Wendy Carr surveys the skies for a living. For 16 years she’s been on the job at the Acadiana Regional Airport, working in the tower and on the ground, doing flight control work and fulfilling administrative duties. She learned her craft in the U.S. Army.

“I was at Fort Lewis, Wash.,” Carr said. “It was a good job opportunity, in the service and out.” Her military occupational specialty, or MOS, was designated as 93-Charlie, Air Traffic Controller. Carr realizes she’s a woman in a field dominated by men, but never considered her gender when choosing her profession. Coming from a military family she just found the job interesting, thought it would be something she’d like to do, and she did it.

“Everyone here’s had some military experience,” she said, referring to the tower crew. On any given day, seven employees work at the tower, with three to four people in the tower cap, the distinctive glass surveying dome that crowns the tower. It all depends on how much air traffic is expected, Carr said. Her answer is brief when asked about her specific duties.

Air traffic controller Wendy car said she enjoys her job at the Acadiana Regional Airport. - Inness Asher / The Daily Iberian Advertisement

“Everything,” she said. “As air traffic manager I work in the tower. The other portion of my job is administrative. I do hiring, payroll, quality assurance, training.”

A large portion of her job is the regular training that comes from working within the boundaries of a career with federal oversight, in this case the Federal Aviation Administration. Safety regulations, nomenclature changes, forms, files and dozens of other procedural guidelines require refresher courses or training. Carr is the person responsible for seeing it gets done.

“We train constantly,” Carr said. “There are refresher items every month, changes in verbiage, safety training.”

Safety is paramount when dealing with aircraft. Carr proudly notes how the airport reached its 2 million mark — 2 million aircraft operations — completed “without operational error or deviation,” with 150,000 of those operations occurring last year. That’s an enormous amount of activity, Carr said. It’s an incredible accomplishment because of the numerous possibilities for error, from plane movements on the ground and incoming and outgoing traffic. For success, all movements and procedures need to be precisely orchestrated without incident.

“It entails a lot of things,” Carr said. “What that means is that we didn’t screw up.”

Carr admits air traffic control can be a high stress occupation, but no more so than some other jobs, she said, such as working at McDonald’s during lunch. She does admit, however, that it takes a special person to perform the job which she describes as organized mass confusion.

“Well, I’ll tell you what, anyone who’s a controller has the knack,” she said. “You have to be able to make split-second decisions without thinking about it.”

Air traffic controllers are required to have a certified tower operator’s license. Carr received hers through four months of training in the military, but there are other venues for certification. One requirement all tower personnel must meet is the annual flight physical, the same physical exam required of pilots.

“We’re considered to be on flight status,” Carr said.

Standing in the small tower cap the horizon stretches out for miles. The harsh noon sunlight is filtered by translucent green shades, revealing a small aircraft landing, a helicopter approaching the airport, and the general bustle of airport life. Visible from the tower cap is a hallmark of the airport, little-known to the non-flying public. Just past the main concrete runway are the last lit seaways in the state, in essence, a stretch of water maintained for the landing and takeoff of hydroplanes.

Nathan Bourgeois is one of the air traffic controllers working with Carr, and he has nothing but high praise for her.

“She is what holds us together,” Bourgeois said. “She hired every one of us, she’s given everybody here their shot. She takes care of us, I don’t think you could ask for a better person, ideally, for her relationship with her controllers and the public.”

He says that if you ever envisioned the perfect boss, Carr would be it. In a job filled with stress, Bourgeois said she makes it easy to go home at the end of the day.

Bourgeois grew up in Coteau, and recently returned from eight-and-a-half years n the U.S. Navy. He knows he’s very fortunate to be here, near his home, and he thanks Carr for the opportunity.

It’s clear that Carr not only loves what she does, but that she also has a strong sense of pride for her facilities. Air space at the Acadiana Regional Airport opens from dawn to slightly past dusk, from 6 a.m. till 9 p.m., every day of the year. The reinforced concrete runway can handle any size aircraft, as evidenced by the arrival of an Antonov–124 cargo plane twice about eight years ago. The enormous aircraft, one of the largest in the world, transported 60-foot seismograph boats to Lithuania, Carr said.

Those types of experiences, the various and unusual aircraft and the various and unusual people they bring are one of the reasons she loves her job.

Former astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn stopped at the airport on his way for his return flight to space, as did the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia crew disaster prior to their tragic flight.

The pilots of the Japanese Zeros from the film “Tora! Tora! Tora!” have been at the airport, and a visual treat was the landing of the distinctively pink airplane from the film “Drop Zone” featuring Wesley Snipes.

Carr looks out over the landscape. It’s a great job, she said.

“It doesn’t matter how many times you see an F-18 come in,” she said. “You still get the goosebumps. All of us here love our job.”