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March marks the halfway point in the fiscal year. This year, it also signals the approach of some significant milestones in implementing recommendations from the Safety Review Team (SRT), and AOV has been hard at work. One of those milestone is the finalized revision and complete coordination of FAA Order 1100.161B, which FAA Administrator Whitaker directed be complete by March 31, 2024. I'm pleased to say we're on track to meet that goal. The FAA is also working to enhance the Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI), a training program designed to get more controllers into facilities sooner, which will be open for colleges to apply come April 1st. AOV will be responsible for appointing and monitor the enhanced CTI evaluators, and is collaborating with AJI to ensure the highest program standards and quality.
This month, AOV is also holding a two-day AOV MT Offsite for the entire leadership team in DC, to discuss strategy and tactics for moving AOV forward to 2030. ATO leaders from AJI, AJT, AJW, AJV, AJM, and AJR will join us for part of the first day to share their priorities and safety metrics as well as their ideas on how our organizations can work together to improve FAA safety performance. On the second day, as an AOV MT, we'll discuss what metrics AOV should be measuring from an oversight perspective to gauge our progress. We'll also identify the practices we want to see in our AOV-ATO relationship, along with the organizational changes and critical behaviors and skills needed in our workforce to make those practices a reality.
Finally, mid-year performance discussions also happen in March, and I want to take this opportunity to appeal to our AOV "rocket ships," those talented employees with career aspirations beyond where they might be sitting currently, and their managers. Seize this time as an opportunity to make something happen. Identify details, projects, courses, or training that might help you - or one of your employees - reach the next level and make it known to AOV leadership. We are only as strong as our people, and helping you succeed is a priority for me and for AOV. Let's work together on that next step.
I also want to recognize our AOV "rockstars," those that are happy and flourishing in their current roles, our go-to people. I see and value how hard you work. Your expertise is critical to our organization and key to our success. Thank you for your continued dedication and leadership.
Here's to more AOV success as we march into the second half of FY24!
-Nick Fuller
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A first-hand account written by Theresa Parker.
When individuals unite to form a team, the transition from a group to a cohesive and efficient unit demands dedication, time, and effort. Businessman and leader Henry Ford once famously remarked, "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."
In this spirit, AOV-210 held an in-person offsite on February 7th, 2024, to foster learning and team cohesion. The offsite reinforced the team's mission and enhanced tool utilization to advance FAA safety objectives, while incorporating team-building exercises.
The day commenced with purposeful icebreakers that fostered unity and collaboration. Rebecca Pope led a session on StrengthsFinder, an assessment tool that nurtures self-awareness among employees. grouping individuals with diverse strengths. The team also played an engaging, competitive Rebus Puzzle game to reinforce key knowledge and concepts, eliciting competitiveness from some and excitement and laughter from others. Later, participants collaborated on routine processes like building Quad Charts, with Darcelle Biggins providing an insightful overview and helpful strategies for crafting these effective, one-page safety summaries.
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AOV-210 Branch Manager Demetrius “Buck” Barrett shared the team's victories from 2023 and outlined the 2024 forecast. Elisa Jackson presented on the use of red folders, highlighting best practices for development and tips on presenting to management. Jamell Strayhorn discussed the Approval, Acceptance, and Concurrence process, contributing to the safety culture within the AOV-210 team. Celebrating those achievements, sharing insights, and aligning around common goals contributed to a robust team environment and set the stage for enhanced performance.
Teams are dynamic entities, changing through personnel transitions and skill developments that alter team roles. As the most recent addition to the 210 team, the offsite was truly enlightening for me. It provided a valuable chance to better understand my role in AOV by learning from my colleagues and gaining insight into their personalities. The event also provided a platform for team bonding, laughter, and learning. As Henry Ford aptly stated, coming together is just the beginning – now, we are working together not only for our team's success, but also to enhance the safety of the national airspace system.
To increase awareness across the organization and highlight significant safety trends, ongoing initiatives, and the latest updates, AOV created a bi-weekly report known as the "AOV Snapshot." This high-level summary is a new and improved version of AOV's monthly report and is used by leadership to promote AOV's work among stakeholders including the FAA Administrator, AVS, and ATO/AJI.
AOVers can access all AOV Snapshots from the ALL-AOV MS Teams site.
Know of an issue or topic that should be added? Please reach out to your manager.
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For past editions of the Oversight Insight newsletter, visit our archive. |
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Trustworthy. Influential. Tenacious. Sage. Honest. Caring. Knowledgeable. Strategic. Honorable.
These are just some of the many compliments heard as the FAA recognized and celebrated Alex McDowell’s incredible 45 years of government service on February 22, 2024. Over 100 attendees gathered virtually and in-person at the retirement ceremony, including many of Alex’s past and present reports, colleagues, and senior FAA leaders as well as his devoted family.
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Nick Fuller, AOV’s newest Executive Director, issued the welcoming remarks. Nick referenced Alex’s broad institutional knowledge and wealth of experience as “lifesaving.” “For every question, Alex had the answer, the history, and some sage advice and counsel.” Nick also highlighted Alex’s well-earned reputation as an empathetic, caring leader. “Alex always put the needs of his people above his own.” |
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Some of Alex’s family, including his wife Mary, daughter Elizabeth, son David, and daughter-in-law Kelly (pictured above), attended the ceremony in person. Aviation Safety’s Associate Administrator David Bolter and Deputy Associate Administrator Jodi Baker both used this opportunity to express appreciation for his family’s enduring support over more than four decades. Jodi paraphrased DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s sentiments about service families, saying, “Thank you for sharing Alex with us so he could make our world a better place.” Jodi also lauded Alex’s dedication and humility, despite a prestigious career of service and myriad of accomplishments. “You kept (the American flying public) safe and they don’t even know it,” she said. “The belief in what we’re doing comes from people like you, Alex.”
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During his 15 years with AOV, Alex ascended through the ranks from specialist, to branch manager, to division manager, to Deputy Executive Director, learning everything there was to know about the FAA and safety oversight. During that time, he cultivated a reputation as an accountable professional and reliable source of support. “I have counted Alex as a brother because I knew if I fell, he would be there to help me up, and I suspect that is the case for many of us here today,” said former AOV Principal Advisor and long-time colleague and friend Tip Stinnette. “Two are better than one when you have Alex as a wingman.”
Alex’s career with the Agency spanned the tenure of eight FAA Administrators, six Associate Administrators for Aviation Safety, and five AOV Directors. One of those leaders, former AOV-1 Tony Schneider, noted during the ceremony that Alex impressed him early on as open-minded leader with a keen eye for best practices and an enduring willingness to roll up his sleeves to get things done. Another former AOV-1 and now Deputy Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Michael O’Donnell called Alex a model “servant leader,” with incredible wisdom, knowledge, and experience to share. In fact, Mike reminisced, he sought Alex’s counsel before any big decision. “Alex was the glue that held us together and he will be sorely missed,” Mike concluded.
Alex's ability to inspire others with his love for aviation extended beyond the walls of the FAA. Talethia Thomas, one of the hiring officials who originally brought Alex into the FAA, shared an incredibly moving story about Alex’s impactful influence on her son, Elijah.
When he was about 14, Elijah expressed an interest in aviation, specifically in becoming a pilot. When Alex heard, he immediately said, “I’ll take him flying!” True to his word, soon after, Alex committed a weekend and flew to meet Talethia and Elijah, but unfortunately it was too windy for takeoff. Undeterred, Alex seized this opportunity to show Elijah how to examine weather conditions using an iPad and how to make safe go or no-go flight decisions. A few weeks later, Alex tried again, flying to meet Talethia and Elijah at the airport. This time, the weather cooperated, and Alex took Elijah on his very first flight in the cockpit! Flash forward to 2024, Elijah will graduate from high school soon and plans to go to college to study aerospace engineering. He’s talked about becoming a pilot and possibly the Air Force. “To Alex, (taking Elijah flying) was probably a small gesture, but to us, this was a monumental, memorable event!” Talethia declared. “Thank you, Alex, for taking the time and for paying it forward!”
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Alex, the guest of honor, shared some parting remarks with those gathered at the ceremony, expressing his heartfelt appreciation to all those with whom he worked over the years. He thanked his “AOV Family” as well as his FAA colleagues in ATO’s Safety and Technical Training (AJI), noting his confidence in the mutual understanding and commitment to aviation safety fostered over the last few years. “The family atmosphere and the relationships are what I treasure most as I depart,” he said.
In the Air Traffic Safety Oversight Service, there’s a strong tradition of, “Once a member of the AOV Family, always a member of the AOV Family.” Alex played a leading role in building and fostering that Family, and his legacy and influence in safety oversight will live on in those he influenced, coached, and mentored for many years to come.
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Through observation and engagement over the past year, AOV gleaned multiple safety oversight best practices from the relationship between Flight Standards' Certificate Management Offices (CMO) and air carriers, specifically Delta and Alaska.
In the summer of 2023, AOV members met with Alaska and Delta respectively. Then, in December 2023, AOV leaders had an opportunity to observe the Alaska Flight Safety Review Board. Most recently, in February 2024, AOV-1 Nick Fuller, Acting AOV-2 Jon Gray, and AOV-200's Sherry Taylor along with some of AJI's Directors had an opportunity to come down and observe Delta's integrated safety roundtable.
"Both Alaska and Delta have mature Safety Management System processes and a good relationship with the FAA, built through collaboration and transparency," summarized AOV-1 Nick Fuller. "There's a lot we can learn from this relationship."
Some of the best practices observed:
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Open relationship with transparent communication: Delta/Alaska and the CMO's Principals cultivated and matured an enviable rapport. Questions were key in building this rapport , including, How can I help? What can we do better? Is there an area in your safety program you would like me to look at?
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Inclusivity: Delta/Alaska proactively invite the CMO to Safety Management System (SMS) meetings as an observer and as an input to the airline's SMS. This transparency means that information isn’t miscommunicated later.
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Informed: Delta/Alaska and the CMO proactively exchange frequent phone calls and emails to keep each party informed, so there are no surprises. Proactive exchange of info was key.
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Safety as a shared goal: The air carriers and the CMOs work together collaboratively to meet safety goals and ensure SMS is working appropriately. Safety and compliance with regulations/statutes are everyone’s responsibility from executives and seasoned employees to interns and newbies. Anyone in the company can report a safety concern or risk and stop the operation if necessary. How culture is explained during onboarding and how the relationship/commitment was reaffirmed after a rough patch are very important,
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Established Processes and Healthy Safety Culture: The air carriers and the CMO both examine the risk and mitigation without crossing the regulator boundary. The air carrier's risk process includes having a conversation then following up with a letter, use of voluntary disclosure programs which include collaborative design of corrective actions with the CMO, and join surveillance to assure corrective actions are effective.
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Top-Down Commitment: Buy-in for transparency and collaboration permeates from the top down, which helped drive the cultural change on both sides. Successful relationship-building occurred over time and required a vested interest as well as an investment from both parties.
Both AOV and ATO will continue to participate in CMO-Air Carriers engagements in order to better understand these best practices and explore opportunities to apply them to the AOV-ATO relationship to improve safety in the NAS.
AOV’s FY23 Annual Performance Report is a snapshot of the incredible work AOV accomplished in FY23, highlighting significant observations and findings made through independent, risk-based, data-driven safety oversight. The Table of Contents showcases the wide breadth of AOV's initiatives, while the navigation bar at the top of each page in the report allows stakeholders to easily navigate to relevant content.
Please read through AOV's report and share it with your FAA colleagues!
The Design and Performance Observations (DPO) program is an informal process, which enables AOV’s Air Traffic Safety Inspectors (ATSIs) to attend and observe critical ATO Safety and Technical Training (AJI) Service Area activities. DPO helps ensure the ATO’s Safety Management System (SMS) meets functional design and performance requirements and provides AOV with continual insight into how the ATO is ensuring safe operations.
Current DPO program areas include Runway Safety (all Service Areas) and Quality Assurance (QA) Event Validation, specifically in all Service Areas. AOV is expanding the DPO Program into Technical Operations and continues to work collaboratively with AJI to expand observations in QA and into QC.
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Recent DPO summary highlights:
- The rate of serious (Cat A&B) runway incursions (0.284 RI per million airport operations) is showing a decrease as of Q2 of FY24. It is lower than it was during FY20-23 (COVID years). However, the current rate is still higher than the rate for 8 of the 11 years before FY20.
- The rate of runway incursions for air carriers (8.92 per million air carrier operations) is at its lowest since FY13.
- The percent of runway incursions where a vehicle or pedestrian was primarily responsible is 10.7% for FY24, the lowest rate since FY03.
- AOV validated that ATO effectively adhered to and followed all orders and processes for validating events. ATO QA staff demonstrated significant knowledge, expertise, and professionalism throughout the process.
- All three branches reported that recent CEDAR software upgrades are causing delays and complications in processing/validating events. Software developers are working the issue.
- AOV observed Barrier Analysis Review (BAR) being conducted on a limited basis.
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- During the Eastern Service Area Event Validation Observation at the end of quarter 1 of FY24, AOV observed that standardization is not yet in place (no guidance, triggers, or criteria to determine what events should be elevated). QA specialists assigned to BAR are using random/geographical events to test and develop the process.
- During Technical Operations observations, AOV validated that ATO effectively conducted the Service Integrity BAR process as prescribed by all Orders and documented processes. Technical Operations QA staff demonstrated significant knowledge, expertise, and professionalism throughout the process.
By uncovering blind spots and enhancing AOV’s understanding of safety processes, programs, and procedures, the DPO program continues to improve oversight efficiency and effectiveness (e.g., waiver processing and approvals), reduce the resource burden inherent in more formal processes, and strengthen collaboration and safety information exchange between AOV and AJI at all levels.
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- As part of the transitioning of AOV's analytics products, AOV-150's Frank Messano has assumed significantly greater responsibility for maintaining and updating PowerBI tools and visualizations. His new responsibilities include regularly republishing PBI analytics reports and updating AOV data sources including: NTSB accident investigations (from the FAA EIM), Aviation Safety Report System (NASA), Space Airspace Management Plans, operations (OPNSET), runway safety (AJI), and ATO-Safety Reports (with more data sources being added to his portfolio). Many of these sources are updated on a daily basis. Frank has also taken on tasks that require learning new skills (e.g., using Jupyter notebook and python code to extract N-numbers and callsigns from narrative reports). Frank has adapted to this additional workload with efficiency, attention to detail, and his customary humor. He's a great teammate who makes his colleagues jobs easier. Thanks, Frank!
- AOV-140's Steve Young recently earned his private pilot's license! Steve worked diligently, on his own time, to acquire the certification and aspires to continue learning by earning his instrument rating and becoming a Flight Instructor. Congratulations, Steve!
- AOV-210's Theresa Parker earned acceptance into the FY24 Northwest Mountain Region Mentor Program. Congrats, Theresa!
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Thankful or want to recognize someone? Highlight it here by emailing AOV-Communications@faa.gov.
During FY23, AOV observed multiple local and Special Focus Runway Safety Action Team (RSAT), Regional Runway Safety Team (RRST), and Regional Governance Council (RGC) meetings across all three ATO service areas to help ensure the ATO’s Safety Management System (SMS) satisfies functional requirements. At the end of the fiscal year, AOV summarized and reviewed the observations.
AOV’s observations validated that RSAT meetings were conducted as required, while identifying a few areas for improvement. ATO’s Safety and Technical Training's Runway Safety Group has made improvements to help Air Traffic Managers satisfy requirements. AOV also highlighted best practices that are helping to improve program effectiveness nationally.
FY23 Observations & Improvements:
Best Practices:
• Offering a pre-RSAT meeting during regional ATM All Hands reinforces the intent/purpose of RSAT meetings and provides in-depth guidance to maximize effectiveness.
• Hosting additional pilot/controller forums in collaboration with Flight Standards District Offices (FSDO) advances safety.
• Conducting regular RGC meetings with the RRST helps ensure the broadest awareness of local surface safety-related events.
Can we reach you in an emergency? Updating your MyFAA Profile with your current job information, current manager, office location, emergency contact information, personal email, phone number, and telework zip code is very important. Many critical FAA programs depend on keeping this information accurate and up-to-date, including the emergency operations, human resources, and the Agency’s internal drug program.
Employees can even sign up to receive emergency notifications through the emergency notification system. Failure to capture accurate information slows down emergency notification by your managers and other offices. Help speed things up by updating your profile today. It only takes a minute. Click here to update your information now.
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AOV All Hands
- March 25, 2024 from 11-12 ET
- April 24, 2024 from 1-2 ET
- May 22, 2024 from 1-2 ET
FY23 Performance Management
Career Development and Professional Growth
- ."Making the Transition from Individual Contributor to Leader" is scheduled for April 9 at 11-12 AM ET. This course provides an opportunity to explore the role shift from being an individual contributor to a leader by identifying the traits of effective leaders, learning steps to start leading effectively, and accessing resource information to further develop leadership skills.
- A Career Development Event is happening on April 23-24, 2024 for DOT federal employees looking to soar to new career heights. The event aims to promote and build desire around professional development at all level, explain why development is essential to achieve our mission, and clarifies resources available to support development. View the event and schedule in the eLMS Career Development On-Demand web page.
Training
- Be vigilant - monitor and complete your mandatory training in eLMS.
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Send questions, comments and feedback to Stakeholder Feedback using the "AOV Communications" feedback topic dropdown. |
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