Remarks as prepared for delivery.

Thank you, General Bruckbauer, for the introduction, and for the invitation to speak today. 

You hear us often say that the FAA operates the most complex airspace in the world. And that’s true! While we have much to celebrate, and while we are immensely proud of everything that has been done to get us this far, the airspace of the next aviation era is about to become even more complex. 

We see this across the country, but nowhere was it more pronounced than in Florida last winter: Higher than pre-pandemic levels of commercial and general aviation aircraft, and record numbers of commercial space launches – all vying for the same sliver of airspace.

So today calls for us to stare into the challenge ahead, and do what aviation does best: collaborate with those in this room, and look for others not yet here who may hold the key to solutions we could not imagine. 

The good news is what we have achieved in recent years give us confidence that we can meet the task ahead of us.  

It was only a little over six years ago when we outlined the rules for commercial drone pilots.  Now we have just over 300,000 remote pilots certified to fly around the country! 

But we know that the 1 million drones we have today will reach more than 2.5 million in the near future. Many of those will need to operate beyond visual line of sight because doing so safely delivers not just packages to our doorstep, but a better world. 

We saw this in Florida after Hurricane Ian. Beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights were critical to supporting response operations. The FAA worked with Florida Power and Light to approve the use of their drone to inspect infrastructure. The utility even found itself assisting in search-and-rescue operations. Those seven missions—with more than 24 hours of flight time—marked the first use of a large civilian drone after a natural disaster.  

To make this more routine, we are working purposefully through the recommendations an advisory committee provided earlier this year. And I can commit to you that we will match the industry’s tempo while maintaining our commitment to safety. 

So while low altitudes get more crowded, so are low-earth orbit altitudes. And there is no slowing down. We had 54 launches in 2021; and 67 already this year. 

The collaboration we have seen with the commercial space industry, the FAA and others in this room have made a marked improvement. Greater data sharing now only requires us to reroute the aircraft that would actually cross restricted airspace, instead of moving large numbers of aircraft inland. 

And we know which of those specific aircraft will need to be rerouted because space operators provide us insight into trigger events when there is likely no turning back. Just those two efforts have cut airspace closures down to 2 hours instead of the 4 hours before. And with the Space Data Integrator, we can reopen the airspace sooner. We are grateful that SpaceX is participating and eager to have Blue Origin and others join in the coming months. 

We need other operators to join this work because if you thought the 67 launches we’ve had this year is a lot, just wait until next year. We may double it. Yes, double it! 

Advanced air mobility is coming at us fast as well. In fact, just yesterday we approved the certification blueprint Joby will have to meet for its eVTOL. There are others in the pipeline that have 2024 and 2025 as their takeoff date, provided safety allows.

As 2024 gets closer, the agency’s framework for the operations and pilot training is progressing at pace. While many of them will fly VFR initially, we need your help and your collaboration to build the airspace that will support thousands of their operations. Data sharing will be key, and I know the agency is sharing how this will be possible, and what we need from you to get there during this conference. 

All of this is a good start as America steps into a new era of aviation. And this era will require us to bring people into aviation that aren’t in this room, that likely never thought of aviation before. As an agency, we know this and stepped outside our comfort zone earlier this year to recruit air traffic controllers. 

Our “Be ATC” campaign was our most successful recruitment yet! And it was successful in two ways. First, we received five times as many applications as in past campaigns. And even better, the applicant pool was far more diverse than in the past.

As we work to increase diversity in the current ranks of aviation jobs, the jobs themselves are becoming more diverse. We increasingly need data scientists and others that haven’t traditionally been part of aviation. And that’s a good thing. 

We need people and companies that can attack a problem from novel angles, driving greater innovation. At the same time, we need our industry partners to help us keep the focus squarely on the safety record we have all worked so hard to achieve. The demands of innovation and safety are in constant tension and all of us here today must be committed to striking the right balance.

I’ve covered a lot of territory today, and you may have questions. I’m happy to field a few of those formally here at the podium, and informally as I walk the exhibit hall for a little while afterward.