Mr. Minnick has over 30 years of professional experience in airport operations and planning, air traffic control, aviation systems management, systems analysis, systems engineering, and business development, focusing on civil and military aviation systems planning, analysis and design, integration, development, operations, and maintenance. He also is conversant with microcomputer systems, office automation, information systems planning and management, local and wide area networks (LAN/WAN), business marketing, strategic business planning and tactics development, business plan development and assessment, and proposal management and preparation.
A retired Naval Officer, Mr. Minnick is among the very few individuals with experience in military and civil air traffic control systems (domestic and international) and substantial private sector management experience. He left Government service after serving for over four years with the FAA, Air Traffic Service in Washington Headquarters where he managed the national Standard Instrument Departure (SID), Standard Terminal Arrival (STAR), and area navigation (RNAV and GPS) programs. He also developed new ATC separation standards and other ATC procedures for the En Route Operations and Procedures Branch. He served as the acting branch manager for several months prior to retirement.
Mr. Minnick was twice decorated by the Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy for being "instrumental in improving safety within the National Airspace System" and achieving "dramatic improvement" in the efficiency of NAS operations. These decorations specifically cite his meritorious service as the SID and STAR program manager, development of new IFR separation criteria, and the concept, development research, test, evaluation, and implementation of integrated area navigation (RNAV) operations within the NAS, as well as his overall superb performance of duty. The decorations' citations stress that Mr. Minnick was "instrumental in improving safety" while making "dramatic improvement in the continuity and standardization of the SID and STAR Programs" and in the development and implementation of new IFR separation criteria involving Special Use Airspace. While with the FAA, he also served as a Task Group Chairman for three working sessions of the National Airspace Review in the areas of airways/routes, random routes, and routes infrastructure.
As an air traffic controller, supervisor, and manager, Mr. Minnick's experience is exceptionally broad. He has worked as a fully qualified controller in four control towers, was the senior watch supervisor in each, and achieved qualification in non-radar approach control at one tower. Before moving into radar operations, he was a Tower Chief. After additional training, Mr. Minnick became a fully qualified radar controller at three different ATC facilities, one of which also had enroute responsibilities. Before going to FAA Headquarters, he worked as an airport manager at three airports, an IFR procedures specialist at one ATC facility, the Chief of two radar approach control facilities and one combined tower and precision approach radar facility. At these locations, the air traffic operations ranged from 95,000 to 250,000 per year and included very diverse types of aircraft. His ATC and airports management experience covers facilities ranging in size from 40 to 350 personnel with annual operating budgets ranging from $150,000 to over $4 million.
Mr. Minnick has considerable international aviation experience as well. He has worked as an air traffic controller in Italy and Greece, was the proposal and business capture manager for the Civil Aviation Master Plan and Investment Program for Colombia, South America, and has completed working on the U.S. Trade and Development Agency funded Civil Aviation Master Plan and Investment Program for Poland, focusing upon the airspace, navigation, communication, weather, and air traffic control systems, and including airport operations and infrastructure. A similar effort has been completed in Hungary, culminating in the Hungary Civil Aviation Feasibility Study, Final Report. Following development of the Polish master plan, he completed work on the Financial Feasibility Study of Poland's Air Traffic and Airports Systems which examined the feasibility of developing a large-scale commercial financing program for modernization of Poland's Airport and Air Traffic Systems. For over a year, he served as a Technical Advisor in a contract with the Polish Ministry of Transport and Maritime Economy. In this capacity, he was the Chief Technical Advisor providing support to the Polish Airports State Enterprise (PPL) and General Inspectorate of Civil Aviation (GILC). This work involved day-to-day technical interchange on PPL investment plan projects, air traffic control and ATC training, and project management. It also included advice on organization and policy changes, modernizing the acquisition management system, and preparation of international tender documents. As a special advisor to the General Inspector, Mr. Minnick was very effective in helping to resolve issues concerning the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's Safety Assessment Program in conjunction with the Bilateral Air Transportation Agreement between Poland and the United States.
Mr. Minnick's experience in project development, life-cycle costing, and project finance has enabled him to offer both aviation expertise and project development knowledge including an extensive database of project life-cycle cost data. He is very conversant with the requirements of the various multinational lending institutions, private sector finance avenues, and special U.S. programs for developing nations as evidenced by his Report on Sources of Funds from U.S. Agencies in Support of Projects in Eastern Europe. He has worked on several occasions with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in evaluating prospective projects or in defining projects for clients, and he has done the same type of work with the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). He has knowledge of the World Bank's activities including working on some of their funded projects. He is a former partner in an international project finance company and has considerable contacts among private banking and venture capital firms.
Together with three other members of his company, Mr. Minnick worked on preparing an expert witness statement for litigation between a major U.S. company and Australian Air Services, and supporting the U.S. company's Australian and American lawyers during the trial. 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.
He has completed fifteen assessments and executive decision reports for the U.S. Trade and Development Agency of projects designed to identify, enhance capabilities, or correct major deficiencies at Skopje Airport in Macedonia; modernize the Information Technology Systems for two of Moscow's airports; a study of Airports and Polar Routes over Russia; study of an air cargo hub and airport improvements for Antonov Airport in Ukraine; study of airport improvements at Manas Airport in Kyrgyzstan; study of an Atyrau Airport Project in Kazakhstan; study of a Proposal from Northrop Grumman for a Caucasus Region Air Traffic Control Project; study of an Air Traffic Management System in the Russian Far East and in the Republic of Georgia; and to develop a privatized ATC equipment co-production business in St. Peterburg. All of these studies required an assessment of the financing potential of the projects. Moreover, he is very conversant with the most recent European initiatives for harmonisation and integration, including the European Air Traffic Control Harmonisation and Integration Programme (EATCHIP), the Future Air Traffic Management System (FEATS), the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) Strategy for the 1990s, the Eurocontrol Common Medium Term Plan (CMTP), the Air Navigation Plan, European Region, and numerous other technical and policy guidance programs involving international aviation.
Mr. Minnick has completed several confidential assignments for corporate clients involving market assessments and surveys for Central and Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. Part of this recent work included reporting on all United States programs designed to support the emerging democracies of Central and Eastern Europe.
Other relevant work has been as principal consultant and author of a Report on Sources of Funds from U.S. Agencies in Support of Projects in Eastern Europe, Evaluation of Business Opportunities (Regarding Training Devices) in Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Korea, report on Survey of Modeling Products, a World-wide Market Assessment for Business Plan Development Concerning Training and Modeling Devices Supporting CNS/ATM Systems, a pre-business plan study of the feasibility for establishing a specialized training center in Eastern Europe, an evaluation of the technical aspects of a major FAA automation program, and a co-author of the Phase 0, Feasibility Study for the Small Aircraft Manufacturing Program in Taiwan.
In addition to developing new business for his company, Mr. Minnick has helped several clients expand their business base. In one such case during a four month period, he was able to identify 22 new business opportunities in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe for Raytheon. His knowledge of the world-wide aviation market has resulted in several Letters of Appreciation/Recommendation.
Prior to establishing his consulting practice in 1989 and for a six year period after retiring from the Government, Mr. Minnick worked as a systems analyst, systems engineer, and manager for a Northern Virginia based systems engineering firm, providing contract support to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Transportation Systems Center (TSC). During this period, he became intimately familiar with all aspects of the FAA's National Airspace System modernization program and helped to structure a similar program in Canada. He and his staff performed engineering assessments of technical projects such as the Advanced Automation System, Automated Enroute Radar ATC, Mode S, Automated Surface Detection Equipment, Remote Maintenance Monitoring Systems, Voice Switching and Control System, and about 80 other projects that made up the $30 billion modernization program. He developed innovative concepts and methods for determining the operational, procedural, functional, and time impacts on the ATC system as each project was being implemented. In addition to performing analyses and cost/benefit studies, he was very much involved with the changing acquisition management system in the FAA.
He has over 25 years of management experience ranging from airports, control towers, and radar approach control facilities to private sector departmental, division, and executive level management. He has several special aviation skills including Terminal Instrument Procedures (TERPS) development; obstruction evaluation; airport design and siting analysis; aircraft/airport environmental assessment; airspace/sector design and processing; airway, jet route, and direct route design and processing; advanced CNS/ATM systems' applications; airport instrument departure and approach procedures design; terminal area helicopter procedures design; and development of Air Installation Compatible Use Zones (AICUZ).
Mr. Minnick is conversant with life-cycle engineering methodologies and standards including numerous DOD and military standards such as DOD-STD-2167, as well as military standards for configuration management, human factors engineering, quality assurance, and development of Work Breakdown Structures; and FIPS standards for software development, office automation, and documentation. He maintains currency with several automated, systems engineering tools for project scheduling, analysis, and management. His work in systems engineering and analysis includes system concept, requirements definition and analysis, system design and implementation, and system test and evaluation. He is also experienced in cost estimation, benefit-cost analysis, work planning and scheduling, and work monitoring, reporting, and forecasting.
Mr. Minnick has published numerous technical and training manuals and reports ranging from training manuals for air traffic controllers to the technical report Operation Free Flight which reported the results of an operational evaluation of techniques for integrating RNAV and GPS equipped aircraft into the National Airspace System (NAS). He is an FAA certified Control Tower Operator and Radar Air Traffic Control Specialist.
Mr. Minnick is a member of the following professional, civic, and honorary associations:
EDUCATION
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA; B.A.; Political Science/Public Administration; 1974
University of Virginia, School of Engineering, Charlottesville, VA; 1960-1961
University of Maine, School of Engineering, Portland, ME; 1959-1960
FAA Certified Control Tower Operator
FAA Certified Air Traffic Control Specialist
