Mr. Manning has been associated with air traffic control for over 28 years. His experience includes the position of air traffic controller in the Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC), Enroute Automation Supervisor (EAS), Regional Office Automation Specialist, Assistant Manager for Automation (AMA), Headquarters Automation Specialist, and Automation Manager.
Mr. Manning has recently helped develop procedures and standards for testing systems for Y2k compliance. He was responsible for system testing at the FAA's Washington ARTCC, Leesburg, Virginia, and for more extensive testing at the FAA's Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This testing involved, among other things, changing clocks to turn over to the year 2000. At the Technical Center, the system ran for 30 days into the year 2000. He developed a plan to do end-to-end testing with live traffic involving Flight Service sending flight plans, aircraft flying into and out of terminal airspace and ARTCC airspace, and he developed corrections to programs that were not compliant. Also, Mr. Manning developed certification criteria for systems after they successfully completed testing.
Mr. Manning worked on preparing an expert witness statement for litigation between a major U.S. company and Australian Air Services in June and July 1998. This work included a total analysis and assessment of five contracts for automated air traffic control systems by the U.S. company and numerous technical documents supplied by the opposition. Additionally, he testified in more than ten cases in Federal Court on behalf of the FAA regarding the use of software data reduction outputs. He had the opportunity to testify in a case involving former President Reagan in California explaining radar inputs.
Mr. Manning has experience in evaluating air traffic systems in India, working with a team to advise the Indian government on their purchase of a system from Raytheon. During 1998, he worked on preparing an expert witness statement for litigation between a major U.S. company and a foreign government, and supporting the U.S. company's lawyers in preparation for the trial. This work has involved a total analysis and assessment of five contracts for automated air traffic control systems by the U.S. company and numerous technical documents supplied by the opposition.
As part of his duties in Southern Region, he participated in a team to remote the Flight Data from Miami ARTCC to San Juan. While in Washington headquarters, he was on a transition requirements team that went through the design competition for the Host computer system between IBM and Hughes. Mr. Manning also led the air traffic automation implementation of Host for the Enroute systems.
Before entering the FAA, Mr. Manning taught high school mathematics in the Atlanta, Georgia, school system for four years. He is an FAA certified Full Performance Radar Air Traffic Control Specialist and NAS Automation Specialist, and he has served as the Contracting Officer's Alternate Technical Representative for the FAA's Enroute Software Contract.
EDUCATION
West Georgia College, Carollton, Georgia, B.A. degree in Mathematics
Completed numerous automation courses at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, including Adaptation, BAL, JOVIAL, HOST, and ADA