Director of William J. Hughes Technical Center guides facility into bigger spotlight
By JENNIFER BOGDAN, Staff Writer | Posted: Saturday, June 11, 2011 9:58 pm
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - Don't ask Wilson Felder to describe the Next Generation Air Transportation System in detail. He can't do it.
Not that he doesn't have the technical expertise or that a full description of the system is under lock and key, but the vision for NextGen is constantly evolving, leaving the man who directs the Federal Aviation Administration's William J. Hughes Technical Center to oversee development of concepts that have yet to be firmed up.
"If you're going to ask me to tell you now, in 2011, what NextGen looks like in 2025, I'm going to tell you I can't do that," Felder said. "If I committed to that, I'd be shortchanging the whole system."
Felder says NextGen is not a single program - it's not a magic box, a piece of hardware or a software application waiting to be developed. Rather, it's a new, comprehensive approach to air traffic control intended to ensure that air travel stimulates the economy rather than dragging it down. The result will be planes flying more direct routes, cutting down delays and consuming less fuel as the FAA shifts from a radar-based system to a satellite-based one.
The 64-year-old part-time Somers Point resident has been the public face and senior leader of the tech center since April 2006. The Egg Harbor Township-based facility is the nation's lone federal labortory for air transportation systems.
NextGen has the attention of everyone from local officials to federal leaders. The program is said to be No. 5 on President Barack Obama's list of priorities and the No. 1 priority for U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Because NextGen concepts must be tested at the tech center, the Egg Harbor Township campus has drawn some of the spotlight as well.
"There have been times when the work that is done here and the value that is placed on this facility by the nation have been very high. There have been other times when the value and criticality has been less. At the moment, we are at one of those very high periods," Felder said. "The stars are aligned, certainly for the first time in the last 30 years. There is some buzz, but there is substance behind the buzz."
Yet Felder will be the first to say that aviation is not where he envisioned his career. The man who is now rarely seen in public without an airplane-embroidered tie atop a monogrammed dress shirt has degrees in geology and environmental science. In between degrees he spent four years at sea with the U.S. Navy. His doctorate dissertation at the University of Virginia was on beach erosion.
He got his pilot's certificate in 2005, one year before he took his assignment at the tech center.
"I loved going to sea. Boats are still much more important to me than airplanes, but that doesn't really matter from a professional point of view," Felder said. "What I'm doing today is not significantly different than what I was doing in 1978. It's applying math and physics to a different problem."
Keeping pace
The New York City native, who grew up all over the world thanks to his father's job as a magazine editor, said he does not feel pressure, only opportunity and a new energy at the center, he said.
The biggest obstacle to his work, he says, is keeping up with the expectation of upgrades in a technologically advanced society.
"We are at one of those periods in history where technology is moving at a blinding speed. Ideally, we'd want air transportation technology to be replaced at the same speed as we replace cellphones. Obviously, we can't do that because of the safety requirements."
If NextGen sounds like catchy jargon akin to a phrase one might hear from a computer salesman, Felder would agree. He said the program was named with the goal of making it more relatable - a media relations tactic, sort of, he said - although the NextGen moniker was invented before he took over at the tech center.
NextGen could have just as easily been called NGATS, a more government-friendly abbreviation for Next Generation Air Transportation System. The previous administrator of the FAA, Marion Blakey, suggested that abbreviation was too bureaucratic and unrelatable, Felder said.
"There is a public relations approach built around the guts of the NextGen system," Felder said. "We did that in order to try to explain to people what all of this collection of pretty difficult technical answers was."
A broad mission
The tech center was established in 1958 as a venue to test and control improvements to the national air space system. Today, although it does not use radar, the center has one of everything else in use in the system, such as sensors and communication tools.
About 60 percent of the center's work is focused on keeping the current national air space system operating smoothly. Ten percent to 15 percent is spent on new research, and 25 percent to 30 percent is spent testing new NextGen-related concepts, Felder said.
Each time a change is made to the national air space system, it is Felder's responsibility to ensure the upgrade is safe and works the way it is intended to work.
Those changes range from the showstopper upgrades of NextGen to the more incremental, such as a decision five years ago to reduce the allowed vertical distance between planes from 2,000 feet to 1,000 feet.
"We like to talk about NextGen because it's the flavor of the hour, but remember we have been doing this exact thing since July 1, 1958," Felder said of the tech center's mission.
On an average day last month, Felder tended to everything from attempts to bring about greater coordination between the tech center and NASA to infrastructure upgrades. Three staff members help coordinate his schedule, which is planned out three months in advance.
Then there are his visions for the appearance of the tech center itself. For example, he would like to see the airplane suspended over the tech center atrium replaced with a new, more meaningful display. The plane on exhibit was found in a junkyard and has no real connection to the work at the tech center, he said.
About 4,500 people work on the tech center grounds every day. That includes about 1,500 FAA employees and about the same number of FAA contractors. The last 1,500 include employees of the New Jersey Air National Guard's 177th Fighter Wing, Atlantic City International Airport, the federal Transportation Security Laboratory, the U.S. Coast Guard and the federal Air Marshal Training Center - all of which are located on the tech center campus.
The technology park
Soon, the center will be home to the Next Generation Aviation Research and Technology Park under development by the South Jersey Economic Development District. The park, which will support the federal program, has arguably brought some of the most local public attention to the planned upgrades. The research and development that will take place at the park will contribute to the upgrades of the national air space system; however, the park itself will be another tenant on the FAA's property.
Felder serves as an adviser to the park's board. As the park's landlord, he has no direct say in how it is developed, but he knows the park comes with great expectations and its own set of challenges.
"It's hard to sit there with an empty piece of land and tell people what's going to be there in 10 years," Felder said. "The job for the park right now is to get themselves a building built. In the aviation industry, companies are not likely to want to come in and build themselves a building and do research. What's going to make the park aspect work is getting the first building up. Then the synergy will happen. Sparks will fly, and people will say, ‘Oh, I get it.'"
Those who work with him say there is no doubt that Felder is the right choice to lead the tech center during this critical time. In fact, they say, his determination and leadership have helped propel the tech center into the public spotlight.
"It's his leadership that's gotten us this level of attention," said tech center Operations Manager Shelley Yak, who has worked with Felder for the five years he's been at the center.
Felder splits his time between Somers Point and Chevy Chase, Md., where his wife lives. He also is an adjunct professor at Atlantic Cape Community College where he teaches a course on air traffic control that he had been more accustomed to teaching on the graduate level.
"He's committed to the FAA employees who work here and to the other agencies on the campus but even more so to the community of South Jersey," Yak said. "It's not often you see such a public person taking on the things he's taken on, like teaching at (Atlantic Cape)."
Felder's supervisor, Vicki Cox, senior vice president of NextGen operations and planning, said Felder's strengths lie in his ability to modernize operations.
"Wilson has enhanced the international reputation of the tech center as the premier source of aviation research capability," Cox said. "It's his efforts that have allowed the center to be recognized the way it has in recent years."
Contact Jennifer Bogdan:
609-272-7239
JBogdan@pressofac.com
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - Don't ask Wilson Felder to describe the Next Generation Air Transportation System in detail. He can't do it.
Not that he doesn't have the technical expertise or that a full description of the system is under lock and key, but the vision for NextGen is constantly evolving, leaving the man who directs the Federal Aviation Administration's William J. Hughes Technical Center to oversee development of concepts that have yet to be firmed up.
"If you're going to ask me to tell you now, in 2011, what NextGen looks like in 2025, I'm going to tell you I can't do that," Felder said. "If I committed to that, I'd be shortchanging the whole system."
Felder says NextGen is not a single program - it's not a magic box, a piece of hardware or a software application waiting to be developed. Rather, it's a new, comprehensive approach to air traffic control intended to ensure that air travel stimulates the economy rather than dragging it down. The result will be planes flying more direct routes, cutting down delays and consuming less fuel as the FAA shifts from a radar-based system to a satellite-based one.
The 64-year-old part-time Somers Point resident has been the public face and senior leader of the tech center since April 2006. The Egg Harbor Township-based facility is the nation's lone federal labortory for air transportation systems.
NextGen has the attention of everyone from local officials to federal leaders. The program is said to be No. 5 on President Barack Obama's list of priorities and the No. 1 priority for U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Because NextGen concepts must be tested at the tech center, the Egg Harbor Township campus has drawn some of the spotlight as well.
"There have been times when the work that is done here and the value that is placed on this facility by the nation have been very high. There have been other times when the value and criticality has been less. At the moment, we are at one of those very high periods," Felder said. "The stars are aligned, certainly for the first time in the last 30 years. There is some buzz, but there is substance behind the buzz."
Yet Felder will be the first to say that aviation is not where he envisioned his career. The man who is now rarely seen in public without an airplane-embroidered tie atop a monogrammed dress shirt has degrees in geology and environmental science. In between degrees he spent four years at sea with the U.S. Navy. His doctorate dissertation at the University of Virginia was on beach erosion.
He got his pilot's certificate in 2005, one year before he took his assignment at the tech center.
"I loved going to sea. Boats are still much more important to me than airplanes, but that doesn't really matter from a professional point of view," Felder said. "What I'm doing today is not significantly different than what I was doing in 1978. It's applying math and physics to a different problem."
Keeping pace
The New York City native, who grew up all over the world thanks to his father's job as a magazine editor, said he does not feel pressure, only opportunity and a new energy at the center, he said.
The biggest obstacle to his work, he says, is keeping up with the expectation of upgrades in a technologically advanced society.
"We are at one of those periods in history where technology is moving at a blinding speed. Ideally, we'd want air transportation technology to be replaced at the same speed as we replace cellphones. Obviously, we can't do that because of the safety requirements."
If NextGen sounds like catchy jargon akin to a phrase one might hear from a computer salesman, Felder would agree. He said the program was named with the goal of making it more relatable - a media relations tactic, sort of, he said - although the NextGen moniker was invented before he took over at the tech center.
NextGen could have just as easily been called NGATS, a more government-friendly abbreviation for Next Generation Air Transportation System. The previous administrator of the FAA, Marion Blakey, suggested that abbreviation was too bureaucratic and unrelatable, Felder said.
"There is a public relations approach built around the guts of the NextGen system," Felder said. "We did that in order to try to explain to people what all of this collection of pretty difficult technical answers was."
A broad mission
The tech center was established in 1958 as a venue to test and control improvements to the national air space system. Today, although it does not use radar, the center has one of everything else in use in the system, such as sensors and communication tools.
About 60 percent of the center's work is focused on keeping the current national air space system operating smoothly. Ten percent to 15 percent is spent on new research, and 25 percent to 30 percent is spent testing new NextGen-related concepts, Felder said.
Each time a change is made to the national air space system, it is Felder's responsibility to ensure the upgrade is safe and works the way it is intended to work.
Those changes range from the showstopper upgrades of NextGen to the more incremental, such as a decision five years ago to reduce the allowed vertical distance between planes from 2,000 feet to 1,000 feet.
"We like to talk about NextGen because it's the flavor of the hour, but remember we have been doing this exact thing since July 1, 1958," Felder said of the tech center's mission.
On an average day last month, Felder tended to everything from attempts to bring about greater coordination between the tech center and NASA to infrastructure upgrades. Three staff members help coordinate his schedule, which is planned out three months in advance.
Then there are his visions for the appearance of the tech center itself. For example, he would like to see the airplane suspended over the tech center atrium replaced with a new, more meaningful display. The plane on exhibit was found in a junkyard and has no real connection to the work at the tech center, he said.
About 4,500 people work on the tech center grounds every day. That includes about 1,500 FAA employees and about the same number of FAA contractors. The last 1,500 include employees of the New Jersey Air National Guard's 177th Fighter Wing, Atlantic City International Airport, the federal Transportation Security Laboratory, the U.S. Coast Guard and the federal Air Marshal Training Center - all of which are located on the tech center campus.
The technology park
Soon, the center will be home to the Next Generation Aviation Research and Technology Park under development by the South Jersey Economic Development District. The park, which will support the federal program, has arguably brought some of the most local public attention to the planned upgrades. The research and development that will take place at the park will contribute to the upgrades of the national air space system; however, the park itself will be another tenant on the FAA's property.
Felder serves as an adviser to the park's board. As the park's landlord, he has no direct say in how it is developed, but he knows the park comes with great expectations and its own set of challenges.
"It's hard to sit there with an empty piece of land and tell people what's going to be there in 10 years," Felder said. "The job for the park right now is to get themselves a building built. In the aviation industry, companies are not likely to want to come in and build themselves a building and do research. What's going to make the park aspect work is getting the first building up. Then the synergy will happen. Sparks will fly, and people will say, ‘Oh, I get it.'"
Those who work with him say there is no doubt that Felder is the right choice to lead the tech center during this critical time. In fact, they say, his determination and leadership have helped propel the tech center into the public spotlight.
"It's his leadership that's gotten us this level of attention," said tech center Operations Manager Shelley Yak, who has worked with Felder for the five years he's been at the center.
Felder splits his time between Somers Point and Chevy Chase, Md., where his wife lives. He also is an adjunct professor at Atlantic Cape Community College where he teaches a course on air traffic control that he had been more accustomed to teaching on the graduate level.
"He's committed to the FAA employees who work here and to the other agencies on the campus but even more so to the community of South Jersey," Yak said. "It's not often you see such a public person taking on the things he's taken on, like teaching at (Atlantic Cape)."
Felder's supervisor, Vicki Cox, senior vice president of NextGen operations and planning, said Felder's strengths lie in his ability to modernize operations.
"Wilson has enhanced the international reputation of the tech center as the premier source of aviation research capability," Cox said. "It's his efforts that have allowed the center to be recognized the way it has in recent years."
Contact Jennifer Bogdan:
609-272-7239
JBogdan@pressofac.com
