NGL April 2021 Update

MESSAGE FROM DREW

Brothers and Sisters,

I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy.

I wanted to start off this months update, by letting you know that the nomination period for NATCA National elections has ended. I was nominated for the Great Lakes Regional Vice President again, and was the only nominee for the position, and I have accepted the nomination. I am honored to serve each and everyone of you as your RVP. I can’t begin to thank you for your support and dedication to our profession during these very difficult and trying times. More information on the national elections are included in this update below.

As most of you are aware, the Great Lakes Region and the Nation is seeing a spike in COVID confirmed cases. Now more than ever, we must continue to ask that everyone follow guidelines and requirements for mask and other PPE usage, and please continue to wash your hands and use sanitizer when appropriate. It is not the time to let up, or let our guard down. Together, lets get through this!

In the past several weeks, we added three more facilities to the list of those getting daily Routine Level 3, or RL3 cleanings in our region (AZO, GFK and RFD). AZO has completed their seven day oversight period with no issues. GFK and RFD are set to begin their RL3 cleanings in the next week or so. Nationally, the RL3 cleaning process has greatly reduced the need to modify facility operation status when a confirmed COVID case happens in a facility. We continue to assess each and every facility from a National level and will add more facilities to the list of those getting RL3 cleanings as we are able to.

I hope everyone has a great month of April!

Leave Restored

The Parties at the national level have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding the implementation of Section 1111 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) enacted on Jan. 1, 2021.

Section 1111 of the NDAA provides for an increase in annual leave carryover limits to 125 percent of the normal carryover amount (from 240 hours to 300 hours) for the leave year that ended on Jan. 2, 2021.

The Agency will utilize a two-step process for identifying eligible employees and restoring leave: Step 1 – Regular Annual Leave Restoration and Step 2 - NDAA Annual Leave Carryover.

Check your e-mail from NATCA National for additional information.

The members listed below have been nominated for office (nominations are listed in the order in which they were received). Nominees will be officially notified of their nomination. Nominees may only accept nomination for one office. Nomination acceptances are due by 5:00 p.m. EDT on April 30, 2021. Instructions for accepting a nomination will be included in the official notice of nomination.

President:

Rich Santa

Executive Vice President:

Andrew LeBovidge

Jamaal Haltom

Regional Vice President, Alaskan Region:

Clint Lancaster

Regional Vice President, Central Region:

Aaron Merrick

Regional Vice President, Eastern Region:

Brian Shallenberger

Regional Vice President, Great Lakes Region:

Drew MacQueen

Regional Vice President, New England Region:

Mick Devine

Regional Vice President, Northwest Mountain Region:

Alex Navarro

Regional Vice President, Southern Region:

Rossano Costa

Jim Marinitti

Regional Vice President, Southwest Region:

Nick Daniels

Cory Hajicek

Regional Vice President, Western Pacific Region:

Joel Ortiz

Regional Vice President, Region X

Brad Davidson

Patrick Massie

Mother's Day

The Great Lakes Region would like to feature all of our members who are moms.

Please submit a photo (label photo with the same name you use in the form) of you and your kids by pressing the links below.

Mom's fill out this form

Submit photos here

AROUND THE REGION

Facility Spotlight; Fort Wayne, IN (FWA)

Fort Wayne has 26 controllers and 1 staff specialist. They are a level 5 up/down with a class C airspace and several satellite airports. FWA is 100% Natca!

FWA has a wide variety of traffic including commercial, corporate, and GA. The 122nd Indiana Air Nation Guard is stationed at the airport who fly A10's known as the BlackSnakes. There is an airshows for the community every few years that have included the ThunderBirds. Flights are frequently seen from several surrounding flight schools including Purdue, Lift academy, Bowling Green, Western Michigan, and OSU. FWA is also home to the last flying F100 Super Sabre in the world.

Surrounding approaches are Great Lakes, Toledo, Columbus, Indianapolis, Grissom, and South Bend. FWA falls under 3 center airspaces; Chicago, Indianapolis, and Cleveland.

Fort Wayne is a great city to live in. It has many big city benefits with a smaller town feel and is growing rapidly. Last year, FWA was facility of the year in part due to their donations to local charities in the area along with training and military support.

NATCA is very important at the facility because of the ever changing work situations. A small low staffed facility with lots of training, makes for many challenges. The changing training requirements take a lot of collaboration to make sure implementation is successful. This also means many CPCs eventually move on to larger facilities. Helping them reach their goals is important.

Photos taken by Jeff Hofmann

April is the Month of the Aviation Child - this month-long celebration acknowledges the FAA employees whose children may one day follow in their footsteps and become the aerospace professionals across many disciplines.

Learn more about WorkLife Program and services designed to help you with your work-life balance and read more features like this at

my.faa.gov/go/Aviation_Child

Jake Neu is an Air Traffic Controller at Minneapolis ARTCC (ZMP) for over 11 years, in addition to serving on the childcare center’s Board of Directors for the last 4 years.

"My wife and I consider the FAA childcare facility at ZMP as possibly the best benefit we receive. Even before the pandemic, having a childcare facility with the flexibility and hours to cover our crazy schedules has been a godsend.

We have 2 children, Charlie age 7, who attended until he started kindergarten and then did distance learning in the spring of 2020, and Will age 4 who attends 3 days a week.

Having a childcare facility next door, with operating hours to support our FAA staff, makes one less thing employees of ZMP have to worry about.

The childcare benefit is so important to our family, that I have volunteered and served on the child care center Board of Directors for 4 years, and I have been the Board president for 1.5 years. " - Jacob Neu

Learn more about our child care programs here

Spouses can join the conversation in NATCA Families.

Have them join here, they will need your membership number for verification.

If you have a story to share about being an aviation family, e-mail Jennifer Malloy [email protected]

Meet Jenny Benjamin, APA

"My name is Jenny Benjamin. I am a passionate athlete, loving mother, military spouse and an air traffic controller working at Denver Centennial Airport (APA). I am sharing my life and journey to finish Ironman Florida in order to raise money for NATCA Charitable Foundation with portions of the proceeds to benefit the Dare2tri Organization. I am not a professional athlete, but I put in hundreds of miles of swimming, biking and running, all while balancing work and family. I am just an everyday person that is making it work, one day at a time. Becoming a successful athlete doesn't happen overnight, and I plan to put in more than 5,000 miles before race day. I would love your support and camaraderie over the next few months."

Learn more about my journey here:

https://e.givesmart.com/events/hOe/

Meet Kelly Pugh, ZAU

Hi! My name is Kelley, air traffic control trainee at ZAU. Born and raised in Zeeland, MI. My favorite hobby is cycling. I started with indoor cycling for fun and became an instructor shortly after for multiple fitness boutiques over the last 7 years. I’m currently working with Cyclebar at a few of the Chicago suburb locations (come join me anytime!). I’ve also dabbled with downhill mountain biking but now just enjoy the trails in the local area around Geneva. I also love my Peloton and use that multiple times per week. Exercise is such a passion of mine and I love to share that joy with as many people as I can!

Event Details

COMMITTEE UPDATE

NGL Legislative Committee

April 27th & May 4th, 12:00 pm EST

"Building Relationships on Capitol Hill: Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask".

NATCA in Washington

October 4th - 6th, registration will open in late summer 2021.

Learn more here

NGL Safety Committee

As our traffic numbers increase over the coming months, so should our awareness, our attention to detail, and our communication skills. Get help when you need it. Stay ahead of the problem and be ready for those busy periods. Remember, we are all on the same team and on this team, safety is first! Trending in the Great Lakes for ARTCC: Sector volume/resource management; Hearback/Readback Errors; Not following procedures. Tower/TRACON: Late hand-offs, airspace violations, not following procedures.

NGL- April Safety Update

NATCA Great Lakes Safety Reps

Michelle Trudeau and Mike Taylor

[email protected]

NGL Professional Standards Committee

The Respect Initiative will be starting again soon in your facilities. Your local Respect team will collaborate on which letter for your facility to start on. The discussions will be either in person in accordance with the Operational Readiness Collaborative Workgroup - Workforce Plan or virtually.

Who do you work with that inspires, motivates, and demonstrates professionalism? Nominate your peer for the National Professionalism Award presented by the Professional Standards program at Communicating for Safety. A winner will be selected from each service area. Please use the link to nominate a peer, deadline Jun 30, 2021.

Click here to nominate

If you have any questions about Professional Standards or the Respect Initiative please reach out to your local committee member or one of the District Chairs in the region.

I would also like to introduce our new District Chair Mentee for the Cleveland District Brooke Dawson.

Great Lakes Professional Standards District Chairs:

Jason Phelps ZMP [email protected]

Aaron Mills ORD [email protected]

Dave Keifer ZID [email protected]

Andrew Thieken ZOB [email protected]

Brooke Dawson (Mentee) ZOB [email protected]

Learn more about Pro-Standards here

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NATIONAL NEWS

NATCA Academy

Even though we cannot meet in person, continued learning is of vital importance. Here are some opportunities to learn more about your Union, your rights, and how to become more active in the areas that interest you.

https://portal.natca.org/Events.aspx

Full schedule and class descriptions: https://www.natca.org/academy/

NATCA Volunteer Requests

ERIDS is a real-time, interactive, electronic information display system that is used as a replacement for paper sources of information. ERIDS provides controllers, supervisors, and traffic management personnel with access to aeronautical data, weather data, airspace charts, ATC procedures, NOTAMs, PIREPs, and other sources of ATC information.

REQUIREMENTS:

Member in good standing

Proficient in MS Word and Excel

EnRoute Certified Professional Controller (CPC)

BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE:

Experience with the following is preferred:

Familiar with ERIDS administration and builds;

Familiar with NAS Training Requirements;

Collaborating and negotiating with management;

All participants should have knowledge of at least one current Legacy Information Display System (IDS-4, ACE-IDS, NIDS, ERIDS, or AAID).

Data Administration experience on one of the Legacy IDSs is not required but is preferred

TRAVEL: Participation in status meetings can be from a remote location. Periodically, face-to-face meetings will be required for safety panel meetings, reviewing instructional materials, attending course walk-throughs, technical discussions, and document reviews.

The Safety and Technical Education Platform (STEP) program is a group geared to modernize the ATO’s training system as well as improve all aspects of ATO safety and technical training. The STEP program is now moving into the Concepts and Requirements Definition (CRD) phase which leads towards achieving the next major decision point, Investment Analysis Readiness Decision (IARD). During the CRD phase, the STEP team will continue to refine the Preliminary Shortfall Analysis Report (pSAR) to generate a Final Shortfall Analysis Report (fSAR) and complete a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) document.

As part of the CONOPS, the STEP Team is planning to conduct a series of User Engagement Workshops. The STEP Team will be looking for three critical pieces of information from participants: Who, What and Why. Who – the user role performing that activity; What – a necessary action, behavior, feature or quality of a solution; Why – the benefit or value to the user. Understanding user needs will drive solution development. The Who, What, and Why will all be related to current training operations or new developing training solutions.

DUTIES: The SME will participate in testing a virtual course online to Modernize ATO’s safety and technical education platform and to enhance FAA’s workforce training (i.e., improve curriculum content, delivery methods, and learning outcomes for Air Traffic Controllers and Air Transportation System Specialist Technicians).

REQUIREMENTS: Member in good standing.

BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE: Being actively in training at an ATC facility.

TRAVEL: None.

The Enterprise Information Display System (E-IDS) program is evaluating its prototype of E-IDS Data Administration tools. The goal is to ensure that the Data Administration tools are simple and easy to use, while also ensuring facility needs are met.

DUTIES: This is a two-week event held from Aug. 16-27, 2021. The SMEs will participate in evaluating the E-IDS Data Administration tools within a two-week period.

REQUIREMENTS: Member in good standing; Current CPC or Staff Specialist; Data Administration experience.

BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE: Minimum one year experience with Legacy Information Display System Data Administration required (ERIDS, ACE-IDS, NIDS, IDS-4). Applicants can qualify as a Staff Specialist responsible for the Data Administration of a facility’s IDS, or as a CPC with a collateral duty of responsibility for the Data Administration of a facility’s IDS.

TRAVEL: Travel to Leidos facility in Gaithersburg, Md., will be required. Subject to COVID restrictions, date and location may change. SMEs will also be required to participate in at least one virtual meeting in advance of the evaluation event.

Click here to apply

OJT Resumption Plan in FAA Facilities, Section B Revised:

A fully vaccinated trainee is not factored when reducing the density of the training capacity in section B1(a). i. A fully vaccinated trainee allows the area/wall/ TRACON/TOWER to exceed the 50% simultaneous OJT limitation. ii. e.g., if your area/wall/ TRACON/TOWER was normally able to train on four (4) positions simultaneously, OJT may be conducted on four (4) positions simultaneously provided two (2) of the trainees are fully vaccinated.