Sr. Flight Operations Watch Officer serves as an Airplane Pilot within the Flight Program Operations Service Unit (AJF), Operations Control, Planning, & Analysis Directorate, Operations Control Group. This position is located in the Joint Air Traffic Operations Center at the Air Traffic Control System Command Center & is responsible for coordinating Flight Program Operations’ mission activities with other agencies, FAA LOBs, ATO service units, & airline representatives.
Duties
Serves as the Senior Flight Operation Watch Officer (SFOWO) in the Joint Air Traffic Operations Center (JATOC) at the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) and is the Vice President of Flight Program Operations’ on-site senior liaison to the JATOC.
Maintains operational awareness of the daily missions and movements of Flight Operations’ flight crew and aircraft around the globe. Communicates that information to AJF leadership, the JATOC, ATCSCC elements, and Air Traffic Organization (ATO) senior leadership. Applies technical expertise to provide support to the JATOC ATO Watch Officer (AWO) and collaborates with all other JATOC elements within the ATCSCC to provide timely, clear and concise information needed to effectively prepare for, respond to, and recover from, significant incidents in the National Airspace System (NAS). Communicates objectives to team members, sets priorities, coaches and develops employees; provides recommendations to the supervisor on employee performance, progress and training needs and on conduct/discipline issues and approves short-term leave requests. Incumbent will have access to confidential matters, information and decisions that would affect and/or influence managerial policy that impacts bargaining unit actions.
Coordinates across multiple stakeholders, to include: federal agencies, FAA lines of business, ATO Service Units, air traffic facilities, local/county/state-owned airport management, and private aviation service providers to facilitate AJF’s missions and to minimize disruptions to air traffic.
Integrates internal and external stakeholders to facilitate response plans to operational challenges that jeopardize AJF mission objectives. Actively monitors current operating status of the NAS for issues that may have a negative effect on AJF’s ability to execute assigned missions. Makes positive contact with AJF’s operations duty manager, field team managers, schedulers, and chief pilot as necessarily to mitigate those effects on the respective mission.
Actively monitors current operating status of AJF’s missions that may have a negative effect on the flow of air traffic at the NAS’s 40 busiest airports (FOCUS 40). Makes positive contact with the JATOC and ATCSCC elements as needed to minimize impact to air traffic. Applies comprehensive knowledge of AJF’s 4 missions: flight inspection, transportation, aviation safety training, and research, development, test & evaluation support, to safely and efficiently integrate AJF’s missions into the NAS.
Responsible for collecting, analyzing and sharing operational information in multiple formats and methods, and to multiple audiences; Monitors NAS operational briefings that are often confidential and sensitive in nature and provides input to those briefings as requested. Audits the work product/deliverables of AJF’s Operational Control Center (OCC) and flight scheduling process to identify trends, develop focus areas for training, and identify opportunities to make process improvements. Work requires maintaining technical expertise on Flight Program Operations missions.
This is a sensitive, noncritical level 2 position. The mission requirements of this position may require access to information classified up to and including SECRET since the purpose and location of flights, the location of some NAVAIDS or information aboard the aircraft may be classified. This position may require substantial travel. Incumbents can expect to be in a travel status more than 50 percent of the time. As required by the manager, incumbent may be required to work extended hours. Position may require incumbent to carry a government issued cell phone and be on-call to support worldwide operations and short-notice, high-priority missions.
May be required to participate in the FAA Flight Program as an active flight crewmember.