60th OSS Airman wins air traffic control award for upgrading radar facilities

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Donald Osborn
  • 60th AMW Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  A Travis Airman was notified that he had won an air traffic control award Oct. 2, for his achievements leading to the timely and efficient commissioning of the state-of-the-art terminal radar approach control facility.

Master Sgt. Ward "Bud" Miller, Jr., 60th Operations Support Squadron, air traffic control automation chief, won the William A. Parenteau Award, which is presented to an individual for an outstanding achievement or contribution during the previous year which has added to the quality, safety or efficiency of air traffic control.

"Many of our radar facilities are antiquated and required equipment upgrades to operate efficiently," said Sergeant Miller. "With the drawbacks in the amount of air traffic controllers today, this new automated system provides us the tools to perform our job more efficiently."

The facility is the second one that has been brought on-line by Sergeant Miller for the Air Mobility Command, along with helping MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., with commissioning their new control tower.

The Travis Radar Approach Control provides air traffic control services within 2,000 square miles of north central California airspace serving Travis and seven civil airports, including the very busy Concord Municipal Airport south of Travis.

"The first RAPCON facility I commissioned was at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., and then I helped MacDill switch over to their new tower," said Sergeant Miller. "After McGuire, I asked AMC where they would like to send me for the next one and that's how I ended up here."

In 2003, Sergeant Miller volunteered his services to come to Travis as project coordinator and integrator for a new terminal radar approach control facility, known as Terminal Radar Approach Control to the Federal Aviation Administration and RAPCON within the Air Force; both serve the same function providing terminal control of civil and military aircraft within a specified piece of the National Airspace System.

"All of our controllers are certified by the FAA so we handle a high volume of civilian traffic as well as the military aircraft," said Sergeant Miller. "On average, 95 percent to 97 percent of our traffic is civilian aircraft."

Sergeant Miller said being an air traffic controller doesn't always mean working in the tower on base watching only military aircraft.

"When some people hear the words [air traffic controller], they often think about the people working in the tower as apposed to the controllers working in the radar facility," said Sergeant Miller. "The controllers in the radar facility are the ones controlling the aircraft within the 2,000 square miles of Travis, as opposed to the controllers in the tower which control aircraft within five miles of Travis and up to 2,600 feet in altitude."

Both the RAPCON facility and the tower work hand-in-hand and depend on each other to ensure air traffic in and out of Travis moves safely and efficiently.

Sergeant Miller said with the old radar systems, it was difficult to keep track of such a high volume of traffic, but this new radar facility enables them do their job more efficiently.

The Department of Defense allocated resources to build a new RAPCON and equip it with the latest in digital communications, automation and information dissemination equipment because the old facility was over 30 years old and running on 1960's technology.
"It's a much easier system to work with as opposed to the old one," said Staff Sgt. Lisa Tallmadge, 60th Operations Support Squadron, air traffic controller. "We put in a lot of hard work to make this facility what it is today and we're now reaping the benefits."

Sergeant Tallmadge, along with Staff Sgt. Ryan Headrick, now stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., assisted Sergeant Miller with the project.

"They actually played a big part in making this new facility," said Sergeant Miller. "The task would have been almost impossible without their help."

The new radar system is technologically advanced and more complex than the older system, but training on the new systems wasn't very difficult, according to Sergeant Tallmadge.

"The ATC training program itself is a little complicated," said Sergeant Tallmadge. "However, we teach it step by step and it makes it a lot easier to understand."

Sergeant Miller will officially receive his award Nov. 1 in Washington, D.C.