PROVO, Utah — The Provo Airport recently broke new ground — and we’re not talking about their upcoming terminal expansion.
A couple of new members to their operations team have carved out their own slice of history, guiding planes through their airspace in a way they haven’t done before.
Some would say being an air traffic controller (ATC) is not for the faint of heart. It can bring high pressure situations and long hours.
“You’re sequencing and spacing [planes] and people are constantly moving. There’s no room for you to tell someone to stop,” said Hanna Prather.
“I like to look at planes… pretty simple,” said Courtnee Higgs. “I didn’t know how complex it was going to be or how difficult it was going to be.”
That complexity can mean coordinating a safe landing and takeoff for dozens of planes in an hour at Provo Airport. It’s a skill they hone over months or years of training.
“It’s a firehose of information over such a short period of time,” said Prather, who first got certified through the Marine Corps.
Prather spent five years with the military, leaving her home in Hancock County, Virginia, to spend three of those years in Okinawa, Japan, working mostly with helicopters. From there, she came back to the states, serving another year in South Carolina.
Then, she found an entry-level civilian opening in Utah.
“The crossing runways that we have here at Provo are very similar to the characteristics of Beaufort,” Prather said.
Just last week, she got her full certification in this tower, and shortly before that, “One of the other controllers, John, he mentioned, ‘I don’t think we’ve ever had a female controller certified.’”
She discovered she’d be the first woman to ever achieve that since Provo’s tower opened in 2005, according to airport officials. The second could be right by her side.
“I was in the Navy for five years, and the only other job they offered was air traffic controller or I was going to turn wrenches — and I didn’t like to turn wrenches,” Higgs said.
Higgs is a Roy native still in training here in Provo — but ready to serve her home state.
“Getting picked up was super exciting for me and my folks,” she added.
They also hope to alleviate a pressure point in the industry.
“To give the guys that have been working here for countless years, overtime, six days a week,” said Prather. “They haven’t had a break in a long time.”
Staffing shortages have been an ongoing concern country-wide in the last year, between the government shutdown that left many ATCs without pay and tragic incidents like the deadly crash in airspace near Reagan National Airport.
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These two controllers hope that they can be part of the solution, keeping Utahns safe in the skies.
“Coming from an outsider’s perspective, it probably does seem very high-stress and high-risk,” Prather said. “But there are a lot of procedures and protocols in place that ATCs develop throughout their career.”
They also hope their story encourages other women to see that their careers can also take flight in a place like this.
“Air traffic control requires a very high level of communication and discipline, and I think it’s a strong suit for women,” said Prather.
“Don’t be scared — it’s not a boys’ club,” Higgs said. “Throw your hat in the ring. Give it a try!”
Having been in Utah just three months now, Prather says she’s excited to learn in this role and discover the American West. She hopes to use her experiences here to join an FAA-controlled tower in the future.
