THUNDER BAY – Aviation – Thunder Bay’s Glenn Hamilton was awarded the ATCA Air Traffic Control Specialist of the Year Award for excellence in keeping people safe in the air.
NAV CANADA has announced that three employees have been presented with awards from the Washington D.C. based Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA). These awards recognize outstanding achievements or contributions that add to the quality, safety or efficiency of the air traffic control system.
The awards were presented on September 29, 2014 during the ATCA 59th Annual Conference & Exposition’s Awards Luncheon in National Harbor, Maryland. These individuals were bestowed the following awards (Biographies attached below):
Karen Walker, Director, Operational Analysis
The David J. Hurley Memorial Award for Aviation Traffic Management
A Medallion Award presented to an individual working in the field of Aviation Traffic Management for outstanding achievement or contribution in the area of ATC collaborative decision making, balancing air traffic demand and capacity, or maximizing airspace and airport use, which has added to the quality, efficiency and/or safety of the Global Airspace System.
Glenn Hamilton, Flight Service Specialist
The ATCA Air Traffic Control Specialist of the Year Award
The award presented to an individual civilian air traffic control specialist who has during the previous year performed in an exemplary or extraordinary manner in support of ATC.
Patrick Bureau, IIDS/EXCDS Systems Engineer
ATCA Life Cycle Management Award
The award recognizes the individual(s) or group whose design, development, deployment, maintenance or logistical support had a significant positive impact on the performance or operation of an important ATC system in the previous year.
“It is a triple honour for NAV CANADA that these three dedicated individuals have been duly recognized for their exemplary performance by ATCA,” said John Crichton, NAV CANADA President and CEO. “On behalf of all of us at NAV CANADA, I congratulate Karen, Glenn and Patrick on these well-deserved tributes from this distinguished international association.
“We are very proud of the achievements of our ATCA Award recipients,” said Rudy Kellar, NAV CANADA Executive Vice President, Service Delivery. “Our three winners have demonstrated consummate professionalism and have gone beyond the call of duty to deliver safety, innovation and cost efficiency.”
NAV CANADA is the country’s private sector civil air navigation services provider. With operations from coast to coast to coast, NAV CANADA provides air traffic control, flight information, weather briefings, aeronautical information services, airport advisory services and electronic aids to navigation.
Glenn Hamilton is a dedicated Flight Service Specialist and a pilot with a strong concern for safety and a good eye for detail. Glenn’s safety focus paid off recently when he detected a hazard in the provision of aerodrome advisory service to pilots.
He was able to uncover this issue through a keen sense of observation combined with a painstaking comparison of data on two different air traffic management systems. The error he uncovered could have resulted in pilots receiving out-dated and potentially incorrect altimeter data.
When Glenn brought this issue to management’s attention, the Company recognized its potential implications for flight safety. As a result, management in the Winnipeg Flight Information Region (FIR), where Glenn is based, published direction to mitigate the problem and shared this information will all other FIRs across the country.
It is impossible to say how long this altimeter issue could have continued to exist without Glenn’s keen attention to detail and understanding of how it could potentially impact ANS safety. However, it is clear that his actions resulted in the hazard being identified, communicated and resolved.
Through his initiative, Glenn protected pilots, his colleagues, and NAV CANADA from the possible consequences of this error. By first seeing that a problem could occur, then verifying it and bringing it to the Company’s attention, he demonstrated through his personal conduct our ongoing commitment to maintaining the highest possible standards of safety.
