NATCA Honors Members’ Finest Work at Annual Awards Banquet

Nine flight assists from around the U.S. will be honored tonight at a special banquet marking the 10th annual Archie League Medal of Safety Awards, hosted by NATCA.

Named for the first air traffic controller, the NATCA Archie League Medal of Safety Awards honors the top examples of skill, dedication and professionalism demonstrated by NATCA members in the previous year. Each honoree saved a life or lives in emergency situations.

“Each of these winners displayed the highest level of professionalism during these events and didn’t think twice about it,” says NATCA President Paul Rinaldi. “They give 100 percent, 100 percent of the time on position, but you will never hear them brag about that. To them, the work they did during these events is just part of the job, and that’s why we created this event 10 years ago, to specially recognize the outstanding work of these professional air traffic controllers."

The honorees include a Boston Tower air traffic controller who diverted a confused pilot from a head-on collision landing on a taxiway last September; two Anchorage Center controllers who resourcefully enlisted the help of the crew aboard two Air Force B-52s in their airspace to find a pilot lost in bad weather in November; and a Madison, Wis., Terminal Radar Approach (TRACON) controller who assisted a disoriented pilot with an iced windscreen and minimal control of his plane to a safe landing in February last year.

“Air traffic controllers dedicate their lives to serving the public and the country, and to keeping them safe,” says NATCA Executive Vice President Trish Gilbert. “We take this evening to honor them and show the country who keeps them safe every time they fly. We are proud to recognize them as members of our Union and of the aviation safety community, and thank them for their exemplary professionalism and work.”

The awards ceremony will be streamed live on natca.org, starting at 8 p.m. PDT.

The 2014 Archie League Medal of Safety Award winners are:

Alaskan Region: Todda Yonge and Mark Lacy, Anchorage Center

Central Region: Andrew Smith and Joe Moylan, Kansas City Center

Eastern Region: Bob Ezzard, New York Center

Great Lakes Region: Jack Deutscher, Madison TRACON

New England Region: Nunzio DiMillo, Boston Tower

Northwest Mountain Region: Jared Mike, Seattle TRACON

Southern Region: Ed Holden and Ramiro Martinez, Miami Tower

Southwest Region: Stewart Pearcy, Houston TRACON

Western Pacific Region: David Caldwell, Joseph Okuda, Alexis Shirkey, Nicole Findlay, Peter Sachs, Russell Kipker, Dawn McMullion, Fred Naujoks and Dan Ferlito, San Francisco Tower.

For full information about each award winner, their stories, and for an audio recording of the event, with transcript, please click HERE.