Newsroom
Union Members Feature: Utility Workers of America
NATCA continues to highlight our union sisters and brothers who are also essential contributors across our nation’s workforce, and also AFL-CIO affiliate unions. Today we highlight and thank our siblings of the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA). UWUA represents over 50,000 members working in electric, gas, water, nuclear, call center, renewable energy, and related…
NATCA Office Staff Employee Spotlight: Tom Adcock
We have an amazing National Office staff that our membership can be very proud of. They work hard every day and are committed to providing our members with the very best service and representation in organized labor. Today, we feature Director of Safety & Technology Tom Adcock. Thank you for all you do, Tom! Where…
Colorado Springs Members Participate in Labor Day Lift Off
Every Labor Day, roughly 70 hot air balloons float effortlessly over the beautiful Colorado Springs landscape during the Labor Day Lift Off. Colorado Springs ATCT (COS) members also work seamlessly to advise all arriving and departing aircraft about the hot air balloons, the general direction they are located, and how far away they are from…
NATCA Insider Archive
- August 25, 2021
- August 10, 2021
- July 16, 2021
- June 29, 2021
- June 11, 2021
- May 28, 2021
- May 9, 2021
- April 22, 2021
- March 29, 2021
- March 15, 2021
- February 27, 2021
- February 6, 2021
- January 16, 2021
- December 9, 2020
- November 24, 2020
- November 11, 2020
- October 28, 2020
- October 16, 2020
- October 2, 2020
- September 11, 2020
- August 22, 2020
- July 31, 2020
- July 20, 2020
- July 12, 2020
- June 30, 2020
- June 18, 2020
- May 21, 2020
- May 14, 2020
- May 7, 2020
- April 24, 2020
- April 17, 2020
- April 10, 2020
- March 3, 2020
- February 11, 2020
- February 3, 2020
- December 31, 2019
- December 9, 2019
- November 26, 2019
- November 13, 2019
- November 1, 2019
- October 16, 2019
- September 13, 2019
- September 3, 2019
- August 19, 2019
- August 7, 2019
- July 23, 2019
- July 12, 2019
- June 24, 2019
- June 7, 2019
- May 9, 2019
- April 19, 2019
- April 5, 2019
- March 21, 2019
- March 8, 2019
- February 22, 2019
- February 2, 2019
- December 20, 2018
- November 30, 2018
- November 19, 2018
- CFS Recap 2018
- October 19, 2018
- October 5, 2018
- September 21, 2018
- September 7, 2018
- August 24, 2018
- August 10, 2018
- July 27, 2018
- July 13, 2018
- June 22, 2018
- June 11, 2018
- May 25, 2018
- May 11, 2018
- April 13, 2018
- March 31, 2018
- March 16, 2018
- March 2, 2018
- February 16, 2018
- February 2, 2018
- January 19, 2018
- January 5, 2018
Press Releases
Veteran Air Traffic Controllers Rich Santa and Andrew LeBovidge Take Office as New NATCA President and Executive Vice President
WASHINGTON – For the first time since 2009, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) has a new president leading the Union that represents nearly 20,000 highly skilled air traffic controllers, engineers, and other aviation safety-related professionals. Rich Santa (pictured at left), a veteran air traffic controller from Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZDC),…
NATCA CONGRATULATES LIZ SHULER AND FRED REDMOND ON THEIR ELECTION AS AFL-CIO PRESIDENT, SECRETARY-TREASURER, RESPECTIVELY
WASHINGTON – National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Paul Rinaldi today issued this statement congratulating Liz Shuler and Fred Redmond, who were unanimously elected today as President and Secretary-Treasurer, respectively, of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), by the organization’s Executive Council. Rinaldi is a Vice-President, serving on the AFL-CIO…
NATCA Mourns Tragic Loss of Richard Trumka
WASHINGTON –National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Paul Rinaldi, who also serves as a Vice President on the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council, issued the following statement on the sudden and tragic passing of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: “The nation has lost a truly iconic figure. The labor movement and working people across this country have…
Congressional Testimony
NATCA President Paul Rinaldi’s Testimony Before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation
Hearing entitled, “Aviation Infrastructure for the 21st Century.” June 23, 2021. Watch the hearing and learn more here.
Podcasts
But Wilkins is passionate about training and developing his base of knowledge in as many different ways as he can to be prepared for challenging situations. That includes researching air safety investigations in his spare time, looking at how past NATCA Archie League Medal of Safety Award-winning controllers handled situations, watching YouTube instructional videos of VFR pilots encountering IFR conditions, and learning about the dangers of pilot vertigo in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC).
“You watch a video and think, ‘well, what would I do? Would I know to say that? Would I know to think about this?’ So I really fall back on those replays,” said Wilkins, who said one of the most important things he learned from watching other Archie League Award event replays is the importance of being calm on the radio, as it helps keep the pilot calm and focused. “If I was a pilot, I would think, ‘if that was me, what would I want to know, and what would I want somebody to say to me before I did this?’ The worst thing you hear about is people getting disoriented and flipped upside-down. The likelihood of getting disoriented in clouds if you’re not used to it is pretty high.”
That was the situation a Cessna 150 pilot faced in Wilkins’s airspace as he flew in solid IFR conditions near the boundary of Kansas City Center (ZKC) airspace, between Oklahoma City approach control and Tulsa approach control. He was lost, definitely under stress, and sought help through the Guard radio frequency. He ended up talking to a Southwest Airlines pilot who was trying to figure out where he was.
Listen as Wilkins and fellow ZFW controller Chris Clavin talk about this event, for which they both will receive the Archie League Medal of Safety Award for the Southwest Region on Aug. 11, 2021.
Listen to every episode of The NATCA Podcast here:
NATCA in the Media
Tampa Bay Times: Tampa airport’s ‘deteriorating’ control tower must be replaced, Castor says
Not long ago, the elevator and air conditioning went out in Jen McCoy’s office building. That’s a headache, but in a nearly 50-year-old facility, these things happen. What’s notable is where McCoy works: The air traffic control tower at Tampa International Airport. “Twenty flights of stairs in this kind of heat is no fun,” said…
FOX Charlotte: How Sept. 11, 2001 unfolded from the perspective of the man who ordered ‘every plane in the air to land’
(FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) – Four hijacked planes took over the sky above America on September 11th. Watching everything unfold from in front of a radarscope were thousands of air traffic controllers. 9/11 was a day every contingency came together in tragic cross-country harmony for controllers, including Mark Di Palmo. “Exactly what was happening with the…
Grand Forks Herald (N.D.): Letter to the Editor – Infrastructure bill will help North Dakota airport projects
View on Grand Forks Herald website here. By NATCA GFK member Garrett Petersen As an air traffic controller, constituent and member of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association in North Dakota, I’d like to thank Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., for his vote in support of the bipartisan infrastructure bill that recently passed in the U.S….
