FAA History Lesson -- January 7

From the FAA Historical Chronology, 1926-1996...

”Jan 7, 1980: John F. Leyden resigned as president of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association (PATCO) after a bitter struggle for control of the organization with Robert E. Poli, a regional vice president. Both Poli and Leyden had submitted their resignations to the PATCO board, but the board accepted only Leyden's resignation. Leyden resigned effective Feb 1, and Poli became interim president on that day. Poli subsequently was elected to a three-year term on Apr 24. (See May 4, 1979, and Apr 15, 1980.) “

I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Leyden on a couple of occasions when I was helping form NATCA. Mr. Leyden had graciously agreed to help. It was easy to see how he’d brought PATCO so far, so fast. You knew he was a natural leader as soon as you shook his hand.

I never met Mr. Poli. Never heard anything else about him either.

Don Brown
January 7, 2008