SAFETY OFFICER OF THE YEAR: MAJ JOEL NOLAN
92d Air Refueling Wing, Fairchild Air Force Base, WA
By
Maj Joel M. Nolan, Chief of Wing Flight Safety, Fairchild AFB, WA, was named AMC’s Safety Officer of the Year for 2020.
Nolan led safety training for the redeployment of the AMC’s largest exercise ever, which involved 4,000 joint personnel, 52 aircraft, and 26 nations. This training was vital to having zero mishaps during the exercise and garnering AMC’s Installation Excellence Award. Nolan also directed Fairchild’s flight safety program, including two wings with four major aircraft weapons systems. He ensured the safety of the world’s largest tanker fleet, which includes 63 aircraft and $4.2 billion in assets.
Nolan improved the safety of flying at Fairchild by bolstering the 92d Air Refueling Wing’s Bird/Wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) program. He negotiated a 5-year, $1.4 million contract with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for three personnel and saved $1.1 million by reducing aircraft strike damage by 79 percent. He also created Fairchild’s BASH training program.
Thousands of Airmen have benefitted from his briefings on safety messages from the Air Force Chief of Staff, and many attended the three Mid-Air Collision Awareness events he managed. For those events, he coordinated FAA aviation safety briefs for 25 aircraft and 64 civilian personnel. The number of Hazardous Air Traffic Reports was thus reduced by 10 percent.
Nolan will leave a lasting impression through the wing’s risk management Airman Safety Action Program he curated. He briefed Airmen on trend analysis and lessons learned during Commander calls and overhauled the safety response programs for six squadrons and 700 personnel.