{"id":15081,"date":"2020-03-19T18:02:06","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T18:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=15081"},"modified":"2020-03-19T18:03:39","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T18:03:39","slug":"state-aviation-services-continue-appropriate-precautions-taken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/national-news\/state-aviation-services-continue-appropriate-precautions-taken\/%20","title":{"rendered":"State Aviation Services Continue; Appropriate Precautions Taken in Light of Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic state aviation offices\ncontinue to offer services throughout the country, having taken necessary\nsafety precautions to help protect customers and staff and comply with all\nstate\/federal directives during this crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aviation officials are teleworking or transitioning to\ntelework mode with the primary goal of maintaining and fulfilling essential\nfunctions which include the processing and payment of vendor airport sponsor\ninvoices, airport inspections, and the processing and approval of new grant requests.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although no one know for sure how long this will be the\nnorm, early April seems to be the initial time frame. In Indiana the Office of\nAviation is working remotely with limited time spent in the office for\nessential services until 4\/12\/2020.  \u201cWe\nare available remotely with no impacts to operations,\u201d said Martin Blake,\nOffice of Aviation Manager. \u201cAt this point, we are continuing our safety\ninspection program as scheduled due to the typical solitary work environment,\nhowever, no external visitors and\/or non-essential travel until further notice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That appears to be the practice throughout the country.\nIn Georgia, aviation program staff members are working remotely as the office\nis set up to work virtually. \u201cOur customers should not see any disruption in\nservice due to the COVID-19 outbreak other than no in-person meetings,\u201d said\nSteven V. Brian, Manager, Aviation Programs with the Division of Intermodal\nPrograms, \u201cAnd our site visits are limited to observation only with no person\nto person contact. All other events are being postponed and will be rescheduled\nas appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mark Flynn<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Virginia Department of Aviation has instituted\nseveral policies and practices, which include teleworking for all staff on a\nrotating basis. \u201cEach division [airport services, communication &\neducation, flight ops and finance\/administration], designated who would be in\nthe office which days,\u201d noted Mark Flynn, Director. \u201cAs a result, we have about\n1\/3 staff in the building at any one time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilots are in a different category. Flynn said they are\nto self-quarantine at home, except when they come in for a flight in one of the\nagencies aircraft, or if it is necessary to come in for some mandatory\ntraining.  The department operates two\nKing Air 350s and two Cessnas, a 206 and a 182. For now, according to Flynn,\nthey are operating the King Airs with dedicated crews. \u201cWe always fly the King Airs\n2 pilot. For now, pilot A only flies with pilot B, C with D, etc.  Each crew will fly only one of the KAs. That\nway, if pilot A tests positive, only pilot B is affected and only one KA is\naffected.\u201d Flynn said they disinfect each aircraft after each use.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a contingency plan with the janitorial company\nfor disinfection in case there is a positive case in the building,\u201d said Flynn.\n\u201cThe janitorial company has also instituted increased cleaning protocols every\nday.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Greg Pecoraro<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

State aviation agencies recognize their critical role in\nmaintaining a safe and efficient national aviation system, and according to\nGregory Pecoraro, President of the National Association of State Aviation\nOfficials (NASAO), are committed to fulfilling that responsibility. \u201cEven as\nmany states move some personnel to telework status, they remain focused on\ncritical operations,\u201d said Pecoraro, whose association polled each state\naviation office in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile we haven’t heard back yet from several states,\nit’s clear that many state aviation offices are on some form of telework status\nfor at least the next few weeks, and other states have said they expect to move\nto that status in the next few days.\u201d Pecoraro said the states that have\nreported in say they are continuing to do business as usual, just from remote\nlocations. \u201cSeveral report that airport inspections are low contact activities\nthat are continuing as usual, state operated airports remain open, and state-owned\naircraft operate as necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Massachusetts, most employees will work remotely from\nhome thru April 3rd<\/sup> but that is subject to change. Staff will rotate\nvisits to the Aeronautics Division office to attend to urgent requests, process\ndocuments requiring hard copy signatures, check mail, etc. Conference calls\nrelated to new policies, airport issues, or capital projects will continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the states that operate state-owned airfields and\nhave other unique responsibilities is the Cornhusker State. The Nebraska\nDivision of Aeronautics has a small crew that maintains NAVAIDs throughout the\nstate and has two individuals that maintain three state-owned airports. \u201cEach\nof these positions performs a critical public safety function and works alone,\u201d\nsaid Ann Richart, Director. \u201cThese staff members will continue their normal\nroutines that involve very little contact with others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richart said there are nine members of the staff that\nwork in their main office, and the main door to the office requires security\ncredentials for entry so they don\u2019t have members of the public walking in and\nout of the office.  These nine are all\nprepared to work from home if that becomes necessary.  \u201cWe are currently ensuring that everyone has\nthe documents, hardware, and equipment they may need to take home in order to\nwork there,\u201d said Richart. \u201cNext week we will begin rotating through everyone\nworking from home on a staggered basis so that everyone gets practice working\nthis way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nebraska Department of Transportation lists their\npriorities for maintaining operations as; (1) Public Safety, (2) Customer\nService, and (3) Preserve programs that have a positive economic impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although meetings are being cancelled, rescheduled or\nswitched to teleconferences and video conferences, one thing remains clear;\nstate aviation offices will continue to provide their core services, and do so\nin a safe and responsible manner.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic state aviation offices continue to offer services throughout the country, having taken necessary safety precautions to help protect customers and staff and comply with all state\/federal directives during this crisis. Aviation officials are teleworking or transitioning to telework mode with the primary goal of maintaining and fulfilling essential […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/3B1A9747.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15081"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15085,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15081\/revisions\/15085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}