AVIATION MAKES ECONOMY SOAR
FAA’s economic, actual impacts are impressive
A monthly forum sponsored by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber took flight Wednesday as about 150 of its members and guests heard from representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration's Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center.
Roy Williams, the chamber's president and CEO, observed the Monroney Center is Oklahoma's fourthlargest single-site employer in the state.
He said the center's annual economic impact on the Oklahoma City area is estimated at $1.65 billion annually.
Attendees also heard from the center's director, as well as several of its key personnel.
Michelle Coppedge, the Monroney Center's director, said not a lot of people know of its mission outside of aviation circles.
"We kind of like to think of ourselves as a best-kept secret. But the problem is, we really don’t want to be known that way, because we make a huge impact on aviation across the world, and we have a pretty large economic impact as well, both here in the state and across this nation," Coppedge said.
Coppedge said aviation now is safe, adding it didn't used to be that way.
"If you went into an airport during the 1970s, one of the first things you could do is buy life insurance. It cost $5, and many passengers signed up to do it," she said.
"What are people concerned about today? TSA (the Transportation Security Administration) — by the way, TSA is not part of the FAA," she added, getting a laugh.
"You are concerned about whether or not you are going to get your bags on time, or whether or not your flight will arrive on time.
"So we enjoy a time where we are the safest aerospace system in the world, and we are really the envy of many countries because of that.
"A lot of that success is really a testament to a lot of things that happened at the aeronautical center right here in Oklahoma, and we are really very, very proud of that."
Historical context
The center is named after Sen. Mike Monroney, an Oklahoman who chaired the Senate Aviation Committee and co-authored legislation to create the center in 1958.
Need for aviation safety was highlighted, Coppedge said, by the 1956 collision of two commercial passenger planes over the Grand Canyon that killed 128 people.
The center and its work touches every aspect of the nation's airspace system, which, on any given day, has about 85,000 flights in the air carrying 2.5 million passengers going to almost 20,000 different airports, she said.
The center trains aviation safety inspectors who clear aircraft to fly, develops air safety rules and trains flight crews on how to implement them, trains air and ground traffic controllers and trains inspectors, engineers, operators and technicians that work with flight-related navigational aids, radars and communications gear, she said.
The center also certifies that pilots and aircrews are fit to fly, registers aircraft, and updates navigational charts used by pilots as they plan and execute their flights.
"We impact all of it," she said.
Coppedge and the others also discussed how the center supports more than 60 other federal agencies, helping them meet their needs when it comes to operating, maintaining and repairing radar and other surveillance equipment.
She said she expects the center will continue to enhance that work, especially for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
"It also is a very interesting time in aviation," she said.
"It took over 100 years for us to get 320,000 registered aircraft. And now, within just a twoyear time frame, there has been a million drones (870,000 registered to hobbyists) added to that.
"It is changing right before our eyes, and it is changing very, very fast."
Other speakers
Forum attendees also heard Wednesday from Keith DeBerry, director of the FAA Academy (the educational arm of the center that trains U.S. air and ground traffic controllers, inspectors, engineers, technicians and operators who work with various types of aircraft systems and equipment).
DeBerry said the center's staff of 300 full-time and 900 part-time instructors provide training for about 20,000 students a year at the center, adding many of those come from 172 other countries across the globe.
"Think about the influence Oklahoma City projects, not only across the U.S., but across the world," he said, noting those students spend an estimated $70 million annually at area hotels and other businesses.
Dr. Carla Hackworth, the Aerospace Human Factors Research Division manager at the FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, also addressed the group.
"As you heard, air travel is reliant upon a number of systems," she said. "There is a technical aspect, the hardware and equipment part, then you have the organizational procedures, such as regulations, and then there is human involvement.
"That’s our focus, as humans are integral to every aspect of aviation. They also are the highest element of risk, and we are fully aware of that," Hackworth said as she discussed how the institute manages that risk through certifications and through educational and research programs.
Randall Burke, director of FAA's logistics center, also talked about the role his operation plays in maintaining and repairing 200 different systems that impact every aspect of flight at airports across the nation.
He said the logistics group works with a private contractor at the Monroney Center to troubleshoot problems or issues new technology or obsolescence might present, as well.
"If we have an issue we have to deal with, we can plug in, experiment ... we have all the right people to solve issues almost real time," he said.