NATCA Historical Committee Prepares for Four Decades of NATCA

Jun 8, 2026

The NATCA Historical Committee (NHC) met from April 30 to May 1, 2026 at the National Office in Washington, D.C. The committee is charged with the exclusive purpose of cataloging, documenting, and archiving the official history of the Union.

"2027 will be a very important year for this union," said NHC Chair Ryan Herrick (Minneapolis TRACON, M98), "With the 40th anniversary of NATCA in June 2027 and the 21st convention back in Chicago where the first NATCA convention happened, we have been busy getting items ready for the membership to view throughout 2027."

Along with 2027 items, the committee worked on updates to the timeline displays members may have seen at national events and catalogued items we have received over the past year from members, both retired and current. The NHC also reviewed books created from previous years of newsletters (these were debuted at NATCA in Washington) and finalized a solicitation for new members to the committee. Look for that in the coming weeks if want to join us!

The committee took a field trip to the National Archives to see how they catalogue, archive, and display items to the public and see what we can do for our Union's history.

You can find more historical information, including archived newsletters and previous NATCA Convention history here https://www.natca.org/nhc/.

Attending the NHC's most recent committee meeting were Committee Chair Ryan Herrick (M98), Committee Vice Chair Kristena Jones (Washington Center, ZDC), and Don Schmiechel (Engineer/Northwest Mountain Region, ENM). Committee members unable to attend include Della Swartz (Engineer/Alaska Region, EAL retired), Kristen McTee (Kansas City International ATCT, MCI), and Kelly Moeller-Milch (Chicago Center, ZAU).