Newsroom
Celebrate Giving Tuesday by donating to NCF
Started in 2012, GivingTuesday has become a day when millions of people do good by making contributions to nonprofits serving their communities. NATCA members can join the effort and give through the NATCA Charitable Foundation (NCF). NCF is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation that works to make a difference in the lives of many. NCF’s philanthropic…
Happy Hanukkah from NATCA!
To all of our NATCA brothers and sisters celebrating Hanukkah this week, we wish you peace and happiness. Happy Hanukkah! The AFL-CIO has information about how you can include union-made-in-America recipe ingredients and drinks in your holiday celebrations. The sources of this information include our union brothers and sisters in the Machinists (IAM), United Farm Workers (UFW), the United Food…
Happy Thanksgiving from NATCA!
We want to take a moment to express our thanks for so many things this week as NATCA members and staff celebrate Thanksgiving in our homes as well as in break rooms and common areas with our colleagues. Thank you to our 16,000 dues-paying members, who have continued throughout the global pandemic to provide the…
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
NATCA Statement on House Passage of Landmark Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
WASHINGTON – Rich Santa, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), which represents nearly 20,000 aviation safety professionals, issued this statement after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the landmark Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA): “This bipartisan infrastructure legislation is not only great news for the country, but also very significant…
NATCA Strongly Supports Aviation Funding Stability Act of 2021, Passed Today Out of the House T&I Committee
WASHINGTON – The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) strongly supports H.R. 4042, the Aviation Funding Stability Act of 2021, passed today by the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I). The bipartisan bill, which has widespread aviation stakeholder support, would authorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to draw from the Airport & Airway Trust…
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),…
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
Plane & Pilot Magazine Story Details ZSE Members’ Flight Assist Which Earned Them 2020 Archie League Award
NATCA’s 2020 Northwest Mountain Region Archie League Medal of Safety Award winners are featured in the latest issue of Plane & Pilot magazine. The story, written by Bradley Sunshine, details how Seattle Center (ZSE) members Josh Fuller, Byron Andrews, Brian Hach, Ryan Jimenez, and Michael Sellman worked together for two hours to save Idaho Cessna…
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…
