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Overview

As an Air Traffic Controller at NAS Whidbey Island, I identified a significant bottleneck in the way flight schedules were coordinated between ~30 different squadrons and the Control Tower. The legacy process was entirely manual, paper-based, and reactive, leading to missed training opportunities and inefficient airspace utilization.

The Problem

Every day, all 30 squadrons at NAS Whidbey Island would hand-deliver paper copies of their flight schedules to the base operations office so that BaseOps could file flight plans in the National Airspace System. This involved a lookup sheet of routes and route flight times, which had to be typed into the Flight Data Input/Output (FDIO) system (RS232 connected terminal with green monochrome display) — two plans per flight — with the second plan’s proposed departure time requiring the addition of the first route’s start time plus its flight time plus the requested delay. This was a time-consuming and error-prone process. Time math errors often resulted in the return flight plans falling out of the system, leaving airborne aircraft hundreds of miles away without a filed plan. Furthermore, each shift had no clear visibility into peak traffic, leading to wasted training hours during quiet periods.

The Solution

I designed and developed a custom relational database system using Microsoft Access and SQL/VBA to act as a centralized “source of truth” for the division.

• Data Aggregation: Standardized the input of disparate squadron schedules into a single relational schema.
• Predictive Modeling: Developed algorithms to compute route timing and generated automated, precisely formatted FDIO data entry reports, allowing for more rapid entry into the FDIO with no time math errors. It also generated daily TPS reports (Traffic Prediction Summary) to the watch teams, showing projected peak arrival and departure periods, in 30-minute blocks, 24 hours in advance.
• Staffing Optimization: By performing long-term aggregation of scheduling data, I generated reports proving a statistically significant drop in traffic on Friday afternoons. This led to a formal Procedures Evaluation Board (PEB) recommendation to optimize staffing levels, allowing for more controller time off without affecting operational readiness.

Engineering Impact

The system was so effective that it earned me the Navy Achievement Medal and became a mandatory tool for the facility.

• Increased Productivity: Directly contributed to a 20% increase in position qualifications and a 16% increase in overall training output for the facility.
• Accelerated Training: Reduced the overall training time for Air Traffic Control specialists by 18%.
• Safety & Reliability: Enabled leadership to conduct 6,048 discrepancy-free flight plan filings, significantly reducing the risk of “lost” flight plans in the National Airspace System.

Legacy

This project was my first major “Full Stack” intervention. It proved that software could be used as a force multiplier in high-pressure operational environments, a philosophy I carry into my work today.