Airports
Pilot-controller Teamwork Key to Aviation Safety, Says NBAA
NBAA’s Gertsen weighs in during NATCA panel discussion
Participants at NATCA safety panel
Participants at NATCA's safety conference hear NBAA director of airports and infrastructure Alex Gertsen stress the importance of cooperation between pilots and controllers. (Photo: NBAA)

Pilots and air traffic controllers can minimize the likelihood of an aviation incident by working together in challenging situations, such as during a complicated taxi route, according to Alex Gertsen, a pilot and NBAA’s director of airports and ground infrastructure.

“It’s really important from the pilot perspective that we brief ourselves, that we look at the taxi route,” Gertsen told an audience of air traffic controllers during a September 19 panel discussion on surface safety at the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) Communicating for Safety conference in Las Vegas.