The Other Side of the Mic
It starts with the beginning of aviation, the Wright Brothers, the pioneers, the early airplane manufacturers, the airplanes, the beginning of air mail service, and the beginning of air traffic control services. The early day pilots, the pilots that were heroes during war, the test pilots, the Jet Age, X (experimental) airplanes, the century-series jets, the first commercial jet airliners, the astronauts, and their first flights into outer space during the Race to Space with the Russians.
After high school graduation the Author joined the air force, 1955-1959. After Tech School he was assigned to work in the control tower at Edwards AFB, (EDW), CA, an airplane test base. He shares some of his experiences. After leaving the air force he continued in air traffic control at the Indianapolis, Lansing, Kansas City International, and Dallas/Fort Worth Tower/TRACONS (DFW). He also worked in Washington, DC, at the FAA Headquarters and returned to DFW.
After he retired, in 1990, he became a contractor as an instructor at the FAA Academy for initial training in Oklahoma City, then the FAA Headquarters in DC, then the FAA Regional Office in Fort Worth, TX, supporting air traffic control requirements, and the transition to the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) before retirement in 2013.
After a year he decided to write some notes about his experiences to leave for his family. This caused some questions to come to mind and he did some research to find the answers. After a while he realized he had a lot of information and he wanted to share it with others, not just his family. The answer, write a book! After 58 years of his experiences he had some ideas about the problems and the future; his last chapter is some of his vision into the future. Initially each chapter covered each decade from 1900 to present; then the future. He also researched each decade and included, what he calls, a Fun Facts. Then he decided there was too much history in the beginning before he entered the book to write about his experiences. He dropped his idea of the decades; but wanted to keep the Fun Facts-so he just dropped them to the end of the book.
Enjoy!!!