This FAA Engineer’s Stay in American Samoa Was No Vacation
COVID-19 flight restrictions turned this FAA engineer’s month-long project into a four-month stay.
By Richard McCarthy, FAA Office of Technical Operations
What happens when a project that’s only supposed to last a month turns into an indefinite stay in a remote location due to COVID-19 travel restrictions? For one dedicated FAA professional, it meant more time for improvements beyond the original project scope.
FAA civil engineer Dave de Langis did just after he finished a roof replacement project in American Samoa, which travel restrictions turned into an unanticipated four-month stay. While stuck in the remote locale, he took the initiative to complete many different improvements to the FAA system support center, too.
Project kickoff, then stuck!
De Langis is a civil engineer with the FAA’s Facilities and Engineering Services in the Western Service Area. He also has a strong structural engineering background. “We often send him to work on both types of projects,” said Khanh Tran, the operations infrastructure engineering manager for the Los Angeles District.
The plan was for de Langis to coordinate the project’s start and stay in American Samoa until the end of March. The contractor’s on-site management team arrived in American Samoa for the kickoff meeting March 10 and returned to Salt Lake City once the meeting ended. The project was expected to be completed in about one month.
On March 13, the governor of the territory halted all passenger air traffic, and the last available flight arrived March 12. The contractor’s team was not able to return to the island.
The FAA recalled all of its engineers throughout the world at the start of the COVID-19 public health emergency, and construction projects were delayed. However, FAA management allowed de Langis to stay to complete the roof replacement project because there were no cases of COVID-19 in American Samoa, making the risk of infection extremely low.
A local construction firm was hired as a subcontractor to keep the project on track. De Langis communicated with the general contractor in Utah while overseeing the subcontractors to ensure that the statement of work and safety rules were followed.
De Langis stayed in daily contact with Rick Ambriz, the FAA’s front line manager for the American Samoa, Maui, and Kauai Service Support Centers within the Honolulu District. “Every week he sent me detailed progress reports with both ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures,” Ambriz said. “He kept me informed throughout the whole project.”
Travel restrictions were still in place once the new roof was completed. The original air travel suspension in American Samoa was spanned 30 days but was extended for several additional 30-day increments. De Langis was, in effect, stranded there indefinitely.
He took this opportunity to note the potential to repair other structures at the site. These projects included repairing the non-directional beacon tower and the perimeter fence, and installing a roof overhang for the service building, five new garage doors in the service building and a new facility sign.
Life in American Samoa
Living in American Samoa is not like living in the continental United States. The territory’s remoteness (over 2,200 miles southwest of Hawaii), weather conditions, and lack of amenities can present challenges, especially when one cannot leave. The island of Tutuila is also relatively small, at only 55 square miles.
Therefore, it didn’t take long for De Langis to adapt to his new environment. “I spent so much time there that the local residents began to recognize me,” he said.
De Langis’ life in American Samoa during the COVID-19 public health emergency began to revolve around when the cargo ships arrived. Cargo flights were limited to one a week, so the ships were the only way to get a large amount of goods to the island.
“When these ships came into port, they were a big event,” de Langis said. “No one knew what was going to be unloaded.” Goods were limited. “The two pizza shops on the island could not make pizzas because there was no cheese available.”
Additionally, shopping for groceries in American Samoa is not the same as it is on the U.S. mainland. There are no large grocery stores, but there is one bulk-type warehouse store. Goods like produce and meat are purchased at small shops, and people went to specific stores when they heard through word of mouth that they had high-demand items in stock.
“There was this one independent store that received a large supply of delicious cherries,” de Langis said. “These were gone within a day.”
The best time to grocery shop was on Sunday mornings. “I hit the stores in a circuit,” he said. “The kitchen in the [Service Support Center] building was large and very well-equipped. I did my shopping and stored my groceries there and did most of my cooking there, too.”
De Langis stayed in a bed-and-breakfast bungalow close to the ocean. That may sound ideal, but American Samoa is definitely not a “touristy” destination. “The shoreline is very rough and rocky and the waves were massive,” he said. “When some of the waves hit the shore, I could feel the vibration inside the bungalow.”
Continuing work
De Langis encountered multiple challenges after getting the approval to continue with the roof replacement. The limited number of cargo flights and several storms hitting in sequence caused problems.
“Certain necessary supplies were delayed because of the flight restrictions,” de Langis said. “Weather also became a huge factor. So I had to move the construction crews to other areas of the project site where work could be accomplished.”
The American Samoa Service Support Center, located in the town of Tafuna near Pago Pago International Airport, was commissioned in 1962. About 6,900 square feet of the roof needed to be replaced, largely due to damage caused by the corrosive salt sea air. “This facility had been overlooked for a while, and these repairs were necessary,” Ambriz said.
The team developed another statement of work to perform the additional work. The non-directional beacon tower had been battered by wind and salt water, and corrosion was threatening to destroy it. The perimeter fence also needed to be replaced because there were gaping holes in several areas, which created both security and safety hazards.
“The wild dogs were crawling through the fence holes and sleeping on site,” de Langis said.
Funding for these additional projects was secured from the district budget. “The district puts aside money for corrosion control, so that funding was used to repair the tower,” Ambriz said.
“Funding was also secured from [FAA Technical Operations (Tech Ops)] funds and from [Engineering Services]. These funds were used for the fence repair, the installation of five new garage doors in the service building and the new sign.
Coming home — finally!
Commercial flight restrictions are currently still in place on American Samoa due to the public health emergency. After a few fruitless attempts, de Langis finally secured a flight. He finally left American Samoa on July 25 at 2 a.m. local time.
De Langis has received many accolades for all the work he accomplished on American Samoa during an extremely challenging time. Tran nominated him for an “Extra Mile Award in the Western Pacific Region,” which he later won.
“With the additional 3 ½ months being stuck on the island due to COVID-19 flight restrictions, Dave went the ‘Extra Mile’ to accomplish the new service building shade structure, the [non-directional beacon] antenna, and the facility security fence refurbishment projects,” Tran said.
“I had to rely on Dave to ensure the job was being done right because I was not able to be there,” Ambriz added. “Dave did a fantastic job, and I am looking forward to seeing the site myself when travel restrictions are lifted.”
“If I had it to do all over again, I would,” de Langis said. “I wanted to leave that building in great shape. I probably spent 2,000 hours on the site, but I really enjoyed my stay there. The experience has become a part of me.”
