Newsroom
Standing up for Safety
Remarks As Delivered
Good afternoon. It’s an honor and a privilege to be here in London at The Aviation Club UK. I want to especially thank Karl [Brunjes (Chairman of the Club)] for that thoughtful introduction, but moreover, for your very kind invitation to speak to such a distinguished group of aerospace advocates and professionals. I am grateful to be with you and very much appreciate it.
This is certainly an interesting time to be in London. It’s an interesting time to be anywhere internationally given the outbreak and spread of a new corona virus. As we all know, the very connectedness that makes our industry so vital to the global economy also puts us on the front lines for protecting our citizens from the spread of infectious diseases.
We in the FAA are working with the aviation industry and our government partners, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, to support international efforts to prevent the further spread of this virus. In coordination with the CDC, we have developed detailed health guidance related to infectious diseases for airline flight crews, cleaning and cargo personnel, and air medical transport.
Like the UK, our goal in the U.S. is to prevent a sustained spread of the virus within our borders by being proactive and strategic in our response—but tactical as necessary—as we combat the threat.
Our fates are tightly coupled when it comes to aviation and global travel, particularly over the busy Atlantic corridors. A quarter of all trans-Atlantic air traffic travels between the U.S. and the UK, and a whopping 80% of all trans-Atlantic air traffic traverses UK-controlled airspace.
This is why in addition to being partners when crises like the coronavirus erupt, we must also support each other in times of geopolitical change. Now that the UK has officially left the EU, I’m pleased to note that our governments have worked together very closely to ensure, as much as possible, continued harmonization and integration of our aviation systems during the transition period and going forward. I am here to tell you we will continue to do that. We are here for you.
Please know that the U.S. continues to place extremely high value on our vital relationship with the UK and your highly-developed and far-flung aviation system. Our systems, as you know, are more interconnected and intertwined than ever. And the world depends on your turbofan engine, aviation parts, aircraft modifications and repair businesses, as well as your flag carriers and international airlines.
I don’t need to tell this group that having an uninterrupted, efficient, safe and modernized air transportation system is crucial to the economic health of the world. In a couple of days the international aviation system will get me to my next appointment, the Singapore air show. I am most thankful for that.
And while an occasional delay, annoying seatmate or lost bag can sometimes make us question why we left our homes, we rarely, if ever, question whether or not we’ll get to our destination safely. That feeling of assurance does not come by happenstance—it comes from the hard work of making safety our most important core value.
But we have no other choice. Without safety as a foundation, we cannot have a vibrant aviation industry in any country, much less between countries. As it is, our international air transportation network is a tightly woven fabric that is dependent on all of us making safety our most important core value.
When that fabric becomes frayed or unravels, disaster is likely to follow. And like the aviation system itself, the human costs can be global. We have to look no further than the tragic Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX crashes to understand this. Onboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 were citizens from 35 countries, including seven from the UK.
On behalf of everyone at the FAA, I would like to, once again, extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims of both accidents. I am committed to honoring the memory of those who lost their lives, by working tirelessly—each and every day of my tenure—to ensure the highest possible margin of safety in the global aviation system. Everyone at the FAA is aligned with me on this point.
For the MAX, I have been steadfast in saying that our return-to-service decision will be based solely on our assessment of the sufficiency of Boeing’s proposed software updates and pilot training that address the known issues for grounding the aircraft.
We are not delegating anything. I’ve delivered this message directly and in person to the former and the current CEO of Boeing. When we finally make the decision to return this aircraft to service, it will be the most scrutinized aircraft in history. I am not going to sign off on this aircraft until I fly it myself.
As the FAA works to restore confidence in the U.S. and the global aviation system, we’re motivated by the words of wisdom from one of the UK’s most famous statesmen, Sir Winston Churchill. “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. It’s also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
I’ll start with the latter half of the quote—having the courage to listen. We at the FAA have welcomed the scrutiny and feedback on how we can improve our processes. There have been multiple independent reviews launched to look at the 737 MAX and the FAA’s certification and delegation processes.
The first to be completed was one we commissioned–asking nine other authorities, including EASA, to join us in a Joint Authorities Technical Review to assess the Boeing 737 MAX flight control system certification. Their recommendations in part focused on the increasing complexity of aircraft systems, particularly automated systems, and the interactions between systems and the pilots. Never before had 10 authorities come together to conduct a review of this sort.
We also welcomed the seven recommendations issued by the NTSB in September. Broadly speaking, the NTSB asked us to address concerns about how pilots handle multiple alerts and indications, in our design safety assessments.
Input is also coming in from the Technical Advisory Board, or TAB, we created. Work also continues on the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General audit of the 737 MAX certification, as well as various congressional investigations.
Finally, about three weeks ago, we received the final report from the Secretary of Transportation’s Special Committee on aircraft certification. Of interest, the committee recommended that we advance the use of Safety Management Systems, or SMS, throughout all sectors of the aviation industry. I’ll discuss SMS more later.
As you can see, we’re sitting down and listening. We’ve received a great deal of valuable input to date, and more will be forthcoming. I firmly believe that willingness to accept critique is a sign of humility and transparency. It is also a strength.
I have seen this firsthand as I’ve met our regulatory counterparts around the world. They appreciate and value U.S. leadership. They understand that, by working together, we will all be better and raise the bar on global aviation safety.
The first half of Churchill’s quote – having the courage to stand up and speak out—sums up what you will see from the FAA as we engage even more fully in promoting and developing aviation safety around the world.
The grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX airplane placed a spotlight on safety and our approach to oversight of those we regulate. For the MAX, as with all aircraft, we made use of a thorough certification process that has consistently produced safe aviation products.
But that process and the regulations that we use in certification programs are not static, however. Any process must be continually improved. We are continuously evolving, and that means we are constantly evaluating the safety bar and raising it.
The accidents also put a spotlight on global pilot training standards as well as maintenance practices. We will continue to advocate for improvements in those areas, as the operational processes are a critical part of our aviation safety system.
The public has the expectation that FAA-certified aircraft are reliable and safe, and that is a completely reasonable expectation. That means we can never be comfortable resting on our safety record and current processes and standards.
Going forward beyond the MAX, we are ready to stand up and speak out on key themes that are emerging regarding aircraft certification and operations processes not only in the U.S., but around the world. I am committed to addressing each of these areas:
- We must move toward a more holistic versus transactional, item-by-item approach to certification, with coordinated and flexible information flow throughout the oversight process;
- We must integrate human factors more effectively throughout the design process, particularly as aircraft become more automated and systems more complex;
- We must promote an environment of Just Culture and Safety Management Systems not only for operators, but for manufacturers and suppliers, regulators, air navigation service providers, and all industries involved in the aerospace system. I’ll speak more about this later.
By collaborating with other authorities around the world, we will work to ensure we meet the public’s expectations of the highest possible levels of safety globally.
There has been speculation in the press about our relationship with international regulators, particularly EASA, following the MAX crashes. Let me just say our working relationship remains strong, at all levels, and we agree far more than we disagree as we work together to return the aircraft to service. We, as regulators, must support each other during these difficult times and keep safety at the forefront.
We are also prepared to be leaders for the environmental well-being of the planet. I mentioned earlier my upcoming flight to Singapore. No matter what long haul aircraft I take, it will be more fuel efficient than an economy car on a per seat basis, thanks to technology and innovation in design and manufacturing of virtually all modern aerospace components.
Just as an aside, how long do you think it would take if you had to drive an economy car from London to Singapore? Canadians Ray and Marianne Hyland and their three kids tried it in 2018— it took nine months. The trip was widely covered in the press and was quite the adventure.
You could also do the trip in about two months on the container ship, Antoine de Saint Exupery, but you’d have to book it well in advance—there are only two cabins on the ship. Again, it would certainly be an adventure, but that’s still a bit long for most of us business travelers, in my humble opinion.
In all seriousness though, the story illustrates the stark contrast between modern jet travel and every other form of conveyance. Our air transportation system is not just for passenger convenience though, it’s essential to the way our world operates. Aviation connects us; it makes our world smaller.
And aviation is increasingly fuel efficient, thanks to the spirit of innovation that has always dominated the industry along with a commitment to manage our carbon footprint. Our industry must have the courage to stand up and speak out about our efforts.
As for environmental responsibility, we in the U.S. support the ICAO Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, or CORSIA, as the preferred alternative to a patchwork of regional or country-based carbon taxes and charges.
I’ll be honest, we continue to be concerned about European proposals for environment-related fees and taxes that could undermine and weaken CORSIA.
Another area where the U.S. has been a leader is in the sustainable aviation fuel movement. U.S. airlines and business aviation have been early adopters of these fuels, which can provide as much as an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. We will have the production potential for 250 million gallons per year of these fuels in the next few years.
These are not theoretical gains. Our New York-based carrier, JetBlue has stated that it plans to go carbon-neutral for all its domestic U.S. flights by July 2020, in part by using sustainable fuels. United Airlines has also been flying out of Los Angeles International Airport using a sustainable fuel blend since 2016.
Along with CORSIA and sustainable fuels, we are also doing our part for environmental stewardship through our air traffic modernization initiatives.
FAA analysts have calculated that 20 air traffic modernization capabilities already deployed in the U.S. have resulted in about $6 billion in savings from 2010 through 2018, related to safety, airline operating costs and passenger value of time.
We estimate that airlines reaped about half the overall savings, including about $1 billion in lower fuel costs. Less fuel burned, as you know, is directly proportional to reduced carbon emissions.
In the U.S. we now have the basic infrastructure for our modernized air traffic management system in place, and we’re progressively “operationalizing” our NextGen initiatives, further boosting capacity and efficiency, and making our system more resilient, while reducing fuel burn.
Of course, it goes without saying that our modernized system will also include integration, not segregation, for new entrants into the aerospace system.
And no new entrant is more prolific than the unmanned aircraft, as you have experienced here in the UK, as well. We, at the FAA, have been registering drones for a little more than four years, and we already have more than 1.5 million on the books, with more than 400,000 listed for commercial use. We’ve approved two air taxi operators and 27 part 137 UAS operators—which you know as crop dusters.
Our strategy of “operations first,” is allowing us to use the existing regulatory regime, which helps us ensure innovation can drive forward. Said another way, over the last few years, we’ve shifted from writing rules to getting machines in the air and flying—and taking the lessons learned from the operations approval process to write better rules.
That experience is translated directly over to the flying taxis that are on the horizon. According to my UAS team, we are currently engaged with the builders of more than 15 electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft projects.
Of course, the FAA has to ensure that these new entrants are safe before they can take part in regular National Airspace System operations, and sometimes that does mean new regulations. The FAA recently issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to require drone operators to provide remote identification for their vehicles.
This is a key enabler for drone traffic management systems that we’ve been working on with NASA.
We’re using a crawl, walk, run analogy as we mature the vehicle technologies and air traffic management procedures to do this, and at this point, I’ll note that we’re still in the crawling phase for both but making rapid progress.
We’re also making rapid progress in our regulatory role in commercial space transportation by paving the way for easier access to low Earth orbit through the National Airspace System. We’re doing this by streamlining the rules for commercial launch and re-entry while at the same time protecting national security and public safety.
The idea is, in part, to boost the confidence of private industry to invest in commercial space.
So how do we reconcile all this fast-moving technology with a regulatory agency that wants and needs innovation, but at the same time consistently aspires to be the gold standard for safety globally?
We do it by sticking to our core values of “safety, through integrity, innovation and people.” I see our strategy coalescing around four themes—Big Data, Just Culture, Global Leadership, and People.
Big Data: We must continue leaning into our role as a data-driven, risk-based decision-making oversight organization that prioritizes safety above all else. We do that by breaking down silos between organizations and implementing Safety Management Systems supported by compliance programs.
Just Culture: Several minutes ago, I mentioned that I am committed to developing a Just Culture. Done correctly, a Just Culture will generate the data you need to figure out what’s really happening in your operation. If we know about safety risks and we know where threats are coming from and how errors are occurring, we can mitigate the risks and fix the processes that led to those errors.
As an aside, I know from personal experience that these concepts work. I saw them in action at Delta Air Lines during the 12 years I served as the Senior Vice President of Flight Operations, where I was responsible for the safety and operational performance of the company’s global flight operations of more than a million flights a year on six continents.
Global Leadership: We’ll lead globally by working with other authorities around the world to ensure we meet the public’s expectations of the highest possible levels of safety.
And People: It’s now time to show that next generation of aviation leaders what incredible opportunities lie ahead for them in our field, both personally and professionally. It is the people who will innovate and collaborate to take us to the next level of safety, operational excellence and opportunity.
I started this speech by noting how our fates are tightly coupled when it comes to aviation and global travel, and that’s not just for the U.S. and UK, but for all countries that reap the rewards, both economically and culturally, of having a strong aviation transportation system.
That’s what aviation can provide. However, what it requires from all of us is to have a laser-sharp focus on safety. Aviation’s hard lessons and the industry’s hard work have paved the way to creating a global aviation system with an enviable safety record. But remember, safety is a journey, not a destination. This is particularly important in an era where technology and innovation are as ubiquitous as ever.
We must build on the lessons learned, and we must never allow ourselves to become complacent. We have to be constantly learning from each other – the regulators and those we regulate—to help each other improve. That’s the only way the system is going to continue to improve.
The FAA is prepared to take the lead in this new era of system safety, a task we approach with a spirit of humility and openness.
We have the courage to speak out and lead. We also have the courage to take counsel and listen. I invite others around the world to join us.
Thank you for your time and hospitality today, and for inviting me here to speak with you today. It is an honor and privilege—I look forward to continuing the safety journey with you.
Lithium Batteries in Baggage
Lithium batteries, which power everyday devices, can catch fire if damaged or if battery terminals are short-circuited. Devices containing lithium metal batteries or lithium ion batteries, including – but not limited to – smartphones, tablets, cameras and laptops, should be kept in carry-on23rd Annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference
Remarks as prepared for delivery
Thank you. Let me start by saying how much I appreciate the significant contributions of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. You are bringing a high level of expertise and collaboration to the table. When the history of the commercial space industry is written, I hope it recognizes how you and this organization helped set the path for success.
You know, Nextflix has a documentary running right now about Scott Kelly: A Year in Space. You see, NASA wanted some data on how the human body stands up to long-term space travel. They got it. The idea of a trip to Mars isn’t as far-fetched as it used to be.
In the documentary, one point struck me – of all the multiple systems involved in a trip to space, the most fragile and destructible system is actually the human body.
It’s true. Space is an unforgiving environment. I’ve done 13 hours in a row in a fighter cockpit, and after a while, it gets tight. Space is a whole nother level. But while the human body is indeed fragile, the human spirit is stronger than steel.
And the American spirit has been on display up there in space for six decades. The people who made space history have shown that we can defy our physical limitations, defy the odds, and do the impossible.
Now having said that, I guess I can’t really use the word “impossible” anymore.
You can all take some credit for that. America has found a home in commercial space, and the view from there seems to be pretty darn good. As we say in aviation, ceiling and visibility unlimited!
We all grew up watching those rockets poke a hole in the atmosphere. And although I myself am still kind of partial to flying an F-15, or even watching an F-22 or F-35 at an air show, after all these years, there are few things more inspiring in life than to see a rocket lift off, especially from American soil.
Or see an astronaut make a spacewalk, or float around in micro or zero gravity.
Today, a new generation of pioneers, like Beth Moses, are making it happen. They are ready to capitalize on the space economy.
By some estimates, it could be worth a trillion dollars by 2040. And 2040 is going to roll up on us a whole lot faster than we think.
You know the big ticket items: space travel and tourism, satellite servicing, space debris removal, in-space manufacturing, and mini satellites to provide high speed internet across the globe.
Hopefully one day, we will be looking at point-to-point suborbital travel.
And maybe someday, one of your companies can make the Kessel run like Han Solo did in less than 12 parsecs.
Now first, we’ll have to figure out if that’s a measure of time or distance. It wasn’t really clear. But I digress…
Seriously, one thing is crystal clear—these pursuits will have a lasting impact on America, the world, and our leadership around the world.
And as long as every business plan has safety as an essential component, this industry can grow beyond what your projections forecast. But only if it is safe. If it’s not safe, take it from a pilot, you’re better off staying on the launch pad.
The FAA’s top priority is the safety of people and property on the ground. And if it’s not your top priority, it needs to be. Otherwise you will miss out on the next big thing.
In Fiscal Year 2019, we licensed 32 space operations. This year, that number could easily reach into the 40’s – just about approaching one operation per week.
We at the FAA are leaning in, and in a big way. We don’t want to just keep pace with you. We want to be an enabler of your safe operations.
That’s why we’re committed to a process of stakeholder engagement. This past year, we received final reports from three Aviation Rulemaking Committees, including the Airspace Access and Integration and Spaceport Categorization committees.
These two committees, supported by many of you in this room, provided numerous suggestions on how we integrate space vehicles into the National Airspace System. And how we develop the spaceport infrastructure that America needs to support our preeminence in space.
The fact that we had aviation rulemaking committees focused on space speaks volumes on how far commercial space transportation has come. If you want to carve out a spot in the National Airspace System, you have to have a regulatory framework to make it all work. In fact, I think we need to start calling it the National Aerospace System.
We are evaluating the committee recommendations now. And while this process plays out, the FAA continues evolving toward more flexible and efficient ways of doing business.
Last year, we issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to safely streamline launch licensing requirements. We received hundreds of comments that are under review. And we expect to issue a final rule by the fall of this year.
The proposed rule will let operators use a single license for multiple launches from multiple launch sites. And we will replace cumbersome, prescriptive requirements with flexible, performance-based criteria.
These steps will reduce the burden on operators and help to foster more innovation without sacrificing safety.
More fundamentally, the FAA is reorganizing our Office of Commercial Space Transportation. For starters, we have strong, knowledgeable, capable and innovative leadership in place. Wayne and his team are doing a great job. They are looking for ways to say “yes” to the continued development and success of this exciting industry.
We are placing all licensing activities under one directorate.
We have also hired a new Executive Director of Operations – Lirio Liu. She comes from our aviation safety rulemaking office. Lirio’s reputation for action precedes her. So Commercial Space – may the Force be with you!
And we now have an office dedicated to spaceport policy. We currently have 11 licensed spaceports with a half dozen potential sites in the pre-application phase.
This office is helping us determine what services, rules and regulations will be needed to support spaceports. It will help us determine funding streams, including grants, to develop and sustain the infrastructure.
We look forward to collaborating with state and local governments on spaceport investment, AND integrating spaceports into our nation’s critical intermodal transportation networks.
Spaceports are one visible aspect of the infrastructure. But there are important parts of our infrastructure that are not physical in nature or visible to our citizens. The adaptations of systems and processes that will enable changes to the way we manage airspace are critically important. We’re making our airspace more flexible and dynamic. We have to.
In the past, space launches were few in number. We could accommodate them by blocking off large swaths of airspace. But this affects the routing of aircraft in a big way. It’s like when you’re favorite road is closed, and you have to take that long detour.
But we’re developing a whole suite of game-changing tools to integrate space operations into the National Airspace System. These tools are a necessary enabler of growth for commercial space, as the operational tempo and frequency of launches and re-entries ramp up over the coming years.
In August, we plan to deploy the Space Data Integrator. SDI will feed real-time data from the space vehicle into the FAA’s Traffic Flow Management System.
Having that data during an actual operation is a big deal. It’ll be like having our own C-3PO – but not nearly as annoying.
We’ll know exactly where the aircraft hazard areas need to be, and how long they need to be there.
And to complement SDI, we are developing an enhanced aircraft hazard area generator. This will help us do all of this much more quickly. We’ll be able to block off less airspace, and release that airspace faster, so it’s available for other airspace users.
SDI is just one of several capabilities under development at the FAA. There are other ones, such as Space Integration Capabilities, that will provide air traffic controllers with the automation to more efficiently, surgically and safely route air traffic around space operations, even with the increased cadence we are projecting in the future.
And we’re already starting to apply several procedural efficiencies.
For example, we’re using time-based procedures, where we can let planes approach the aircraft hazard area, because we will know exactly what time that airspace will become available again.
And we expect that, one day, we will be able to reduce the current larger-than-required aircraft hazard areas, and reduce the number of aircraft affected by a space mission.
Adding on that, we’re developing dynamic launch/reentry windows. We’ll take triggers from the operator’s mission sequence countdown.
For instance, if the operator starts a procedure – say for instance, loading liquid oxygen – then we know that triggers a launch within 30 minutes. And we can block that airspace more efficiently.
We want to know from operators what the various launch triggers are, and then we can work with you to develop these procedures. The better we can make use of telemetry data exchange, and coordination in pre-mission planning phases, the more we can achieve efficiency gains that will give space operators more access to the airspace they need.
In closing, today’s space pioneers are inspiring a new generation of Americans—just as many of us were inspired decades ago, with the Apollo Moon landings and the Space Shuttle missions.
Let’s continue to collaborate. Let’s continue to find better ways to enable this industry. But through it all, together, let’s make safety the launch pad from which we make it all happen.
As we do that, we will unleash the benefits of the space economy.
America will continue to lead the world in this arena.
And we’ll be able to take that next giant leap in space transport – which could be the Mars trip.
Then, after all of that, MAYBE we’ll talk about that Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.
FAA Announces Super Bowl LIV Safety Plan
FAA working with law enforcement, the aviation community and the NFL to ensure safe, secure, and efficient operations.Helicopter Safety – Time to Think Outside the Box
Remarks As Delivered
Good morning, everyone.
By now, everyone is aware of the tragedy that happened Sunday morning, only 50 miles northwest of this convention center.
I speak for all of us at the FAA when I say that we are saddened by this accident and the loss of so many lives, and our hearts go out to the family and friends of those onboard.
It is much too early to speak intelligently about why this may have happened, but suffice it to say that the NTSB, FAA and others are already hard at work to discover the causes. Despite what the investigators ultimately determine, we in this room know that all too often, helicopter accidents and GA accidents, in general, turn out in hindsight to have been preventable.
I left Washington on Friday prepared to deliver a safety message here and to lead the charge for action on helicopter safety. The events of Sunday morning make that mission all the more urgent. If not now, then when. If not us, then who?
Though we meet here with heavy hearts, it is good to be among such an esteemed group of aviation professionals here today with a shared focus on aviation safety.
Of course, I recognize that the helicopter community deals with safety and operational threats that are much different from my experiences in all my years in fixed-wing fighter aircraft and commercial aviation. So I felt it was particularly important to come here in person today to see for myself the depth and breadth of your industry and to hear about your challenges and concerns.
Aside from a few pleasure rides in air tour helicopters, I do not have much personal experience in your operational world, but it’s clear to me from a professional perspective that rotary wing aviation is an essential element of our transportation system, particularly when it comes to helping people. How many of our citizens owe their lives to rescue helicopters, or the operators that spring into action on a moment’s notice to carry critically ill patients to the hospital?
These aircraft are extremely versatile with unique capabilities and handle a wide variety of operations 24/7/365.
We remember now that it is only a little more than 80 years since Igor Sikorsky hovered the world’s first practical helicopter in Stratford, Connecticut. Yet today vertical lift has become a mainstay in the American aviation landscape, and there’s much more to come when you think about drones and urban air mobility.
While helicopters represent a relatively small portion of our general aviation fleet—about 6%— their impact is significant and even disproportionate compared to other forms of aviation—particularly when you count the benefits to society from medivac, search and rescue, police, infrastructure inspection and air taxi operations, to name just a few.
Actually, one look in the exhibit hall or in the news, makes it clear that the notion of a rotorcraft as I just described earlier—one rotor spinning above your head—is sorely out of date. From relatively inexpensive quadcopters the size of a basketball…to faster, quieter and more autonomous traditional helicopters and tiltrotors… to automobile-sized electric flying taxis that are quickly jumping from the drawing boards to the test area, today’s rotary wing aviation is quickly moving “outside the box” that Sikorsky first flew in.
Unmanned Aircraft Systems, known as UAS or drones, are now flying in the airspace that used to be largely the domain of helicopters. I don’t have to tell you the growth has been exponential.
We’ve been registering drones for a little more than four years, and we’ve already got more than 1.5 million on the books, with more than 400,000 listed for commercial use, and we’ve approved two Part 135 operators.
We have also approved 27 part 137 UAS operators—which you may know as crop dusters. Consider for reference, we’ve been registering aircraft for more than 90 years, and we’ve got just shy of 300,000 in the manned aircraft registry.
We are learning a great deal about the innovative ways that drones can help society and be operated in the NAS through our Integration Pilot Program. Our strategy of “operations first,” is allowing us to use the existing regulatory regime, which helps us ensure innovation can drive forward.
UPS and FedEx are actively participating in trials to speed up the delivery of small packages and working on type certificates for small autonomous drones. Innovators up in Alaska are looking to do the same with much larger vehicles.
Said another way, over the last 3 years, we’ve shifted our strategy from writing rules to getting machines in the air and flying—and taking lessons learned from the operations approval process to write better rules.
Our goal in the United States, in contrast to many areas of the world, is to integrate, rather than segregate, UAS operations into the NAS. At the moment I don’t have to tell you that this strategy is nowhere more important than to the helicopter community, as in many respects the need for integration is felt more acutely in the airspace where you operate than it is in the airspace where we typically find fixed-wing operations.
Knowing the location of drones is a key requirement for accomplishing the vision. That’s why the FAA recently issued a long-awaited notice of proposed rulemaking to require drone operators to provide remote identification for their vehicles.
We’ve received over 6000 comments so far and welcome the public input as it will help us craft a rule that meets the safety and security needs now and for the future.
Flying taxis are on the horizon and manufacturers are getting ready for testing. According to my UAS team, we are currently engaged with the builders of more than 15 electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft projects. At CES in Las Vegas earlier this month, we saw Uber and the Hyundai Motor Company unveil a full-scale aircraft concept in their partnership to create Uber Air Taxis, and shortly after, Toyota announced a hefty investment in flying taxi developer Joby Aviation.
Also in January, we saw North America’s first public demonstration of an autonomous two-seat flying taxi—an eHang EH216 taking flight in Raleigh, albeit with no passengers.
Of course, the FAA has to ensure that these new entrants are safe before they can take part in regular National Airspace System operations. We’re using a crawl, walk, run approach as we mature the vehicle technologies and air traffic management procedures to do this, and at this point, I’ll note that we’re still in the crawling phase for both, but we are making rapid progress.
A key question we get from new entrants is “how safe is ‘safe’”? Will the fatal accident risk we accept for rotorcraft operations today be acceptable for Uber riders tomorrow? Probably not.
We—the FAA and industry—have some important work to do in the name of rotary wing safety right now. Sunday’s crash comes one month to the day after the loss of seven people on a Safari Helicopters air tour on Kauai on December 26th.
These are tragic stories, particularly when families on an adventure or a quick ride to an event become the unwitting victims of accidents that, far too often, are preventable. In the aftermath of any crash, the reputation of the entire helicopter community is questioned, and the public may question whether the benefits are worth the risks.
We know from the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team’s latest numbers that the helicopter sector has a fatal accident rate of approximately 0.63 per 100,000 hours, based on a five-year moving average. That’s well below the overall general aviation rate of approximately 0.94, but it’s not enough.
Just like the broader GA sector, pilot error is the predominant factor in fatal accidents. In fact, even when there is a mechanical component failure that leads to a crash, we often find that the component failed, because the helicopter was being operated outside its limits or the maintenance instructions were not being followed.
A key challenge we all face is that place where we have the largest number of paying passengers experiencing fatalities in our airspace—air tour operations. I’m here to tell you this needs to change. We need to find ways to move that part of the industry toward the level of safety achieved by the commercial airline sector.
The good news is that with certain targeted interventions, the fatal accident rate has continued to decline—and we’ll discuss some of those initiatives later. The bad news—or it should be bad news to all of us—is that the rate is still too high, and making interventions more difficult is that many of the pilots and operators in the personal/private helicopter sector are difficult to reach.
While an accident rate of zero is the ultimate goal, our Part 121 commercial airline industry today is the closest we have come to that. In the past 10 years, there have been more than 90 million commercial flights in our NAS, carrying more than 7 billion passengers, with two fatalities.
That’s a safety record that’s hard to get your mind around in any human endeavor, much less one where you’re carrying people in highly advanced aerospace vehicles at more than 500 mph and miles above the earth.
Granted, helicopters fly lower and slower, but there’s no need for your safety goals to be lower, and frankly, for the flying taxi model to succeed, riders will likely expect an airline-like assurance of a safe flight. And why shouldn’t they?
As I said earlier, the long-term GA fatal accident rate, including helicopters, is declining but we can’t be satisfied. It’s our responsibility to ask ourselves the hard questions and determine what more we can do to enhance Helicopter safety.
Consider that the helicopter offshore industry has a fatal accident rate that is a factor of two below the combined rate for the sector. How are they doing it and what are their lessons learned?
That’s one of the reasons why I came here to Heli-Expo, to take stock of your industry, hear your concerns, and to get up to speed on the unique aspects of helicopter operations.
When it comes to rotorcraft, I’m a neophyte, and I’m all ears.
I do have plenty of experience and perspective to offer from the world of fixed-wing commercial aviation safety, as you probably know: twenty-seven years at Delta, the last 12 of which I spent as Senior VP of flight operations. I was responsible for the safety and operational performance of the company’s global flight operations of more than a million flights a year on six continents, as well as pilot training, crew resources, crew scheduling and regulatory compliance.
The commercial airline industry’s stellar safety record in the NAS over the past decade is a testament to the evolution and adoption of risk-based decision-making processes by government and industry.
This is happening in part through initiatives like the Commercial Aviation Safety Team, or CAST, and effective tools like Safety Management Systems, voluntary safety reporting programs, flight data monitoring and sharing through data initiatives like ASIAS.
But we always, always, always need to stay humble and vigilant. We all know in our business you’re only as good as your last takeoff and your last landing, and the number of takeoffs and landings need to equal each other.
There’s too much at stake to wait until the next accident occurs to figure out how to operate more safely. We have to identify accident and incident precursors so we can take actions to prevent them—and shared data allows us to do that.
Some of these processes obviously are applicable to the GA and helicopter communities, and some may not be. As you probably know, we’ve migrated the data-driven analysis model over to GA through the GA Joint Steering Committee and through other government-industry initiatives like the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team.
Business aviation and portions of the flight training community are also well on their way to implementing data gathering, analyzing and sharing to help them and the broader industry figure out how it is performing.
In 2013, the FAA started with two members of the business aviation community participating in the ASIAS program. Seven years later, we have 100.
That’s impressive, and it’s a success story for our industry. But we don’t rest on our laurels, because there are thousands of flight departments, single-pilot, and owner-flown operators, both fixed-wing and rotary-wing, out there who could, at minimum, find real value in Flight Data Monitoring and pilot reports, even if it’s just to monitor their own operations.
Using Flight Data Monitoring as feedback into your training program is a good example of a safety management system process. Safety management also relies on having a “Just Culture” in place so that pilots and aviation workers feel empowered to report honest mistakes and issues without fear of retribution. That atmosphere gives workers the freedom to report and provide their management with data they can use to get a heads-up on what might be an accident in the making.
Without that information, all bets are off. One year ago, tomorrow, a pilot and two air crewmembers were killed when their Bell 407, on a Part 135 flight, slammed into terrain near Zaleski, Ohio, while en route to a hospital for a patient pickup.
While the NTSB has not yet issued its conclusions, we know from the operational and human factors factual report, which was released in September, that there were issues with safety culture in that flight department.
A healthy safety culture requires some basic elements:
The organization must encourage employees to voluntarily report issues without the threat of retribution. It has to have data analysis capability to make sense of the flight data and safety reports. It needs a method of tracking and trending issues and the effects of corrective actions, and it must provide feedback to let employees know what became of their reports.
The factual material from this accident provides some good examples of what an unhealthy safety culture can look like. For example, numerous pilots and medical crew told investigators about incidents where they received, or they witnessed, pilots being reprimanded or challenged for declining flights. One pilot said he was not aware of a way to report safety concerns “without getting himself in trouble.”
The NTSB noted that “while personnel were aware of the ways to report concerns, a number of them were uncomfortable voicing concerns due to fear of reprimand by management and the lack of previous management action on voiced safety concerns.”
You can imagine how the inability to speak out might lead a pilot to take a mission when others would not. In fact, the accident flight had been rejected by two other providers. Making matters worse, the operator had stated in written materials to hospitals that they would take flights when other operators turned them down due to weather.
This accident is, unfortunately, not an isolated case of a safety culture vacuum when it comes to the helicopter and overall GA sector.
We, at the FAA, in concert with you—industry—are working to improve helicopter safety on multiple fronts—including information sharing, education about risk management and safety management systems, safety-boosting technology, and enhanced training, among others—and we’re always open to new ideas about how we can be more effective.
Adopting best practices is certainly a path to reducing risks. A great way to share your experiences and learn about the best practices of others is to participate in our new helicopter InfoShare program, which had its first meeting in October. I’m told a key topic of discussion at the meeting was the importance of SMS, and how it can truly help helicopter operators reduce their risks. Another avenue for sharing best practices for oil and gas industry rotary-wing operators is through the Helicopter Safety Advisory Council, which has developed recommended practices that are easily adaptable to other helicopter sectors.
And have you heard of the USHST’s “Safety Workshop in a Box”? This is an education program where the FAA’s Safety Team, or FAAST Team, along with industry safety experts, take their safety message directly to helicopter pilots.
It’s a deep dive on one specific accident that educates pilots on decision-making. We tested the idea in Phoenix last year and, this year, will be taking it on the road to 10 cities and adding a second accident scenario.
The FAA is also working to bolster training related to loss-of-control awareness, pilot competency, and technical support.
In the technology area, we’re doing research with enhanced vision technologies to help pilots see in reduced visibilities and stability augmentation systems to make it easier to fly the machine when times are tough. We’re also looking into algorithms that will make simulators accurate through a certain range outside the typical flight envelope, so that pilots can have more realistic training opportunities.
We’re also working with industry to develop new helicopter Airman Certification Standards to replace the current practical test standards. The new standards will include risk management elements in all areas of operation and tasks to help develop better-prepared and safer helicopter pilots.
These efforts are a good start, but as I said earlier, we’re always in search of thinking that is “outside the box” on how we can address the accident rate.
We are serious about getting on top of the safety challenges we face in the helicopter air tour industry.
And frankly as many of you may know there is a lot of energy in Congress right now as it relates to both safety and noise concerns associated with helicopter air tours; if there isn't meaningful action on both of these fronts very soon, I suspect the path forward will be dictated to this industry.
Our safety experts have begun developing an action plan to address the issues, and we look forward to sharing the details with our partners and stakeholders in the near future. Upon sharing this plan, we hope to receive your valuable input and support.
Before I close, I want to flag another issue we, and I’m sure many of the operators in this room, are focused on — helicopter noise. There is growing concern in many parts of this country about the impact of helicopter noise on communities.
This is part of a larger challenge that has been developing across the country with respect to aviation noise— both around airports and often associated with air tours. And there are ongoing collaborative efforts to address noise. For example, FAA is engaged with HAI’s Fly Neighborly Committee to promote community friendly flying and to educate operators on community engagement best practices.
However, without more engagement and action by the rotorwing sector, I suspect noise concerns will increasingly impact not just today’s operations but our ability to integrate new users— UAS and urban air mobility— into the NAS.
I would urge operators to be much more proactive in their engagement with communities on noise issues and try to find constructive approaches to manage these challenges.
Thanks again for your attention. I look forward to learning more about this fascinating side of our industry and personally getting involved in making vertical flight as safe as possible—as safe as the public expects it to be. I hope to see many of you in the near future as we explore new ways to improve general aviation and helicopter safety. Together, we can do it—we must do it!
I do want to encourage you to attend the “FAA: Meet the Regulators” session taking place this Thursday at 8:30–10:30 am, where you will get to meet several members of my senior leadership team. They plan to share information on rotorcraft safety initiatives and entertain your questions. Let’s keep the dialog going.
Thanks for inviting me; I very much look forward to continuing this dialogue and our work together.