U.S. Air Forces Central, Baghdad Media Outreach Team

Story by Senior Airman Alyssa Miles

BAGHDAD -- The Iraq Civil Aviation Authority has assumed full control of daily air traffic operations at the Baghdad International Airport air traffic control tower Oct. 1.

Before the transition to full Iraqi control, air traffic operations at BIAP were conducted by Iraqis as well as U.S. Airmen assigned to the 447th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron at Sather Air Base, while more Iraqis trained with the Washington Consulting Group, an American contract firm.

"ATC wise, we work two runways -- one side is civil and one side is military," said Master Sgt. John Kirby, 447th EOSS chief controller. "On the civil side, aviation has been really coming up since we stabilized the country. Now we have a liaison who coordinates any military operations in the area with Iraqi controllers to make sure military operations, unmanned aerial vehicle or fire, aren't happening in any air space civilian aircraft will be in. They direct the flow of traffic."

As more locals became qualified, Airmen were able to turn over their positions to Iraqi controllers and focus on military flights arriving and departing from BIAP. At present, the ICAA has a total of 17 fully qualified and licensed Iraqi controllers, five of whom are trainer qualified. Seven more individuals are in the process of receiving their qualification.

Ali Thamer, an Iraqi and BIAP's tower manager, stated that before 2003, the ICAA didn't have an ATC system in general.

To begin their training, the Iraqis attended two introductory courses -- a five-month ATC course and a three-month course in Jordan. Next, they began an advanced course with the WCG, where they sat side-by-side with a qualified controller and conducted on-the-job training.

"We took over operations in the tower to help normalize Iraq," said Kirby, who hails from Salisbury, Md. "While our guys were working, the Iraqis would plug into a control position and train. Once they completed their training, they were certified and eventually promoted to watch supervisor, thereby gaining the ability to run their own shifts."

Thamer, who has been in this field for the last three years, enjoys the spontaneity of his job and is proud of those who work for him.

"This is not a routine job – every day is different," said Thamer. "I think it's better than other jobs, but it's not necessarily that easy. We need to be very vigilant all the time. We have a good quality of controllers working here – they are very young, they have a very good education. Their training has been successful and they have proven themselves to be very good controllers."

Now that the BIAP tower has been turned over, Kirby and Thamer both have hopes that additional ATC towers across Iraq will be able to soon follow suit.

For Kirby, who is deployed from Dover Air Force Base, Del., the turnover will mean a chance for more American forces to redeploy.

"The Iraqis have all worked hard to become rated," he said. "We want to train them to take over these spots so we can leave. The more success stories we have like this, the sooner we can leave because they'll be running their own operations."

Thamer agrees.

"Now we can focus on other facilities so we can get more air space," he said. "This is a good step in aviation in Iraq."

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