1. JN -
Fred has retired as most everyone knows by now. Thank you for being an awesome coworker Fred. Congrats on your retirement!
Fred retired a little earlier than expected, so we had to move Kimberly to cover his mid. Fortunately Kimberly wasn't affected too much as she was able to stay on Tue/Wed. Drew moved onto Mon/Tues in Fred's place.
2. Other Schedule Stuff -
We will be losing Gallo shortly, so the weekday day shifts will take a hit there. We will also be losing Dave soon as well. As of now, there are no plans to fill their lines. We simply don't have the bodies. So, we'll just be going ahead without them and doing our best to cover. I do know that when Dave goes, there will be a 16 shift that will have to be rotated around the Mon/Tues crew on Wednesday nights.
Looking ahead to next year (I know it's only April, a lot can change) it looks like we'll be bidding 31 lines with potentially two R-side trainees close to certified. For reference, we bid 34 this year.
3. Even More Schedule Stuff -
Look for the schedule to get pretty thin as we move into summer. Be prepared to be short and to have a tough time getting leave. Now, with that being said, if you notice anything weird about your schedule or your requests, and you can't get your supervisor to fix it or look at it, let me know so that I can look into it. I had one thing brought up to me a few weeks ago that the supervisors missed. I don't check the schedule all the time to make sure everything is being done correctly, so the only way I'll know if something is wrong is if you let me know.
4. LMT trips -
I'm hearing word from Renee Peavey that there is the potential for some trips to LMT. The Air Force has told management that they want the trips to be incentives for people that are doing good work here. They are also wanting to remind us that these trips are a privilege not a right, and that a ride on an F15 is not guaranteed if you go down there. Somebody there at the Air Force didn't appreciate the attitudes of some of the last group that went down there apparently. (I'm not sure who they are talking about, and was surprised to hear that).
I don't know when the trips are scheduled yet, but they think there might be one in June and might be one in September. Matt and Garret were already owed a trip to LMT from Troy Gascoyne but that trip fell through, so I know they are on the list. I think other people will be chosen to go based on which days the trip is, who can get off the schedule, and who has not been before.
5. New Students on the Floor -
We have two new D-side trainees that have just made it through the DYSIM. Christina Phorimavong (former military controller at Pope Field) will be going to Wed/Thurs and Jason Cruz (former controller at PAE) will be going to Fri/Sat. Give them a high five if you see them.
6. Whirlyball -
NATCA is looking to host a solidarity event this fall. They are planning a trip to Edmonds to play some Whirlyball. Right now they are trying to gauge interest in an event like this. Take a second and fill out this survey if you are interested:
http://www.powr.io/plugins/ survey/view?id=1075948&mode= page
I did it and it only takes a second.
That's the latest,
Chico