Garry Hill began his Air Traffic Control career when he entered the United States Navy in February 1978. After receiving an Honorable discharge from the US Navy in 1983, He worked as a Computer Operation Analyst at North Carolina National Bank in Charlotte, NC until 1985. Garry then began his 29-year FAA career in May 1985. He spent his entire FAA career at Jacksonville ARTCC (ZJX). From there, he was detailed to different positions where he learned every aspect of En-Route Center operations. Garry has experience well beyond the average air traffic controller that gives him a unique perspective of ARTCC operations.

In 1995, Garry was detailed to HOST Automation as an adaptation specialist. At that time ERAM was in its infancy and being installed at ZJX. Garry worked closely with his NATCA partners to help convert HOST adaptation over to the new ERAM.

Garry was assigned to the Traffic Management Unit during the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He was tasked to research, graph and display potential high value targets onto the controller’s video display.

Garry was the Jax Center lead/point of contact for the prototype version of the En-Route Information Display System (ERIDS). He worked closely with the FAA Tech Center during development, offering suggestions for problem areas. Garry and his NATCA partners spent numerous hours developing a custom controller interface for ERIDS. This new interface allowed each controller access to sector specific information for any sector in the entire center.

Garry has written numerous automation programs as a collateral duty during the past several years as an Airspace and Procedures Specialist. The most widely used of these are: Overlapping Airspace – A program to automate analysis of Special Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAP) airspace for potential conflictions. FPInfo – A program that uses the Common Message Set (CMS) data from HOST/ERAM to track aircraft events. Before FPInfo, the only way to see track events (Altitude Change, Handoffs, UTMs…) was to have Automation run a Data Reduction (DART). This program is being used in every ARTCC and Regional office on the East Coast. Visitor Form – This program automates the coordination between Managers, Guard Gate, and Security for visitors to the center. This program is used at ZJX, ZME, and CLT and JAX approach. Overtime Log – A program to track/assign overtime using rules outlined by NATCA.

Gary is an expert in HOST/ERAM Adaptation ARTCC Airspace and Procedure Design and coordination, and Industry/Military Collaboration. He studied computer operations and programing and attended the United States Navy Air Traffic Control “A” School. Gary holds a Private Pilot Certificate with Instrument rating and is a certified Control Tower Operator.