Preamble:

The Coast Guard Aviation Association annually presents the Captain Marion “Gus” Shrode Aviation Safety Award to recognize superior performance and outstanding contributions to Coast Guard aviation safety.  This year’s recipient is LT Cody Eager of Coast Guard Air Station Sitka. 

Citation:

“The 2023 Captain Marion Gus Shrode Aviation Safety Award recipient is Air Station Sitka. Air Station Sitka has incorporated safety into all facets of mission readiness and has leveraged a deep Flight Safety Officer skill base among unit members to create a “safety net” and truly inculcate safety into the culture of Air Station Sitka. LT Cody Eager, Air Station Sitka’s Command Safety Officer, utilized the safety net to identify a lack of understanding amongst the unit on the intricacies of risk management. LT Eager created quarterly newsletters featuring risk management topics and provided enhanced risk management training to ensure the unit successfully incorporated risk mitigation techniques during all evolutions. LT Eager further identified operational hazards and created a “most wanted” list based upon safety survey feedback and suggestions from the field. By prioritizing operational hazards, Air Station Sitka completely revised their aviation engineering watch schedule which resulted in a 22% reduction in maintenance labor hours and a 99.3% B-0 availability rate. Also, guided by the “most wanted” list, LT Eager boosted OMSEP compliance by 70% in a 3-month period and developed a three-phase plan, to not only recover from previous noncompliance, but to set the program up for future sustainability.  Air Station Sitka’s commitment to safety transformed policy into practice; turning safety culture and their safety management system into tangible, actionable practices, in which the entire unit can participate and take pride.”