Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

FAA acting Administrator Billy Nolen stressed the importance of “thinking outside of the box” as the industry attempts to bring in new talent and build the workforce. The agency has learned that “you’ve got to go where the audience is,” Nolen said during <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2023-01-18/faa-chief-5g-brings-sharp-focus-need-look-beyond-industry">an RTCA webinar</a> on Wednesday. “Chances are the people we need are probably not on this [webinar].”
He cited as an example an FAA campaign to recruit air traffic control candidates.&nbsp;“When we were looking to…bring on the next generation of air traffic controllers, we went to TikTok influencers to help get the word out. We went to gamers to tell us…some of the skillsets.”
Using that approach, the FAA went out with a campaign. “We thought, okay, we’d get maybe 10,000 applications,” he said. Instead, the agency received nearly 850,000 hits on its site and 60,000 applications for 1,500 controller jobs. He said this shows what happens when “you think differently.”
He added that the applications represented a diverse field that included “incredible numbers” of females and underrepresented minorities. Such a field is critical, he added. “If we've got a diversity of opinion, a diversity of background, a diversity of ideas coming into the fore, that's the kind of atmosphere you need in which to grow.”
The FAA’s approach is to proactively try to make sure that the workplace reflects the public at large, Nolen said. He added, “We want talented professionals wherever we can find them to be part of this agency and the industry.&nbsp;We’ve got to go meet them where they are and find ways to bring them in and they can help us.”

FAA Chief Nolen Advises To 'Go Where Audience Is' To Build Workforce | Ainonline.com

The FAA looked to TikTok and gamers to recruit air traffic controllers and results far exceeded the agency's expectations, FAA's Nolen said.

Nolen Advises To 'Go Where Audience Is' To Build Workforce

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN