Meet Mitch Herrick, Director of Air Traffic Control Consoles at Russ Bassett! Mitch has a wide range of experience in ATC environments and loves being able to create a better environment for controllers and other product users.
An Extensive ATC Background
Mitch joined the Marine Corps at 18 years old. He went to the Navy ATC school in Millington, TN to become an air traffic controller. As a controller, Mitch started out at Camp Pendleton, CA before spending time in Okinawa, Korea, the Philippines, and Cherry Point, NC.
After that, Mitch got his first civilian job working for the Marine Corps at a base in Beaufort, SC before going back to Cherry Point as a civilian for a year. In 1997, Mitch was hired by the FAA. He spent two years in Harrisburg, PA, five years in Albany, NY, moved back to his hometown in Western Massachusetts, and then finally moved to Miami, FL, where he spent 12 years before retiring.
During Mitch’s last five years in the FAA, he was in the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). He was the national lead for the deployment of the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS), which was deployed all over the country. He was also the national lead for what became known as Section 804, which covered the realignment of facilities around the country. Mitch saw a lot of consolidation projects and came to know the ins and outs of what it takes to put a piece of equipment into the National Airspace System (NAS).
Working at Russ Bassett
Mitch was attracted to Russ Bassett by the quality of the products and seeing how hard the organization works to make it right, no matter what. He appreciates not only the appearance of the products, but the quality, the way the products are made, and the people in the company.
For Mitch, it’s all about seeing the transformation of an ATC tower. He loves seeing the controllers and other product users get to use the product for the first time and see what an improvement it is. Some of his favorite projects have been refurbishing old facilities, like the 60-year-old Santa Monica tower.
“Seeing how much the controllers appreciate a new, really nice modern work environment is really gratifying,” Mitch says.
One thing Mitch learned from working on the STARS, TAMR, and section 804 programs was how to work with and translate information for different groups of people. He learned to speak the different languages of the people working in engineering services, technical operations, management, and the union. In his current role at Russ Bassett, Mitch uses this skill to make sure everyone’s perspectives are taken into consideration.
Mitch wants current and future customers to know that Russ Bassett won’t leave a job site until everyone is happy, as you can see in our installation surveys. Every company is only as good as the people that work there, and Mitch says Russ Bassett has a really good team of people who care.
In his spare time, Mitch likes to run. He’s a really big sports fan and describes the Miami Dolphins as the unrequited love of his life.
We love having Mitch at Russ Bassett!