• Printer Friendly
• Email Page

Speech

ATO Terminal Management Conference

Thanks, Rick Ducharme.

It’s great to be here. Like I’ve said a hundred times, it’s great to be with the people who make the front lines go. In all truthfulness, without your efforts 24/7/365, America isn’t going anywhere. Safe flight begins and ends with you. On behalf of everyone who flies, nicely done. Take it from a former line guy — you’re the best.

I took the chance to speak to you because there are a few points I’d like to drive home. The first is that you’ve established a safety record that’s second to none, but you can’t get complacent. Our safety record is only as good as what we do today. It’s kind of like surgery. You can’t get it right 99 times in a row, but the guy on the table is only interested in how things are going right now.

It’s because of that intensity that we can never rest. The good news here is that I know you won’t.

Secondly, I’d like to ask you to push hard for NextGen. The nay-sayers are always going to complain about technology, but I’m sure you’ve heard by now that ADS-B is on line. That “NextGen is a fable” stuff is only being said by people who are out of the loop. But NextGen and tools like ADS-B and SWIM and TMA and URET and RNP — they can only make it if you keep the pedal to the floor.

A friend of mine flew into Dulles on a triple-7 the other day. He tuned in the flight deck/tower channel on approach. He said that it was the middle of a conversation, but the tower had just said something like, “We’re not using the ILS this morning, but we’ll use RNAV.”  The captain asked, “Why aren’t we using ILS?”  The 2152 said, “They want us to start moving away from ILS."  Then he said, "If the ILS was down, we'd want to be sure we had another option." He was talking about a precision approach. From where I stand, that’s just the kind of thing we want to hear. And I want you to make sure that we do.

Lastly, I’d like you all to keep our best foot forward. The morale in the workplace is the responsibility of each and every one of us. We’ve got to remember that it’s not about us, it’s about people. And people always come first. Always. Excellence is indeed a choice, and I want you to head in the direction every single time. The new hires that I’ve spoken to in Oak City couldn’t be more excited or enthusiastic. As managers, we need to build on that.

So, let me say one more time, thanks for the ride. While I’ve still got the microphone, the next time I’m up there flying, a direct-to wouldn’t hurt, either. Thanks again.