Sandra Southerland - Air Traffic Controller

Below is another guest post from Mike Pastirik; Science Teacher; Cedar Grove High School; pastirik1@hotmail.com

Today I introduced myself to Sandra Southerland an air traffic controller at McMurdo. Sandra is African-American. We shared breakfast time together. Quiet, and reserved, but as the conversation proceeded she proved to have a quick wit and a wry sense of humor.

Sandra is a former Navy air traffic controller whose first assignment was in the Indian Ocean at Diego Garcia helping to land military jets and transports. She hails from West Palm Beach, Florida. She has a husband and an eighteen month old daughter. She views this experience (which she has tried for three years to get) as a great opportunity, and a stepping stone to bigger things. She misses her family dearly, and emails or calls daily. Concerns she didn’t have in Diego, but has in McMurdo include the periodic penguin walking across the runway, or the leopard sea sticking its nose through its entry hole.

I asked her straight-up about opportunities for minorities and women. She said there are great openings for both, but education and hard work are the keys. To be an air traffic controller, one must complete a five to six year program in college, or gain entry to the profession through the armed services. It was breakfast, and she didn’t want her picture taken, but she invited me down to the tower today for a tour and said she would then. I’ll be there! I got to the air traffic control tower about 3:00 pm just in time to see a C-130 landing on its trip from the pole. Sandra directed the plane in. It was quite a sight to see this big plane land. Next up was our Twin Otter for take-off. I got lucky, and it was Sandra’s turn again. The plane looked so little compared to the C-130. People’s lives depend on the quality of work done by the controllers. After a brief tour of the inside of the facility, we said goodbye and parted. The pilots, crews, and planes seemed to be in good hands. Mike Pastirik; Science Teacher; Cedar Grove High School; pastirik1@hotmail.com