Gene Cannon
As the new safety representative for PASS’s Southern Region, Gene Cannon originally joined the union after attending a new hire presentation in Oklahoma City just over a half-decade ago. Starting his career working as a communications technician and standing watch in the Alaskan Satellite Telecommunications Infrastructure (ASTI) portion of the Anchorage Center in Alaska, Cannon experienced a drastic change of scenery as he decided to move back to Florida to be closer to his family. Although he loved working in Alaska, he agrees that Tampa is a great place to work and he enjoys the System Support Center (SSC) job much better, where every day is different and he has a lot of equipment to maintain as an environmental technician.
Having the ambition to become a safety rep is not for everyone, but Cannon has always been safety conscious, even in his previous career. “I was a C130 navigator and a HH60 flight mechanic for the U.S. Coast Guard for 26 years. So not only was I hoisting survivors, but working with pilots to navigate the plane in all types of weather and terrain,” he stated. Cannon always had a mechanical background, so when he joined the U.S. Coast Guard, his goal was for them to teach him something he didn’t know.
“At that time, I knew nothing about electricity and electronics, so I figured that would be the best place to start,” he began. “I went to Avionics school and graduated as an AT3, and through that position I was assigned to be an aircrew man. After basic aircrew, depending on the aircraft, you continued up the ladder, and I was fairly fortunate that I was able to work on multiple airframes. Most people were assigned to one aircraft, but, being around as long as I was, I could work on any of them,” he finished.
Just last year, Cannon participated as a speaker on the runway incursion panel at the FAA headquarters in Washington, D.C. PASS had advertised for a subject matter expert on runway incursions, and he was quick to respond to the request and would eventually be selected as part of the panel. “Having been an aircrew man and being use to talking on the radio to Air Traffic Control in the Coast Guard, I developed a good radio presence and delivery. Coupled with the fact that I was a recruiter for a few years, it doesn’t bother me to speak in front of an audience,” he said.
During the panel, the FAA put three scenarios on a projector in front of the audience and then the speaker asked questions from the board members on how, why and what could be done to mitigate these scenarios from happening again. “It was a great learning experience for me personally, and I am thankful for the opportunity to have represented PASS up there on that stage,” said Cannon.
He now uses this skill quite a bit in Tampa as he trains a lot of the new technicians on how to talk on the radio, and general location training while on the airfield. As for his new role as a safety representative, Cannon will undergo safety training later this year under the close mentoring of PASS National ATO safety Representative Ray Baggett. As a safety representative, Cannon hopes to make the workplace as safe as possible, ensure the technicians have the proper tools and safety equipment, and to mitigate as much danger so every technician can go home safely at the end of the day.
