TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Col. Michael J. Price took command June 22 of the largest field operating agency in the Air Force.
The former chief of the Inspections Division for Headquarters Air Force Reserve Command Inspector General took over the reins of the Air Force Flight Standard Agency, headquartered near the Will Rogers Air National Guard Base.
Major Gen. Scott Vander Hamm, assistant deputy chief of staff, operations, Air Force Headquarters, said the Pentagon “hit a grand slam” in selecting Price as the agency commander.
“He’s well-prepared, and he’ll continue the great vector of AFFSA to meet its 21st century challenges,” Vander Hamm said. “He’s been all over the world. He understands flying operations here in the United states and in international air space, in garrison and deployed operations, in multiple major commands, Air Mobility Command, and Air Education and Training Command, to name a few.
Price said it will be an honor to work with the men and women of the agency. The colonel said the two greatest advantages of being the new commander will be, first, working with the “great men and women” of AFFSA.
“The second is that I get to take a career’s worth of training and experience and couple it with all the training and experience of AFSA and to make our unit better,” he said. “And that is my goal, to work to that end.”
The colonel takes over after the two-year command of Col. Mathew H. Yetishefsky, who is retiring after a 29-year Air Force career.
Vander Hamm praised Yetishefsky for “masterfully” leading the agency responsible for controlling criteria and procedures for global instrument flight operations, air traffic control, airfield management, and air traffic control and landing systems for the Air Force. The agency controls a $340 billion portfolio and nearly 1,000 fixed base and deployable landing system sites.
“Accomplishing all that Colonel Yetishefsky has accomplished in those two short years takes tremendous coordination across a number of Department of Defense agencies, but I know he would be the first to deflect any praise to the wonderful team here in Oklahoma City.”
Yetishefsky credited AFFSA professionals for winning nine quarterly and annual efficiency awards in 2016 alone. About 90 people attended the change of command ceremony in an ANG hangar.
“It’s been my honor to be your commander, and I’m proud to say that I consider my time here at AFFSA to be the pinnacle of my AF career,” he said.