[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13716]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          RECOGNIZING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF KEVIN LEO OSWALD

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ALAN GRAYSON

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 30, 2014

  Mr. GRAYSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an outstanding 
member of the Central Florida community, Mr. Kevin Oswald. Oswald was 
recently awarded the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) Air Traffic 
Controller of the Year Award.
  As a controller, Oswald has seen the Kissimmee Gateway Airport grow 
and expand from a small non-automated facility to a control tower with 
Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) radar, touch 
screen communications and FAA flight data input/output (FDIO) 
equipment. He has been an integral player in the success of the 
Kissimmee Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) in achieving over 2.3 
million operations without an operational error.
  An excellent example of Mr. Oswald's controller abilities occurred on 
December 19, 2013, when he was working as controller at the Kissimmee 
ATCT. He observed a Beechcraft airplane that had been cleared for 
landing and was over the approach end of runway 15 without the landing 
gear extended. He immediately cleared the aircraft for a ``go around'' 
and explained the situation to the pilot. The pilot responded and on 
the next approach made a safe landing. Later, the facility received a 
letter from the pilot expressing his appreciation to Mr. Oswald and 
stated that his actions prevented a catastrophe. Apparently, the pilot 
had inadvertently silenced the gear warning light to accomplish a 
single engine landing. The Pan Am International Flight Academy changed 
its operations policies based on Mr. Oswald's actions.
  Seeing a need to improve emergency response time, Oswald developed a 
training program to assist both the Fire and Police departments to 
better understand the Air Traffic Operations during an inflight 
emergency. He contacted the Kissimmee Fire Department Training Director 
and jointly they developed a plan to have all the fire and police 
department personnel visit the tower for an extensive training and 
observation course. This training has improved the emergency response 
time for both departments.
  Mr. Oswald was also instrumental in developing routes for the medevac 
unit which flies out of Kissimmee Airport. He established standardized 
procedures and expedited routes to allow the life-saving medevac unit 
to operate in the quickest and safest way possible.
  As a true team player, his efforts on a daily basis have 
significantly helped the Kissimmee Airport to be recognized as a 
destination of choice for individual pilots and aviation oriented 
organizations. His devotion and dedication to duty make him most 
deserving of the ATCA Air Traffic Control Specialist of the Year Award.
  I am happy to honor Kevin Oswald for his accomplishments and 
contributions to the Central Florida and aviation communities.

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