Opening Doors to a Diverse FAA
Since his introduction to the FAA as a summer intern, NBCFAE National President Freddie Green has worked to create career pathways for other young professionals in the aviation field.
By Daniel Glover, FAA Office of Communications
Nearly two decades later, Freddie Green fondly remembers his first job at the FAA as a summer intern in the Eastern Region’s Air Traffic Operations Branch — an experience that inspires him to make sure others have similar opportunities in the ATO.
“We encourage all offices in the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) to bring on interns,” Green said. “I am standing here today because somebody gave me an opportunity…They can learn from us, and you can really create a pathway, open up a door in the agency throughout internship programs.”
As national president of the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees, Green was one of the speakers for this year’s ATO Diversity and Inclusion Month, where he participated in a virtual chat with other employee association leaders about diversity in the FAA, and will be speaking at the White House National HBCU Week and Conference.
Green, the acting air traffic manager at Miami Tower, said the racial injustice demonstrations the nation has experienced the past months are a key moment in American history. He said his coalition’s members are “definitely feeling a great sense of hurt, pain and a great sense of urgency that continued change is needed.”
He sees internships as one concrete way to foster that change.
Green dreamed of becoming a pilot after his first flight to the United States from his native Jamaica at age 8 but never had any guidance on how to pursue that dream. A New York newspaper listing for the Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) showed him another way into aviation. Then his CTI instructor introduced students to internship opportunities.
Green said the mentors he found through his FAA summer internship “showed me that air traffic control is the way to go. Little did I know that three months would turn into what is now a 20-year career in air traffic control.”
The FAA’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Aviation and Space Education Program, known by the shorthand STEM-AVSED, is another great way to introduce young minorities to opportunities in the agency. The program shows students that aviation involves more than the pilots and flight attendants who are most visible to the public, Green said.
“Many times we go into the schools and they don’t what the FAA is, or they don’t know air traffic control or so many of the other professions,” he said.
“You have to go out there and let them know that there’s every profession in the field of aviation.”
Green is also a big believer in the Air Traffic Leadership Development Program (ATLDP) and Program for Emerging Leaders (PEL) as venues for increasing diversity and inclusion. The programs give controllers and other FAA employees an opportunity to explore management opportunities.
“If we’re an agency that speaks to diversity and inclusion, our leadership must also be reflective. And that is based on qualifications,” he said. “There are a lot of potential leaders, and we must have the same opportunities as all.”
Green praised ATO leaders for their spirit of collaboration with employee associations and their ongoing efforts to ensure diversity and inclusion. He said COO Teri Bristol, Deputy COO Tim Arel and the service unit vice presidents consistently demonstrate their commitment to the goal.
“Instead of being against each other, we can sit at the table and we can work together, really look at things strategically and intelligently and see where there are areas where we can really begin to target,” he said. “… We are working together, opening the lines of communication.”
Read more about the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, and check out these great STEM and internship options for a future in aviation.
