Airmen watch Haiti's airspace Published Jan. 29, 2010 By Army Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy National Guard Bureau ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) -- The recent arrival of Air National Guard air traffic controllers in Haiti has greatly increased the number of flights safely entering and leaving the country's air space. Twelve Air Guard air traffic controllers and an airfield operations officer are deployed to Haiti, said Scott Duke, the chief of the Air National Guard's airfield services division, and additional air traffic control assets from the Air Guard are scheduled to arrive within the next few days. "The test of how well we are assisting and helping with the ongoing operation can be found in the numbers," Mr. Duke said. "Before our presence, the daily count for arrival aircraft was around 90 per day." By (Jan. 28), he added, the number of daily operations had jumped to 120. "That is impressive and when you add the complexity of finding parking spaces for these aircraft on an airport not designed for that many airframes," he said. "You can immediately see the benefit." As more Guard members continue to arrive in country, they will assume more responsibilities. "Once they arrive at the airport, 50 percent of the Air National Guard's air traffic control squadrons will be directly supporting air traffic control operations at the airport," Mr. Duke said. An airfield management team also is scheduled to be sent to the devastated country to help in developing effective parking plans for aircraft, control vehicle traffic and manage flight plans for arriving and departing aircraft, Mr. Duke said. The role of the controllers is more than simply telling pilots when to take off and land, he noted. "In the case of Port-au-Prince (airport in Haiti), the capabilities of the air traffic controllers will be on display as they establish landing sequences to the airport, coordinate departure routes, and do all the kinds of things one would see at a typical airport," he said. However, he added, this isn't a typical airport. "Obviously, the conditions on the ground at the airport present different challenges to the controller force, as well as our airfield managers, as they both orchestrate the many moving parts of airport operations in a manner that keeps things safe and moving efficiently," Mr. Duke said. The Air National Guard controllers are trained and equipped to negotiate those challenges. Many of them, he pointed out, are Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers in their civilian careers. They also have the kind of tactical equipment needed to stand up air traffic control operations at an austere landing environment, or, in the case of Port-Au-Prince, at an airport that has lost air traffic control capability, he added. The Guard's controllers have plenty of experience running missions after disasters. In 2005, they were sent to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. "This change required our controllers to get up to speed quickly on this new system, while at the same time learning all the local area information about the airport, arrival and departure paths, frequency assignments, and geographical lay of the airport," he said. The air traffic controllers are scheduled to be in Haiti for up to 180 days, Mr. Duke said. Most will do a 90-day tour and a follow-on group will rotate in for the remaining time.