FAA Daily Broadcast - January 4, 2022

Federal Aviation Administration Employees sent this bulletin at 01/04/2022 02:15 PM EST

Remain vigilant and protect yourself and your coworkers from COVID-19 - Reminder: Employees with a pending reasonable accommodation request will need to login to attest.faa.gov and update their record.

Get to Know Dr. David Hardy

“I loved the camaraderie and teamwork required to be aircrew, but I never wanted to be in the pilot seat. I got into aviation because I love the Air Force, and I saw flight medicine as the best way I could contribute.”

Dr. David Hardy spent 21 years in the U.S. Air Force, logging thousands of hours as a military flight surgeon, including 38 missions in Afghanistan. The culture and mission of the Air Force and the Office of Aerospace Medicine were a perfect match. As the newly appointed Aerospace Medical Education Division (AMED) manager, Hardy is charged with growing pilot, aircrew, controller, and AME educational efforts.

Workforce Advisory Bulletin:

2022 Pay Actions: Read message from Steve about pay increases coming to all employees this year.

Working During Weather Events: Get FAA policy guidance regarding telework provisions, dismissals, and office closures due to inclement weather.

Now Hiring Interns at the FAA: The Minority Serving Institution (MSI) intern program is an excellent opportunity to introduce a student to an exciting career at the FAA - and provide your office with additional support to advance our safety mission.

STEM Outreach: Artists between the ages of 3 and 5 are invited to participate in a Design Your Perfect Aircraft contest.

Plain Language: Less is more when it comes to jargon. Use everyday words to make your writing accessible for any reader.

We hosted a dozen Robotic Process Automation (RPA) learning sessions last year. Watch video replays anytime.

Reflections from Eric West

“The midnight call, the meeting of the team, getting to the accident site, working together to solve an enormous puzzle – it was all part of advancing the safety of aviation.” After two decades spent investigating some of the most significant aviation accidents in recent history, Senior Air Safety Investigator Eric West reflects on his career.

FAA Statement on 5G

"The FAA thanks AT&T and Verizon for agreeing to a voluntary delay and for their proposed mitigations. We look forward to using the additional time and space to reduce flight disruptions associated with this 5G deployment." Get the latest update on communication between the DOT, FAA with wireless companies.

Keep your MyProfile updated with current info on your office location, contact information, professional photo and bio, and sign up for emergency notifications.

Professional Standards Marks Decade of Success

“Each day presents unique opportunities to demonstrate our professionalism to ourselves, to co-workers, and to the flying public that we serve. When we actively choose professionalism, we help to shape the future of our profession.”

The ATO Professional Standards Program has resolved nearly 4,000 cases in an average of six days per case. For 10 years, the PSP has offered bargaining-unit employees an opportunity to hear the perspective of peers about workplace behavior and make an active choice to change on their own without traditional discipline.

FAA Events Calendar: Tomorrow - CFC AJG Medical research event. Next week - PMO TEAM Talk - RUM Runner; Performance Management webinar; Career planning - Taking charge of your career; And Career planning tool (CPT) introduction; CFC AJG New Year’s resolution - Charity extravaganza; WorkLife webinars on Financial resolutions you can keep and Your Employee Assistance Program - Benefits to help you lead a thriving life.

From the Headlines:

AT&T, Verizon delay new 5G service after Buttigieg request – Associated Press
The announcement reversed the companies’ decision just a day earlier to reject any postponement in new 5G service. In a statement Monday night, AT&T also repeated its promise to further reduce power of the networks around airports for six months to give regulators more time to study potential interference with aviation.

Biden Briefly Stuck on AF1 after Snow Landing at Andrews AFB – The Drive
It was snowing so hard that the airstair truck got stuck, delaying Biden and his entourage from deplaning promptly after arriving.

New FAA Policy Expands Pilot Training Evaluations – Aviation Week
The revamped policy, issued Dec. 27 in a notice to Aircraft Evaluation Division (AFS-100) safety inspectors, outlines how line pilots are to be used during Flight Standardization Board (FSB) evaluations for transport-category airplanes.

Boeing To Create Next Jet In ‘Metaverse’ – AV Web
The company recently told Reuters it plans to plunge the company into the so-called “metaverse,” an immersive environment where human workers are digitally linked to machines and other workers using virtual reality and augmented reality.

Alaska Airlines Launches Program for Aspiring Black Pilots – Flying
Alaska Airlines announced the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Delaware State University have been chosen as the first schools to participate in the company’s new True North Pilot Pathway Program. The program was designed by a group of African-American pilots to make becoming a pilot more accessible.

United Airlines Employee Found To Be Identity Theft Fraudster – Simple Flying
A United Airlines employee has been arrested for identity theft after working for more than two decades under a false name. Ricardo César Guedes was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1972. However, he has been living under the name Eric Ladd and working as a flight attendant for United Airlines since the late 1990s.

Workplace Violence Prevention: Get resources to help foster a safe workplace.

AT&T Accidently Disrupts ATC Communications

January 4, 1991: AT&T maintenance workers accidentally cut a fiber-optic telephone cable in New Jersey, disrupting communications between air traffic control sites and delaying air travel for several hours across the northeast. A system that the company thought was truly redundant - triple redundant - failed because a supervisor and technicians at the site in lower Manhattan failed to read several alarms properly and did not conduct inspections that would have told them they were on a backup power system with a limited life.

Looking for a new podcast playlist? The Air Up There has something for everyone interested in aviation and aerospace - listen to every episode for free on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Podcasts.