‘A Continuum of Service’
FAA aviation safety inspector Mark Auer finesses the similarities between his work with the Air National Guard and FAA, and how he has used skills from both to get inside a ‘circle of trust.’
By Jim Tise, FAA
September 18, 2021 marks the 74th anniversary of the Air National Guard. On that date in 1947, the Guard became the reserve component of the U.S. Air Force, which had broken from the U.S. Army to become a separate military service.
When Mark Auer thinks back on the air combat mission that nearly cost him his life just short of his 27th birthday, a whole range of feelings run through him. For Auer, the primary emotion was and remains … appreciation.
On a combat mission during the first Gulf War in 1991, Auer’s F-111 fighter/bomber was being tracked by an Iraqi radar-guided surface-to-air missile. Auer began dispensing chaff, a countermeasure which blossoms small particles behind the aircraft in an attempt to throw the missile’s radar off. That night he was carrying 84 bundles of chaff, but after dispensing the first four bundles, the chaff dispenser failed.
“At this point things were not looking good for the home team,” Auer said. “It is at times like these that you can feel like you are all alone. Yet, we really weren’t. Because we had on the bottom of the airplane another piece of equipment, an electronic countermeasure pod that could do some pretty magical things to confuse that surface-to-air missile and its radar.”
The countermeasure worked and Auer completed the mission, and returned safely to base.
“The fact that the American people provided us with that piece of equipment, well, it gave us a second chance,” explained Auer. “Your parents and grandparents, who paid their taxes so we could have that equipment — you could say, they were there with us, too. Their support is something that has never been lost on me. What I want to tell them is … thank you, because basically every day after my 27th birthday was a gift to me from the American people.”
Auer relishes the opportunity to show that appreciation in the most tangible way — by serving his country. It is his primary motivation, both as a brigadier general in the Air National Guard and as an aviation safety inspector with the FAA’s Columbus (Ohio) Flight Standards District Office (FSDO).
“That’s why I love so much being in the FAA,” he said. “It’s a continuum of service.”
Auer comes from a family with a notable history of military service. His father was a seaman on the U.S.S. Jupiter during WWII, fighting throughout the South Pacific. His two uncles fought as well: one an Army infantryman during the first wave at Normandy on D-Day and during the Battle of the Bulge; the other, a Marine, endured the horrors on Iwo Jima. As a young boy he hung out at their knees listening to stories as they played pinochle. “I was just mesmerized,” he said. “I grew up around them. I really wanted to find a way to pay it back and to say thank you.”
Again, as a boy, Auer recalled watching the Apollo program reach the Moon, from which grew his desire to fly. He earned his pilot’s certificate in 1984 flying out of Peoria, Ill. Later, he received a scholarship from his Air Force ROTC program and went to college. In 1988, he joined the U.S. Air Force, serving on active duty until 1993. He then joined the Air National Guard.
Auer deployed to the Middle East for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990/91, and then again in 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The lessons he learned from his combat days guide Auer’s work today with the Guard and the FAA. “I’m incredibly humbled and grateful to the team that is seen and unseen that gave us the training and the equipment and the motivation [to fight],” he said. “You can’t do it alone. Physically, you can feel quite alone on the far side of the world in the dark, but you’re never really alone.”
In 2018, after 31 years with the Guard, Auer was looking to retire as a full-time member. An FAA employee asked if he had considered working for the agency. “I started learning more [about the FAA]. This is truly what we talk about when we talk of a continuum of service — a return on investment,” he said. “All that [military] training can be used more directly to serve the American people and our FAA stakeholders to reduce risk.”
Auer comes at his inspector job influenced not just by what he learned in the military, but from the point of view of a civilian pilot and stakeholder in the National Airspace System he helps keep safe. When Auer flies his Mooney aircraft, it’s more than just as a hobby. He feels empathy for his fellow general aviation (GA) pilots. “It’s keeping up with the rules and the maintenance,” he explained. “It helps me understand what our stakeholders deal with.”
He has used his experiences in the Air National Guard to educate GA pilots about the dangers of hypoxia and dealing with on-board fires, among other issues. “I love being helpful. You can share a little tidbit so that everybody doesn’t have to learn by trial and error. And when you give them that, you never know, maybe just maybe they share that down the road. That’s incredibly rewarding. When we can get inside the trust circle and help people do the right thing, that’s what’s winning looks like,” he added.
Now, as a brigadier general, Auer is leveraging his FAA experience by trying to apply it to the Air National Guard. He’s now bringing those best practices lessons to the Safety and Training Divisions at Air Mobility Command at Scott Force Base in Belleville, Ill.
“The Air Force is looking at profound change as to how to train pilots,” he said. “I can speak both languages. I can translate and share best practices across the Air Force and the DOT.”
His approach to the parallels in both organizations is strategic, as well as tactical.
Strategic in the sense that he is promoting an overall safety culture, be it as a fighter pilot or a general aviation pilot. Tactically, he works on a more intimate level as chief of staff with the New Mexico Air National Guard. That organization trains fixed- and rotary-wing pilots to perform search and rescue missions. With the Columbus FSDO, he oversees NetJet’s operating certificate that trains to 121 standards, similar to training he was involved with in the military.
“From training to standardization, from designing simulation to training curriculum, I get to work in it every day in both jobs,” he said.
Auer advocates the use of hi-fidelity simulation training and voluntary reporting systems such as ASAP and FOQA — two programs created by the FAA. He refers to it as buying back the safety margin. The FAA calls it mitigating risk. “It’s six of one, half dozen of the other,” he explained. “I’m taking those tools everyday… and I’m introducing them to the folks at the Air Mobility Command.”
The colleagues he works with belong to a diverse and inclusive community “that all want to belong to something bigger than themselves,” he said. “With the FAA, you can continue to give. Part of it is having the experiences and sharing them and continuing to learn. The FAA allows us to practice selfless service.”
His advice to any person considering joining the Guard or the FAA? “Run, don’t walk. You’ll never regret it. The ability to serve your community, your state, your nation, freedom loving people around the globe is incredibly rewarding.”
Are you also looking to further your career in aviation? The FAA is hiring Aviation Safety Inspectors in many locations. Learn more and apply now.
