Columbus controls most air traffic in AF for FY12 Published Feb. 28, 2013 By Senior Airman Chase Hedrick 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- A small base is making a loud roar after being named the busiest Air Traffic Control facility in the Air Force in FY12. Columbus Air Force Base's 14th Operations Support Squadron clocked in at 377,835 air traffic movements for the year, the official counting measurement used by ATC facilities to quantify their actions. "I am extremely proud of the entire Scream'n Eagles team and their leadership of the Air Force's busiest airfield complex," said Lt. Col. Joe Speed, 14th OSS Commander. " It's no small feat to safely support tens of thousands of transient and enroute aircraft, while simultaneously launching and recovering over 58,000 of our own sorties each year. " Controlling sorties for Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training missions generated most of the air traffic movements at Columbus AFB said 1st Lt. Mark Broughan, 14th OSS Airfield Operations Flight Commander. Additional traffic came from auxiliary airfields and civilian air traffic. "A huge factor for us are the auxiliary airfields in the area and that this is a key location for the Air Force with SUPT and civilian aircraft traverse it on a daily basis," he said. "We do a lot of liaison work between Birmingham, Meridian, Memphis Center and Atlanta Center because our area is a big hub in a big section of the continental United States air space." The squadron's 77 certified Air Traffic Controllers handled the movements, but it took many more members of the team to support the mission. "Without civil engineering, airfield traffic control and landing systems and base operations there would be no mission," said Broughan.
