Thank you, George [Novak]. I’m happy to be here, and see so many long-time friends and colleagues.

In the position of Acting FAA Administrator, I certainly see things from a different lens – a wider lens – than when I was a member of industry.

And, it really underscores the notion that to make aviation safe, efficient and sustainable, we need to be looking at things from multiple angles—from all points of view. 

That’s why, it’s important to be here, have a good exchange of ideas, and collaborate as effectively as we can.

It’s great to see air travel come back the way it has, both safely and efficiently. There are always challenges to address – some immediate and some longer term. On the bright side, there are opportunities in most challenges if we look at them through the right lens.

Let me start with the 5G issue. The FAA firmly believes 5G C-band – as deployed in the U.S. – and our aviation system can safely co-exist. 

We are in close contact with the wireless companies, and our technical teams are meeting multiple times per day to work through information and find collaborative, safe solutions. 

And we are working closely and expeditiously with radio altimeter manufacturers and industry stakeholders to ensure that modifications, such as radio frequency filters, can be incorporated as soon as possible. 

We continue to use the information and lessons learned from the 5G discussions to be better prepared for spectrum and aircraft equipage policies in the future. And we are also working across government to identify opportunities to collaborate earlier rather than later on any issues that impact aviation safety.

The long-term solution is to establish a new performance standard for altimeters in the presence of 5G C-band. 

The FAA’s work to establish that standard is ongoing but it’ll take time for manufacturers to produce these new altimeters and for carriers to equip. We are working as quickly as we can toward a long-term solution, but at all times, we prioritize the safety of our National Airspace System. 

Over the past few months, the congestion in Florida’s airspace has been a big issue. This has resulted from a combination of factors: 

• A significant increase in aviation demand for Florida.
• Very significant weather impacts in March along the Florida peninsula.
• A greater number of commercial space launches which limits access to airspace on the eastern shore.
• And we’ve been accommodating ongoing training needs of the military during a period of increased global tensions.
• And like airlines and other stakeholders, the pandemic had a big impact on our ability to do controller training and certification, and that played a role as well.

Separately, any of those conditions can be stressors, but taken together they have produced significant bottlenecks. 

Through daily calls with industry, we’re providing a five-day look ahead on any staffing issues at Florida facilities. If there are projected staffing shortages, then we’re implementing mitigations like airspace flow programs and reroutes.

And for commercial space operations, we’re providing a three-week look ahead of launch dates, whereas previously it had been only a few days notice. This gives the aviation industry more awareness to improve their planning.

We’re also working with the Navy to improve airspace coordination of their flight-training exercises, and making them more aware of the operational impacts on civilian air travel.

As part of longer-term solutions, we’ve brought the pace of our controller training back up to pre-pandemic levels. And we’ve been filling more controller vacancies. For instance, we have 10 new controllers coming to Jacksonville Center, although it takes time for them to be fully trained and certified.

We continue to work these issues through our monthly NAS Collaboration Forum meetings. We know some of you participate in this forum, and we welcome your continued engagement to develop solutions to air traffic challenges.

So all in all, we’re striving to do a better job sharing information and mitigating challenges around Florida air travel, and we’ll continue to look for ways to do even better.

On a wider scale, we know that the pilot and maintenance personnel shortage is an important concern for industry.  

At the FAA, we believe it is critical to create and maintain a robust, diverse pipeline of future aerospace professionals. 

Later this year, the agency intends to award a second round of workforce grants – totaling $10 million – to develop the next generation of pilots and aviation maintenance technicians. This builds on the $10 million grants we awarded for this purpose, this past January.

The aviation community must work together – industry, government, non-profits, and academia – to develop creative pathways so that we can recruit a highly skilled and diverse future workforce.

For example, United Airlines found an innovative way to recruit, train, and develop the next generation of pilots — through their United Aviate Academy.

United is partnering with JP Morgan Chase, and several aviation organizations, to provide scholarships for more young people from diverse backgrounds to become commercial airline pilots. We’d love to see more of these kinds of innovative partnerships.

Over the long run, the FAA continues to conduct a robust STEM, and aviation and space education, outreach program. 

This includes our Adopt-A-School program, where we’ve teamed up with several schools from underserved and underrepresented communities across the country, introducing 4th graders to aerospace topics and concepts. This includes lessons on pilot and aviation maintenance technician careers.

And in April, we held an FAA Aviation Safety STEM Career Symposium, a virtual event designed to introduce middle school, high school, and college students nationwide to aviation careers as aerospace engineers, medical officers, pilots, aviation safety inspectors, and mathematicians. 

Of course, safety is and will always be our top priority. The FAA continues to think strategically, and build on the outstanding record we have. 

We’ve maintained a proactive safety approach. Now our goal is to become predictive.  

We’ve seen the benefits of Safety Management Systems in driving down safety risk for commercial aviation, which is why we are working to expand SMS requirements to manufacturers, airports, and aviation service providers.

We’re also actively expanding our portfolio of data collection and analytics tools. And evolving toward using predictive analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to yield cleaner, consistent streams of safety data. 

Through these tools, we’ll be able to more effectively share safety data with industry stakeholders and international partners. In fact, one of the FAA’s strategic priorities is to develop a global safety information exchange.  

And while SMS and safety reporting are essential programs to have in place, it’s important to stress that a mature safety culture is what makes these programs successful. Safety culture is about the attitudes, values, and behaviors that our people have. In a mature safety culture, aviation professionals feel empowered to speak up, courageously, in tough situations.

Last October, we partnered with an air carrier to test an FAA-sponsored safety culture assessment methodology. The results of this test have encouraged us to further pursue methods to measure and interpret the impact of airline and maintenance provider culture on safety outcomes. These FAA-industry collaborations create excellent opportunities for on-going safety improvements.

We also continue our work to certify and integrate innovation – including new and emerging vehicles – into the airspace system.

The FAA is currently reviewing recommendations from an aviation rulemaking committee on how to enable safe, routine, drone operations beyond visual line of sight, or BVLOS, as we call it.

We’re developing a phased rulemaking plan for BVLOS operations – with initial phases focusing on flights at low altitudes and creating drone-specific airworthiness requirements. Follow-on phases will clear the way for more tailored approval paths for package delivery.  

And we’re looking ahead to Advanced Air Mobility, and expect to certify the first of these aircraft around the 2024 timeframe, provided safety allows.

While our current regulations were not established with many of the new Advanced Air Mobility vehicles in mind, our regulatory framework has the flexibility necessary to certify new technologies, including these vehicles and their operations.

We’re taking steps to improve the sustainability of aviation. 

The Biden-Harris administration announced a national goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Through the U.S. Aviation Climate Action Plan released last fall, we have identified a path for the U.S. aviation sector to get there.

This plan provides actions the entire U.S. government is taking on air traffic operations and infrastructure, airframe and engine technology, sustainable aviation fuels, and other policy measures.  
At 27 hub airports, we’re deploying new software that calculates the best time for aircraft to push back from the gate, so they can roll right to the runway. As you know, less time waiting to taxi means less fuel cost and emissions. 

Through the FAA’s Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions and Noise, or CLEEN, we’re working with industry to develop aircraft technologies that will reduce noise, emissions, and fuel burn; and expedite integration of these technologies into current and future aircraft. 

Technologies developed under the first two phases of CLEEN over the past 10 years are entering the fleet in new aircraft and engines – and they are making a difference. 

These technologies are estimated to save the aviation industry more than 34 billion gallons of fuel by 2050, and lower CO2 emissions by more than 400 million metric tons. 

We’re also working with other government agencies and industry to scale up the production of sustainable aviation fuels, which will offer significant life-cycle greenhouse gas emission reductions. 

So let’s open it up for discussion and I’m eager hear your views on any topics you’d like to address…