Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Gary Frey

Gary Frey was a Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controller for seven years. He retired from FedEx after 28 years as an aircraft dispatcher and air operations manager.

Stories from this author

Moisant Air Traffic Control Tower, New Orleans, 1977. “If you make it here, you can work traffic anywhere in the country,” a veteran controller told the author.

Game-Day Traffic

Directing air traffic for Super Bowl XII in New Orleans, we controllers had to be on our game.