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    Filmmaking is a laborious process by which a nebulous idea is transformed into a visual medium. A filmmaker is nothing more than the campfire storyteller with sophisticated electronic wizardry at her disposal. The trick is to tell a story that is engaging and entertaining. This is a simple, yet difficult concept. The air traffic controller has a simple, yet difficult job, get the planes up and down, safely and efficiently. This is where I come in.

    As the daughter of an air traffic controller, I grew up around airports. From a young age, I knew the importance of Daddy's work. At barbeques with other controllers, I overheard the grownups discussing their frustrations over their unheeded recommendations to their FAA bosses to make the system safer. I spend countless birthdays, Christmases, and Thanksgivings either waiting fro my father to home from work, or experiencing the sadness of knowing he had to go to work. Our family life revolved around the tower controller schedule taped to the side of the refrigerator.

    In the summer of my thirteenth year, everything came to a head. In June, the count for a strike came down - not enough. On August 2, 1981, Dad gave me the talk, versing me as to what to say should federal marshals or the FBI come to the house looking for him.

    "Don't let them in the house. Don't tell them where I am at. Don't tell them where the (strike) headquarters is. And you don't know where I am or when I will be back." With that, he left to join the other PATCO members for the count.

    My life changed forever after that, as I am sure it did for the other 11,600 families. In twenty-five years, I still have so many unanswered questions.

    The impending 2001 PATCO Convention was the impetus for me to film a documentary. Since that time, I wrote, produced and directed a short film. That experience combined with several years in film production gave me the wherewithal to secure independent financing. Now, it is time.

    Non-aviation Hollywood people have asked "Why would anyone want to see this movie?" Every month there is an article in the paper about a near miss or a computer glitch (LAX) or an update on the mass exodus of retiring replacement controllers. Anyone who flies needs to know the REAL cause of the deplorable state of the current air traffic control system. The striking members of PATCO were not the cause of the problem, but the whistleblowers of the conditions under which they worked. The reality is NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

    It is my goal to produce an engaging, balanced film showing what it is really like for air traffic controllers, then and now, and the impact of external forces which have produced the precarious position of the current system. The audience will get to know the people and families behind the story. It is my story, but it is also the story of the families of the PATCO Class of 1981.