The Air Force Flight Standards Agency held their change of command ceremony on June 26 in the Tinker Event Center welcoming their new commander Col. David B. Woodley.
Assistant deputy chief of staff for Operations at the Pentagon, Maj. Gen.Russell Mack, presided over the ceremony which marked Woodley taking command of the unit from Col. Michael J. Price.
“AFFSA is the Air Force lead for air traffic control and landing systems procurement and sustainment,” Mack said. “It has a $340 billion plus portfolio impacting almost 1,000 basewide and deployable landing systems, without which we could never project combat power.”
Woodley comes to Tinker after serving as the chief directorate of Air and Cyber Operations in the Operational Support Division at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. During his time at Hickam AFB, Woodley oversaw direct and indirect support to warfighters through linkages to Operations Groups, enabling the success of USAF, Joint and Combined Forces in the Pacific area of operations. Woodley has also supported the operational airspace, ranges, standardization and evaluation, weather and aviation support activities.
“I can promise team AFFSA a couple of things: I will be there with you guys when you celebrate your accomplishments and achievements on the good days and I’ll stand by your side when we’re having setbacks and challenges on our bad days,” Woodley said during the ceremony. “I’m ready and I know you guys are ready, so let’s go out there and make history.”
Price will retire from the Air Force and leave command of AFFSA. He and his team enabled global air operations for the joint warfighter by serving as USAF lead command for airfield operations systems and software, providing aviation subject matter experts who protect Department of Defense/USAF equities at aviation forums worldwide and instruction to DOD and international students, and by setting standards in flying and airfield operations.
“AFFSA is an elite unit because we have people who care. We have people who have initiative and drive and try to make the Air Force, DOD and United States better,” Price said. “This has been one of my favorite jobs in the Air Force just because of the people. It’s not about what you’re doing it’s about who you work with, and we have some great people here and I’ve really appreciated it.”