Moving Forward in this New World

摘要

Since the last issue of The Journal of Air Traffic Control was published, it feels like the world is a different place. COVID-19 has profoundly and fundamentally changed the aviation ecosystem, perhaps permanently. In the United States, a political and moral debate rages on. Not to mention, murder hornets invaded the Pacific Northwest (that was an interesting and rather unresolved plot twist in an already unpredictable year). It's important at times like these that we as a professional community remain united, collaborating on the things we can control, minimizing the impacts of those we can't, and coming up with innovative solutions to the challenges we face. A big part of how we at ATCA are evolving to meet and succeed in today's new reality is by embracing virtual tools. Three months into mandatory telework, a dozen ATCA webinars, and hundreds of Zoom calls later, I can officially say that I've transitioned in my thinking about productivity, how teams can work together remotely, and how we can disseminate and consume content in new ways. As you know, we made the difficult decision to cancel World ATM Congress in March and have had to postpone the ATCA Technical Symposium. With the pandemic still in full swing, we've made the decision to virtualize ATCA Annual (more on that in the coming weeks). From all the demos and testing we have seen and all the brainstorming my team and I have done, it's clear that not only can we be productive in a digital environment, but that we can also be more creative when we understand and harness the capabilities digital tools can provide.