In today’s hyperconnected, fast-moving world, a modern, reliable transportation system is not a luxury; it is a necessity. Over the last few years, we’ve seen train derailments, crumbling bridges, and increased strain on America’s aviation systems. Every dollar spent on our transportation systems today helps avoid costlier problems down the road. However, we must focus on maximizing taxpayer dollars by modernizing our aging infrastructure, streamlining processes, and supercharging hiring methods.
Oklahoma has a rich history in aerospace. It started just 26 years after the state was established, when Wiley Post, a young man trained in Oklahoma, became the first person to complete a solo flight around the world. Since then, the state’s infrastructure has grown, and Oklahoma has established itself as a leader in aerospace innovation. The Oklahoma City Metro area now has over 290 aerospace firms, in addition to military installations like Tinker Air Force Base, the largest single-site employer in Oklahoma. Tinker is the home to the E-3 Sentry AWACS and provides maintenance for the B-52, KC-135, B-1, and B-2 aircraft. We are also the proud home of the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center (MMAC) which provides products and services to all five of the FAA’s lines of business – airport, air traffic organization, aviation safety, commercial space transportation and security and hazardous materials safety. Specifically, MMAC is the principal facility for air traffic controllers (ATCs), training over twenty thousand students across career specialties annually. Services at the center provide technical and managerial training and development for our workforce and the aviation community.
While this center plays a vital role in preparing the next class of ATCs, we must look at ways to increase its efficiency through streamlining practices and modernizing programs and software. Recent developments underscore the center’s critical role in addressing the nation’s air traffic control needs. Rather than creating a new academy, we must work to prevent recruiting bottlenecks and reduce the onerous time it takes to accept new applicants into the school. The importance of the work these ATCs provide cannot be overstated. They serve in high stress situations and have a zero-failure mission. Recent reports have shown long-time issues with outdated technology, poor infrastructure, and strenuous hours, often logging six-day work weeks and ten-hour shifts. These issues cause critical risks to quality of work and safety of the American people…