover from the impact of those expenses. Encouraging self-reliance can lead to you retaining more of your savings for the third act of your life. £



Membership Corner does Anyone really retire?by david chappuies | Director of membership, Faama

Spotlight on an Aviation Leader

Professional ProfileCORRECTION: The first line of the “Membership Corner” article in the Jan./Feb. issue of Managing the Skies should read: “As a recent retiree, I thought it would be useful to update FAAMA members about how the process is working for me.”

L et us pick up where we left off last issue. have you wondered what is happening to Dave’s

retirement? Will he get full pay? how many facilities put up those Faama display boards? Did he win the lottery and move to Bora Bora?

Since my last article, i received my third and fourth interim checks, December 29th and January 30th. On February 19th i received my back pay, and lo and behold, on February 27th, i received my first full retirement check.

opM deserves creditit is noteworthy to point out an issue that could have saved a month in the process. in late December, the Office of personnel management (Opm) mailed me a form to fill out. however, the form went to my Florida address while i was busy traveling around the country telling people i was retired. after about a month, Opm emailed to ask when i was going to return the form so they could finish my paperwork. The process would have been a month shorter if i had not missed the Opm letter. my first ever “ripley’s award” is going to Opm for getting this retirement process down to a reasonable four months.

From this point forward, i will be working for Faama full-time. a busy January included the birth of my first

grand-daughter, rowan, born on my wife’s birthday. as many of

you know, i moved to Tampa to enjoy the weather and par-

ticipate in alligator wrestling

competitions. however, three of my daughters live in Salt lake city, includ-ing the mother of the aforementioned rowan. Does anyone see where this is going? Needless to say, i am back in california packing for the move to Utah – but keeping the Tampa place in the hope i will be able to visit.

success in seattle!During the week of February 4th, i made a trip up to the beautiful Seattle area to recruit for Faama. all Seattle chapter 301 officers are located at the Service center. chapter 301 officers – Bob Kitson, president; Tom Quick, Vice president; pam hamre, Treasurer; and Joy Krison, Secretary – were a great help. They held a meeting offsite and a Faama corporate partner, livingston Financial Group, presented solid retire-ment planning advice.

Seattle center did not have much participation and needed a chapter. my plan was to recruit all week, adding a new chapter. By the end of the week, we had successfully recruited 20 new Faama members and started Seattle center chapter 300. mark Kuck, a recent trans-feree from los angeles center, played a big part in making this happen. he is a dedicated Faama member who wants Seattle center to have a strong presence – thanks to mark for helping set up Faama’s new Seattle center chapter 300!

first ever fAAMA chapter Officer Training On February 9th, Faama held the inau-gural one-day chapter officer training event, covering everything from by-laws to writing chapter minutes. This new concept is the brainchild of andy Taylor, Faama Director of administration. We’ll be holding chapter officer training days regionally, inviting any chapter officers who wish to attend.

Faama officers and board members attending included: David conley, president; andy Taylor, Director of administration; Julie Fidler, Secretary; Dan Dohner, Northwest mountain regional Director; and me. chapter officers attended from Oakland center, alaska center, Salt lake center, Southern california Terminal radar approach control Facility (TracON), and both Seattle chapters.

Three of the four new Seattle center chapter 300 officers were sworn in by Faama president David conley: mark Kuck, president; ryan Westbrook, Vice president (unable to attend); Sean clements, Treasurer; and rachel Brandt, Secretary. Big congratulations to the new chapter 300 officers!

Leadership in Los Angeles + More MembersJames Kemper and John Kasel, los angeles chapter 262, invited me to attend a February 25th adaptive leadership class. after arriving, harrell cooper was a great help in encouraging people to attend an after-hours social. Once again, livingston Financial Group was there to answer member questions on retirement planning. Of the 14 people attending the social, nine were non-members. i’m proud to report that eight are now Faama members!

On march 2nd, los angeles center chapter 372 held a quarterly meeting with Tony Tisdall, Director of legislation; rich Baker, Eastern regional Director; and me attending. Tony and rich talked to the group about the legislative climate. Thanks to Steve Johnson for maintaining such an active chapter!

What’s next? i have many cities to visit on my list for 2013. if you or your chapter would like a visit, please send me an email at [email protected]. £

UmbaughSpotlight on an Aviation Leader

Professional Profile

deborah “debbie” (gannon) umbaugh

debbie started her aviation career by joining the U.S. Navy as an air traffic controller in 1979. she felt fortunate to have been assigned

to Naval Air Station (NAS) Mirimar (NKX) for her first duty station. This afforded her the opportunity to par-ticipate in several Top gun launches and recoveries.

At the time, san diego Approach control was in the same building as the u.s. navy controllers. This was her introduction to federal Aviation Association (FAA) air traffic control – a first look at how the civilians ran traffic. She witnessed firsthand the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (pATco) strike.

her next assignment was at the u.s. navy radar Approach Terminal control facility (rATcf) school, before being stationed at nAs bermuda (bdA) in June 1983. Bermuda was an approach control facility that worked all the air carrier and civilian traffic, as well as military. her last duty station was nAs oceana (nTu), which was also an approach control facility.

In 1989, Debbie joined the FAA and attended the screen in oklahoma city, oklahoma. After the academy, she was assigned to Jacksonville Air route Traffic Control Center (ZJX ARTCC) as a brand-new developmental. While at ZJX, she joined National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). She later transferred to gulfport, Mississippi (gpT) in the fall of 1993, where she reached full-performance level (fpL).

in May 1997, debbie transferred to charleston, SC (CHS). During her time at CHS as a Certified professional controller (cpc), she has served on the nATcA executive board as secretary/Treasurer. Debbie has been influential in the training of past and future Certified Professional Controllers.

in the past two years, she has seen the introduc-tion of nextgen Area navigation (rnAv) standard instrument departures (sids) and standard Terminal Arrival routes (sTArs), as well as rnAv Approaches to chs and satellite airports.

in december 2012, debbie was selected as a temporary front Line Manager (fLM) at chs. At chs, she considers herself to have been fortunate to mentor under Stephanie Faison (Air Traffic Manager), Sonya busch, and Kali Young (front Line Managers). Their experience, advice, and assistance has been invaluable, and debbie credits them for sharing their knowledge with her and helping her to progress in her career.

debbie has been selected for a position as a permanent fLM/operations supervisor at columbia, sc (cAe); she is anticipating completing the move and being transitioned by the end of April 2013.

“i joined the fAA Managers Association (fAAMA) within the first two weeks of becoming a temporary front Line Manager. during a visit to the Atlanta Regional Air Traffic Oversight (AOV) Offices in december, i met Anita engelmann (fAAMA director of communications). she asked me if i planned on join-ing fAAMA. At the time, i was not familiar with how being a FAAMA member would be beneficial to me. After talking with david chappuies (fAAMA director of Membership), i decided to join. having been active in NATCA, I find comfort in knowing that FAAMA will help keep me informed and fight for me on legislative issues. i look forward to networking and learning from my peers as i embark on my management career path.”

debbie was born in rochester, Minnesota, to parents originating from the state of 10,000 lakes. she grew up in a military family and lived coast to coast. Her father was in the aviation field both in the military and in contracting during his career.

she attended several schools in california, florida, Virginia, South Carolina, and Missouri finally graduat-ing from saint charles high school in Missouri. her father retired from the u.s. navy in charleston, south carolina, and went on to work for Mcdonald-douglas (now boeing) in st. Louis, Missouri.

outside of the fAA, debbie enjoys spending time with her adult son brent and friends. she enjoys traveling, bowling on leagues, going to the movies, dining with friends, or taking in the sights of historic charleston, south carolina. £

» interested in More information?

ricarldo “ricky” Washington is the president of Debbie’s local FaaMa Chapter. For more information on this chapter, please contact him at [email protected]. billy reed is the regional Director for this Chapter.

For general membership information, please write to [email protected].

Front Line Manger, Charleston Airport Traffic Control Tower (ATCT), South Carolina

save the date! OCT 27-31

2013

FOCuSED on SuccessF u T u R I S T I C

O P T I M I S T I C

C O L L A B O R A T I V E

u N I T E D

S T R A T E G I C

E N G A G E D

D Y N A M I C

The 33rd Annual Gathering of Eagles promises to be another memorable gathering for the FAA Managers Association, celebrating our success as a growing and influential Association.

as in the past, the 2013 Convention will give members and guests an

unprecedented opportunity to visit old friends and make new ones;

to recharge and refocus energy; and to move on to the next challenge

supported by some of the best leadership training available.

the 2012 FaaMa convention in orlando provided wonderful facilities,

and set the bar for high quality training and representation by top

aviation industry executives. the theme was appropriately captured in

spirit and content, and packaged in an efficient and effective manner.

Visit our site for the latest information: WWW.FaaMa.org

THE SOuTH POINT HOTEL CASINO & SPA LAS VEGAS FAAMA Managers Association / 33rd Annual Gathering of Eagles / Convention & Training Conference

ross leadership in action...the advocate for aviation leaders march/april 2013 vol. 11 no. 2 14...

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