Gretchen Burrett to leave NATS
 

News story in this link Article

She done good! :ok:

Sir George Cayley

Is she someone famous? I worked for NATS for 39 years and never heard of her.

CRASH! I heard a glass ceiling break ;-) I think she's just the right person to make the lumbering dinosaurs in CAA sit up, take notice and bring themselves into the 21st century, gonna be an uphill struggle though.

BD

You've never heard of the Director of Safety?

BD

Me neither, but I've only been with NATS for 18 years.

It is a pity that there is not a Brit worthy of this UK post..........

I've only heard of her since leaving nats. Did she ever visit the TC shop floor and talk to the troops, I wonder....

Never heard of her, and one could hardly forget such an weird name..

M.. she probably thinks "shop floor" is where your feet are in Tesco's.

As a humble shop floor worker, I have spoken with her on a number of occasions. In my experience she made herself visible and available to anyone who wanted to speak to her and there were no safety related 'taboo' subjects.

Don't agree with everything she's ever said in her NATS roles, but she will be a loss to the organisation.

Go on then, I'm intrigued. What exactly does, or did, a director of safety do?

Takes credit for all the airproxes we don't have and when we have one she takes the blame.......:E

Not quite correct

Takes credit for all the airproxes we don't have and when we have one she apportions the blame.......http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...ilies/evil.gif

She is a manager after all!!

Must admit I did know who she was, but I am not sure what safety measures she implemented in her tenure. Maybe someone from the Division of Safety can illuminate me.

How do you spell miss odgenney? Seems like this is the place to learn.

Warped & BD - not you, just the old farts.

Sir George Cayley

It will be an interesting time for the CAA SRG people...especially for some of the Air Traffic Department!

So it seems she has a comprehensive background in US miltary aviation but nothing in US or UK civil aviaition. Should fit in nicely at SRG as most of those are experienced in the military world but have zilch experience in the civil world.

Plain enough on the NATS site (second down for those who need glasses)

Judging by some of the comments, time to merge with the dinosaurs' thread?

I, too, have had the pleasure of meeting Gretchen through work & chatting with her. Without exception, I've always parted knowing more than I did before, & never left in any doubt that she believes in all the people she works with, whatever their specific role. The NATS I see has a far better understanding of what being safe really means. It's disappointing that certain people still feel the need to talk about apportioning blame - I've never heard her talk in those terms. And what is this weird ATCO hang up with dismantling peoples life history, looking for perceived holes? She has easily 10+ years involved civil UK ATC - or does working for NATS not count?
Most people reache a point where they feel the urge to move onwards - & she's leaving a legacy that her colleagues can be proud of. I wish her the best of luck in her new role.

Some great stuff here.
"certification and safety of intercontinental ballistic missiles".
Surely these things are, by definition, extremely dangerous.
"the lumbering dinosaurs in CAA".
Ah, dinosaurs, some of the most successful animals ever. - Lasted 130 Million years. Thats considerably longer than the usual tenure of a NATS director or 'butterfly' manager, eh BD. :}

A great loss for NATS. I'm a fan it has to be said.

It tells us something that those who have assumed and criticised on this thread have not met her.

:ugh:

Absolutely agree, a great loss. Hopefully will shake SRG up, that is one organisation in definite need of a wakeup.:ok:

I'm surprised the number of people posted above who have never heard of her!:confused:

RS

OK it seems those of you at Swanwick/CTC know of her; what effort has she made to visit other units? She NEVER visited Farnborough to my knowledge(prior to Nov '08 that is).

The only time I have ever heard that name, it wasn't to do with air traffic.

Can't remember her coming to Brizzel either, but on the occasions I met her and had a chat, it was very enlightening. I wish her well in her new job. Although whether others wish her well or not is neither here nor there, but what she does in her new role will directly influence our working lives and at least she's going at it with knowledge of the industry gained while at NATS.

As an ex-military man who now spends his time meandering around the Highlands I have heard of her. In fact, I did attend a safety presentation a while back where she enlightened us all. I'm rather confused as to why NATS employees have never heard of her. I always thought that NATS' corporate/internal comms strategy was comparatively good; I guess there are people out there who never read company literature. :)

NATS Internal Comms are based on the Intranet; many people don't bother to look at this, it's not compulsory after all. After reading about one or two people with absolutely no ATC experience being given highly paid jobs in NATS management, I ceased to bother too.
Many don't even bother to use their NATS e-mail account either.

Alfaman
It was me that mentioned apportioning blame. Pity you seemed to miss the tone of the post, which was light. How you missed the :E though I don't know.

Chevvron

Why should anyone in senior management posts in NATS have to have a background in ATC or even aviation? Whether we like it or not (I don't), NATS is a business now... fact.

As such I'd rather have people at the helm who will steer that business through the stormy waters of recession etc and make sure it is still here for me in 15 or 20 years. The fact that I don't always agree with the way they do it is why I am a memebr of the union because I would hope that negotiation would take place.

Leave senior management to manage the processes of running a big business - that includes the head honcho of safety (who actually had aviation experience if you read her blog).

God knows, the ATCOs who have progressed to middle and upper management within NATS regularly get slated by the people on the shop floor for their ineptitude at being managers etc. Maybe having outside experts at the top is a good idea.

She's one of those 'invisible' people who you don't necessarily know about unless they mess up which has large consequences, or have met in which case you'll never forget them.
Lots of info in the Wide world Interweb Net if you search, this article gives a flavour.

BD

Agree. You don't expect the CEO of Greggs to have a background in making sausage rolls. Or the Health Minister to be a doctor ?
Corporate management skills are different from ATC skills. Whether our management have them or not, that's another debate. But the CEO of Nats does not have to be an ATC expert.
There are plenty of well paid specialists to take care of the technical side of things.

Anotherthing

Thanks, but I wasn't directly quoting you, or I would have used quotation marks; I was endeavouring to summarise the sentiment in both posts & expressing my personal sadness that it still exists; as one of the many who've endeavoured to move the debate beyond the "his/their/my fault" of yesteryear, I find it wearisome at times.
I saw your emoticon; however what "evil" meant in that context eluded me. I think, perhaps, the last couple of lines in your post don't read quite as humourously as you'd meant them to, certainly to me. However, if that was how you meant it, fair enough.

Otherwise, the peculiarity to me in the article above, & in the previous posts is, I don't feel Gretchen was one of the invisible movers & shakers: whenever I've met her, we've usually been in the company of many other ATCOs, & she always come across as very knowledgable in her field & very approachable. I appreciate my experience may not be universal,but she certainly wasn't hiding from where I've been standing. I'm quite intruiged to see who steps into her role, if indeed the new CEO feels it needs filling.

I've still no idea what the job entails/entailed (was a new director appointed?). Any clues anyone?

I had the pleasure of working for Gretchen for 3 years and still regularly see her. She was in the Swanwick AC ops room last Wednesday morning, speaking to the atcos who were dealing with the weather - she certainly knows where the shop floor is

It's a great loss for NATS but a big gain for the CAA. Good Luck Gretchen - hope they are ready for you! As for her replacement - big shoes to fill. ;)

I've just read the first page of this thread - has anyone ever wondered that she might actually read this stuff and she is a human being with feelings? A talented woman gets a high powered job - why do we immediately find the need to have a pop at her? If you don't know her, why do you assume the worst?
RANT OVER

"Won't You pour me a Cuban Breeze Gretchen?"
(A great line from a great song, often played in the environs of Mt. Belzoni). :E
Had the pleasure of 'doing lunch' with Gretchen on a couple of occasions recently. An absolute professional. Totally charming. :ok:
"I beleve I just got the good-bye look" :}

OK so she visited Swanwick a lot but where else?

Maybe you unit was so so safe that Gretchen didn't need to bother you Chevvers ;)

I met her through the NATS Infringement Group along with representatives from your airfield.

Top lady, once met never forgotten :D

Good luck
 

Maybe she has gone over to CAA to safeguard her pension:}

Ouch! :eek:

Good luck to her and I agree with comment. I think she's just the right person to make the lumbering dinosaurs in CAA sit up, take notice and bring themselves into the 21st century, gonna be an uphill struggle though.


I found both David Chapman and his boss Mike Bell too set in their ways, unreceptive to any new ideas and had no wish to make changes.