Before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Subcommittee on Aviation, concerning U.S. Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Integration, Oversight, and Competitiveness

Chairman LoBiondo, Ranking Member Larsen, Members of the Subcommittee:

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).  The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has successfully integrated new technology into the National Airspace System (NAS) for more than 50 years, while maintaining the safest aviation system in the world.  In the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Congress mandated the safe and expedient integration of UAS into the NAS.  We have been working steadily to accomplish that goal.  The FAA has taken several key steps to integrate UAS into the NAS. 

Progress Toward Integration
In the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act, Congress mandated that the Secretary of the Department of Transportation (Secretary), in consultation with other government partners and industry stakeholders, develop a Comprehensive Plan to safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems in the NAS, as well as a five-year Roadmap.  Both documents have now been published.

The Integration of Civil UAS in the NAS Roadmap outlines the tasks and considerations necessary to integrate UAS into the NAS.  The five-year Roadmap, updated annually, provides stakeholders with proposed agency actions to assist with their planning and development.  The UAS Comprehensive Plan was drafted by the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO), in coordination with JPDO Board participants from the Departments of Defense (DOD), Commerce (DOC), Homeland Security (DHS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the FAA.  The Comprehensive Plan details work that has been accomplished, along with future efforts needed to achieve safe integration of UAS into the NAS.[1]  It sets overarching, interagency goals, objectives, and approaches to achieving integration.  It is a document that considers UAS issues beyond 2015, including technologies necessary for safe and routine operation of civil UAS and the establishment of a process to inform FAA rulemaking projects related to certification, flight standards, and air traffic requirements. 

UAS Test Sites
On December 30, 2013, the FAA announced six UAS test sites.  In selecting the sites, the FAA followed Congressional direction to consider geographic and climatic diversity and to consult with DOD and NASA.  The FAA selected the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the State of Nevada, New York’s Griffiss International Airport, the North Dakota Department of Commerce, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) to serve as UAS test sites. 

Consistent with the Congressional mandate, the FAA set out to have at least one test site operational within six months.  On April 21, 2014, within four months of selecting the site, the FAA announced that the North Dakota Department of Commerce was the first test site to be operational.  On May 5, 2014, the second test site, University of Alaska Fairbanks was declared operational.  On that day, both operational UAS test sites conducted their first flight operations.  On June 9, 2014, the FAA announced that the State of Nevada became the third operational UAS test site.  On June 20, 2014, the FAA granted the Texas A&M University Corpus Christi approval to conduct operations; four of the test sites were operational within six months of being named.  New York State Griffiss International Airport was declared operational on August 7, 2014.  On August 13, 2014, the sixth and final UAS test site, Virginia Tech, was declared operational. 

To support and accelerate test site activities, the FAA prioritized the processing of the first Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA) for each of the test sites.  Since then, the FAA has continued to process test site COAs expeditiously.  Since the inception of the test site program, the FAA has approved 40 COAs for UAS operations at the test sites with an average processing time of 57 days per COA, which surpasses the FAA goal of 60 days for all COAs.  At the FAA/UAS Test Site Technical Interchange Meeting in September, the test sites indicated that they plan to submit 57 COA and 14 experimental certificate requests in the next year.  We are prepared to process their requests expeditiously and look forward to continuing to work with the test sites to facilitate their operations and advance our research goals. 

The FAA implemented a Designated Airworthiness Representatives program which will permit Test Site designees to issue experimental certificates for unmanned aircraft.  To help the test sites develop the capability to assess unmanned aircraft and issue these certificates, the FAA developed both online and in-person training.  Once test site designees have completed FAA training, they will be authorized to work within this new program.  The State of Nevada was the first test site to participate in the training, and it expects to complete the test site Special Airworthiness Certification this month.

The test sites play a critical role in the safe and efficient integration of UAS into the NAS.  The FAA will utilize data from the test sites to help answer key questions and provide critical information about how UAS will interface with the air traffic control system.  Our research goals are focused on (1) gathering system safety data, (2) aircraft certification, (3) command and control link issues, (4) control station layout and certification criteria, (5) ground and airborne detect and avoid capabilities, and (6) impacts on affected populations and the environment.  The information provided by the test sites will help the FAA to develop regulations and operational procedures for future civil commercial use of UAS in the NAS.  Data from the test sites will also help identify elements of the certification and navigation requirements we will need to establish for unmanned aircraft.

UAS operational pre- and post-flight data is currently being collected from all test sites.  The test sites are providing data about the types and sizes of aircraft, number of operations, number of flight hours, notable operating parameters (for example, whether the flight was within or beyond visual line of sight), and any incidents and accidents.   Each site has also established its own research agenda.  I’d like to highlight just a few of the activities underway at each test site.  

• The North Dakota Department of Commerce test site has conducted more than 84 flights, with research concentrated on wildlife census and precision agriculture studies.
   
• The University of Alaska Fairbanks test site encompasses 3,369 cubic miles of airspace in Alaska and Oregon.  It is expanding flight operations into Kansas with the recent approval of Kansas State University as a new team member.  The research conducted at this test site includes forward-looking infrared technology to support surveying large land mammals and using UAS to meet operational firefighting needs and provide tactical police support.
   
• The State of Nevada became the first test site to participate in Designated Airworthiness Representative training.  Nevada expects to complete the test site Special Airworthiness Certification this month, leading to the first Special Airworthiness Certification issued under the Designated Airworthiness Representatives for UAS Certification at UAS test sites program.  Nevada’s research will concentrate on UAS standards and operations, as well as operator standards and certification requirements.
   
• Griffiss International Airport has conducted 31 flights using three different vehicles.  In cooperation with Lockheed Martin, Griffiss International Airport test site has conducted Optional Piloted Aircraft research, testing a rotorcraft with and without an onboard pilot for firefighting research. 
   
• Texas A&M Corpus Christi created a fully operational UAS command center with advanced toolsets and is pursing solutions that will incorporate air traffic control data to augment operational safety mitigation strategies.  Research activities include precision agriculture and coastal monitoring.
   
• The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) hosted the second FAA/UAS Technical Interchange Meeting for the FAA and all six test sites in September 2014.  This test site includes Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey.  Research in these three states will include agricultural spray equipment testing, developing training and operational procedures for aeronautical surveys of agriculture, and the development of aeronautical procedures for integration of UAS flights in a towered airspace.   

We continue to work closely with the test sites to identify the data most useful to the FAA. 

FAA personnel at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ, play a key role in data collection and analysis.  The FAA Technical Center has served as the core research facility for modernizing the air traffic management system and for advancing programs to enhance aviation safety, efficiency, and capacity since 1958.  The Technical Center is the nation’s premier air transportation system laboratory.  The Technical Center’s highly technical and diverse workforce conducts research and development, test and evaluation, verification and validation, sustainment, and ultimately, de-commissioning of the FAA’s full spectrum of aviation systems.  Its employees develop scientific solutions to current and future air transportation safety, efficiency, and capacity challenges.  Technical Center engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and technical experts utilize a robust, one-of-a-kind, world-class laboratory environment to identify integrated system solutions for the modernization and sustainment of the NAS and for developing and integrating new technology and operational capabilities. 

The Technical Center has served a critical function in advancing UAS integration.  A significant portion of test site data analysis is being performed at the Technical Center. A Data Lead from the Technical Center, regional representatives, and research engineers, are also visiting each UAS test site to evaluate how data is captured and maintained, ensure data transference and integrity, and determine whether additional data collection would facilitate meeting the FAA’s research objectives.  We continue to work with the test sites to obtain the most valuable information possible and facilitate further UAS integration.

Rulemaking and Exemptions
Section 332 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act required the agency to conduct rulemaking to permit the civil operation of small UAS in the NAS.  The NPRM is currently under executive review. 

Consistent with the authority in section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, the FAA, in coordination with the Secretary of Transportation, is issuing exemptions that allow for commercial activity in the NAS in low-risk, controlled environments.  As directed in the Act, an exemption may be granted after a two-step process.  First, the Secretary must determine that, based on certain criteria set forth in the statute, the UAS does not pose a risk to those operating in the NAS, the general public, or national security and it can be safely operated without an airworthiness certificate.  The FAA will then use its existing exemption authority to grant relief from FAA regulations that may apply.  The exemption process allows the FAA to carefully evaluate each request to determine what conditions are required to ensure that the operation will not create an adverse impact on safety.  Once an exemption is granted, the applicant must then apply for a civil Certificate of Waiver or Authorization, permitting the operator to conduct the proposed operation.  We are looking at ways to streamline the process to enable broader use of civil UAS in the NAS. 

Public Aircraft Certificates of Authorization and Partnerships with Law Enforcement
For the last two decades, the FAA has authorized the limited use of unmanned aircraft for important missions in the public interest.  These include firefighting, disaster relief, search and rescue, law enforcement, border security, military training, and testing and evaluation.  The FAA continues to facilitate the use of UAS by public entities.  More than 35 law enforcement agencies operate unmanned aircraft now under certificates of authorization (COA).  We have processed COAs on an emergency basis to facilitate the efficient use of UAS technology when it advances law enforcement purposes. We have authorized COAs that allow for UAS to be utilized in search and rescue operations in less than 24 hours.  We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that UAS technology is a tool available to them when it is sufficiently safe and in the public interest. 

We are also working with Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies to address and educate the public about the unsafe, or unauthorized, use of UAS since they are often in the best position to deter, detect, and immediately investigate such activity.  The FAA may take enforcement action against anyone that operates a UAS in a way that endangers the safety of the NAS, or who conducts an unauthorized UAS operation.  This authority is designed to protect users of the airspace as well as people and property on the ground.  State and local law enforcement can assist us in protecting the safety of the NAS by identifying individuals or entities engaged in unauthorized use, collecting and preserving evidence, and immediately reporting an incident, accident or other suspected violation to one of the FAA Regional Operation Centers (ROC) located around the country.  The FAA tracks UAS events, including those reported to the FAA by law enforcement and the general public, as well as events identified by FAA air traffic control facilities.  A single UAS-specific event tracking database is currently in development and will be deployed by the end of 2015. 

Center of Excellence
Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014, Congress directed the FAA to establish a UAS Center of Excellence (COE).  The goal of this endeavor is to create a cost sharing relationship between academia, industry, and government that will focus on research areas of primary interest to the FAA and the UAS community.   We intend to forge a union of public sector, private sector, and academic institutions to create a world-class consortium that will identify solutions for existing and anticipated UAS related issues.  The COE will perform short- and long-term basic and applied research through a variety of analyses, development, and prototyping activities.  To that end, the FAA solicited proposals from accredited institutions of higher education with their partners and affiliates.  The FAA intends to enter into cooperative agreements with core university members, and will award matching grants for public benefit. Initially, grants will be awarded to university members to establish the COE, define the research agenda, and begin UAS research, education, training and related activities.  We are currently in the process of reviewing proposals and look forward to establishing the COE. 

The FAA has long had successful partnerships with the nation’s academic research community, working with U.S. colleges and universities to foster research by COE faculty and students, industry, and other affiliates.  These research efforts have provided the agency and the industry a high return on investments and have contributed significantly to the advancement of aviation science and technology over the past two decades.  We look forward to continuing these partnerships with respect to UAS research as we establish the COE.

Conclusion
The FAA is committed to safely integrating UAS into the NAS.  The FAA has made steady progress toward that goal through the UAS Roadmap, the Comprehensive Plan, the test sites, Section 333 Exemptions, partnerships with public entities, and the proposed Center of Excellence. 

The United States has the safest aviation system in the world, and our goal is to integrate this new and important technology while still maintaining safety as our highest priority.  We are committed to ensuring that America continues to lead the world in the development and implementation of aviation technology.  We look forward to continuing to work together with Congress as we continue to integrate UAS into the NAS. 

This concludes my statement.  I will be happy to answer your questions at this time. 

Positioning the U.S. Airline Industry for Success

Thank you, Sean (Cassidy, First Vice President of ALPA), for that kind introduction. I want to take a minute to express my sincere thanks to Lee Moak for his tremendous work and leadership over the last four years as President of ALPA.

Lee’s accomplishments are many, but I think one of the greatest contributions he has made in the time that I have known him, which is throughout his tenures, is his participation on the NextGen Advisory Committee. Lee has a very unique ability to be clear, concise and direct when there is a need to be. He has frequently reminded us that the users of the system; the pilots, the controllers, and the technicians, are partners in the solutions as we look to the future of the industry.

The FAA has worked closely with ALPA as we published some major safety rules in the last four years. These include rules on pilot fatigue, pilot training and pilot qualifications. The guidance and expertise of Lee and everyone at ALPA has been instrumental to that success.

I wish Lee all the best in his future endeavors and I know that we’re going to continue to work together in the years ahead.

Unity in Reauthorization

As we think about the future, and the many changes we need to make to modernize our nation’s airspace system, and to maintain the equipment we use each and every day, we as an industry need to make our priorities clear.

Reauthorization is coming up next year. The FAA’s authorization ends on September 30 of next year, as you know. It’s amazing that we’re already here again, and it seems just a short while after the reauthorization of 2012 which came after 23 short-term extensions. We will only realize the full benefits of our airspace system when we have an aviation industry – and that’s everyone in the aviation industry – that is engaged and that is united around our priorities.

Our stakeholders would like us to do everything better; to do it faster; and to do it cheaper. Believe me, we’re all for that, but the question is, how are we going to do that, and more particularly, how are we going to do it in the constrained and unpredictable fiscal environment that we’ve found ourselves in in the last few years?

This industry needs to come together and rally around what is important. We need to fight for the priorities we all arrive at, and agree on how we’re going to pay for them if we truly want to position the U.S. airline industry for success in a very globally competitive environment. It’s critical.

This process will take compromise and setting aside of the many differences we might have between us. Everyone in this room has a responsibility to support efforts to secure an airspace system that best serves our entire nation.

Last year around this time, we started a conversation about what kind of an airspace system we want and how we should pay for it. And I want to add that Lee has served on the FAA’s Management Advisory Council and will continue in that role. He has helped us talk with stakeholders to gauge what the thoughts are on the best approach to reauthorization.

The FAA has not endorsed one idea versus another in this process, but what we have encouraged is a very open dialogue.

Among some in the industry, there is a sense that it’s time for structural change – structural reform. That is because the FAA is facing two main problems. First, there is a lack of predictability in our budgets due to short term extensions and continuing resolutions, and because of the constrained fiscal climate here in Washington. As we sit here today, the government faces running out of money on Thursday night, unless Congress reaches some kind of an agreement. Second, we face challenges focusing on core priorities in light of the very diverse interests of all of our stakeholders. It’s clear to me, however, that we will not succeed if we don’t set priorities.

Now, there is no shortage of viewpoints on how to solve these problems and the direction we should take. And as I said just now, we have not taken a position. But what I hear are many separate conversations – conversations about new structure for air traffic control or conversations about structures for addressing certification. What we need to have is a conversation across the industry to identify the priorities for the system as a whole. The danger is that if we only promote certain narrow interests, we could devolve into trading one of our interests off against another, and our industry as a whole will be worse off.

Our national airspace system underpins an industry that adds $1.5 trillion to our economy. This system is really an ecosystem, where each part relies on the other to function well. There can’t be a disconnect between industry and government or between sectors in the industry if we expect to be successful. All of us should have a very keen interest in how all of these issues play out.

So, we need to have an honest conversation about the fiscal challenges we face. While you can always debate the exact budgetary needs of an agency, one thing is clear: there is simply no way the FAA can implement NextGen, and recapitalize our aging infrastructure; and continue to provide the same level of services without making some serious tradeoffs. Even with short term choices, there will be significant impacts to our budget and the services that we can provide. So what does that mean? It means we need to have the flexibility to make investment choices that further the health of our airspace system, and not make choices simply because they might be politically popular.

I fear there is a level of complacency that’s developing that everything is just fine and that business as usual might work. Complacency is a mistake. If we don’t come up with a concrete plan, and if we don’t do it collectively, I’m afraid we’ll be signing up for more instability and uncertainty – which is exactly the thing we all agree we need to get out of.

Global Initiative

Why is this work important? Because as you know, the airline and aviation industry is expanding globally, and we want to make sure the entire global system is safe and that the United States continues to remain the gold standard for excellence in aviation. Believe me it takes a lot of work to maintain that position. We at the FAA want to do everything we can to assure that the U.S. remains a global leader.

Working through ICAO is an important way to make sure that we maintain high standards globally. We are planning to send more FAA technical experts to ICAO in the coming year in order to make sure that we have a seat at the table so that we can weigh in when ICAO makes important decisions about international aviation standards.

We are moving towards a seamless global airspace. As we modernize, we want to make sure that these new systems can interact with each other. We have participated in some very important work on the updated Global Air Navigation Plan and the subsequent Aviation System Block Upgrades. These upgrades created a new and innovative way to integrate and harmonize multiple and complex systems of air navigation and emerging technologies across the globe. Just yesterday in Chicago, ICAO held an extraordinary meeting to celebrate the organization’s 70^th anniversary. It was a meeting of many leaders of aviation from across the globe. Everyone recommitted themselves to working together so that civil aviation will continue to develop in a peaceful manner to promote economic development and prosperity for all nations.

NextGen Priorities

Here at home, we have worked closely with industry, through the NextGen Advisory Committee, to define and focus our NextGen priorities. ALPA has been a very important part of this, and I’ve seen a lot of Lee and Sean in the last few years. We have listened to what you say and we have actively responded.

The NextGen priorities are an example of what can happen when industry and government get together and really work through the issues and crystalize what we as an industry want from our aviation system and what we will work for together. It’s the kind of cooperation that we need on reauthorization.

We are sharpening our focus on near term NextGen benefits by working on these priorities that we have all agreed upon, and that we are committed to delivering. These fall in four areas: more satellite-based navigation procedures; better use of runways; better situational awareness at airports; and more streamlined departure clearances through DataComm.

Let me give you a couple of examples of what we are working on.

The first is satellite-based navigation. A lot of really, really important and great work has been happening in Seattle and Denver and other cities through collaboration with airlines, airports, and other stakeholders. We are fast-tracking more direct routes in the airspace above other busy metropolitan areas through our Metroplex initiative. These routes are easing congestion in our airspace and significantly increasing the efficiency and predictability of arrivals and departures.

This fall, all in one day, we turned on 61 new air traffic procedures going into metropolitan Houston.

The new arrival routes – the optimized profile descents – take an aircraft from cruise altitude and allow the pilot to almost glide down rather than stepping down in the traditional stair-step arrival that burns fuel during each level-off. To non-aviation groups, I say that this eliminates the aviation equivalent of stop-and-go driving in traffic.

These new procedures are also safer. They are more simple and consistent. They are easier to fly and take less back and forth between the controller and the pilot, and there’s less interpretation and therefore less margin of error. Pilots have more confidence because they know where they are situationally at any given point in time.

I want to thank the pilot community for the help with designing these procedures and with the changes to the phraseology we use to refer to them. You have educated your membership both at home and abroad, and that has helped with the successful adoption of these NextGen routes.

What’s really exciting about this, is that in Houston, every year, airlines expect to save about 3 million gallons of fuel. And that translates to, in current fuel prices, to about $9 million per year in fuel savings. These are just on arrivals and departures in one metropolitan area. Think of the emissions that are being saved because the aircraft are burning so much less fuel. And that’s what this technology enables.

More recently, we turned on the North Texas Metroplex this fall, and I was proud to have Sean (Cassidy) there on the dais to celebrate our joint success. There was some healthy Texas competition with the roll out of these new procedures. Since Houston turned on 61 new procedures, Dallas later turned on more than 80. Now we will expand these benefits to Northern California, Charlotte and Atlanta in the next three years in response to the request that came from industry.

While these procedures make our airspace more efficient, we also want to get the most out of our nation’s runways, which takes me to the second example. Industry has asked loud and clear for improved wake turbulence separation standards at more airports. We heard you, and we are increasing the number of airports with this capability. We are going to reduce separation standards at nine new airports in five cities over the next year. Those cities are: Houston, metropolitan New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Charlotte.

We have already seen the benefits in Memphis and Louisville over the last two years. This year, we have implemented these new standards in Cincinnati and Atlanta. At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, we’re seeing great results. Delta Air Lines is reporting faster taxi out times, reduced departure delays in the queue and they are spending less time in TRACON airspace.

Now industry and the FAA came together to choose these NextGen priorities and we intend to deliver on them. We focused our efforts so that we could achieve the maximum benefits in the shortest amount of time. It’s this kind of cooperation and negotiation that will spell success for our industry as we look across the aviation industry as a whole. We need this same type of unity and focus for our upcoming reauthorization.

Conclusion

America truly is unique in that we have a vibrant and diverse aviation industry. In addition to the commercial carriers and regional carriers, we have business aviation and recreational flyers. And then there are the new users: unmanned aircraft and commercial space operators. We have a strong manufacturing base for aircraft and for avionics. Each sector is important and together they create the 12 million jobs that civil aviation contributes to our economy.

Many of you have heard me say that aviation was born in America. It started here, and it’s always embodied something that’s uniquely American – the belief in limitless opportunities. So many before us have made great contributions in engineering, avionics, design and manufacturing – all of which have gotten us to where we are today.

It’s our responsibility as leaders in this industry to protect our system and to grow this system and move it forward. We need to think about the future and how we will modernize our system and make sure we position our airlines for success in an increasingly competitive global environment.

We all need each other, and we need consensus across the entire industry in this very tough fiscal environment. Coming to some kind of consensus is not easy. In fact, we all know it’s very, very hard. But the price of complacency will be much greater. Aviation has consistently pioneered innovation in this country, so let’s create an alternative path to the gridlock that has been so prevalent here in this town for so many years. I look forward to finding a solution with all of you in this room to ensure that we at the FAA, and you in industry, are in the position to continue to provide the safest and most efficient system we need in the years ahead. I don’t think any of us should settle for anything less.

ICAO 70th Anniversary

Thank you, Mr. President (Dr. Benard Aliu, President of the ICAO Council). It is an honor for me to address this Special Council Session on such a momentous occasion.  Congratulations to ICAO for 70 years of global leadership in international aviation. 

During the first years of ICAO’s existence, commercial aviation was still in its infancy.  In the 1940s, the vast majority of the world’s citizens had never travelled by air, and routes were limited.  Fares were exorbitantly high, but would gradually become more affordable to many more travelers. 

Since that time, aviation has changed beyond the wildest imagination of its pioneers.  Its exponential growth has been nothing short of amazing.  Millions of people now fly safely to vast and far reaches of the world.  Billions of dollars of goods are shipped daily on aircraft.  Aviation supports economies big and small by the trillions of dollars, and the aviation industry provides jobs to millions.  Most importantly, we can say with great satisfaction that it is the safest form of travel. 

And, consider all the vast improvements since ICAO began its work to ensure a safe and efficient global aviation system.  Safety rates have dramatically improved.  Air traffic operations are becoming more and more efficient, and system modernization is taking hold.  Aircraft are certified to incredibly safe levels.  We are integrating new entrants into the global airspace and addressing environmental concerns.

All of these major steps forward could not have happened without ICAO’s leadership.  Through this organization, and with the efforts and technical expertise of Member States and industry, we have worked together to set global aviation standards and guidelines.  These standards have created a sound foundation for a safe, harmonized, and environmentally responsible aviation system. 

We can all be proud, as participants in this most vital of international bodies, that our efforts have paid off tremendously. 

While we as Member States at times have differing points-of-view and interests, this forum allows us to reach a global consensus and harmonize our approaches in the best possible way to enhance global aviation.  It remains a remarkable body and shows the world how true collaboration works.

Congratulations once again on this historic occasion, and thank you all for joining us here in Chicago where it all began.

North Texas Metroplex

Good morning.  It’s great to be here in northern Texas to celebrate this important milestone. I’d like to thank our partners from the airlines, NATCA, PASS, ALPA and APA (Allied Pilots Association), as well as the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth.

Just a little more than 40 years ago, leaders in Dallas and Fort Worth celebrated a great success when they opened what was then the largest airport in the world – some 18,000 acres of Texas prairie that was destined to also become one of the world’s busiest airports.

Time and again, the aviation community in northern Texas has played a major role in advancing aviation safety. It was here that lifesaving technologies were developed and tested, such as wind-shear detection and radar that can track the movements of airplanes on busy taxiways and runways. Working with NASA and D/FW Airport, the FAA has looked to northern Texas to serve as a test bed for many satellite-based NextGen technologies that are now transforming our nation’s airspace.

A few weeks ago, the FAA flipped the switch on 80 new NextGen air traffic procedures in northern Texas. Overnight, we saw significant benefits to the complex airspace around northern Texas. Planes are flying fewer miles and burning less fuel. Flights are arriving a little earlier than before, and departures are able to get on their way even faster.

It was the most ambitious airspace optimization project that the FAA has undertaken in recent years. We estimate these procedures in the North Texas Metroplex could save airlines 4.1 million gallons in fuel each year, and allow aircraft to descend to the runway from cruise altitude with engines almost at idle.

It saves a lot of fuel because it’s like sliding down the banister rather than walking down the stairway, one stair at a time. A traditional descent requires an aircraft to level off at each new altitude, burning up fuel at each new step. We’ve optimized the departure routes as well, to make optimum climbs and shorter routes. These departures also save fuel.

These new routes are the result of a collaborative effort with the airlines and our workforce. Using satellite-based NextGen technology, we have turned some of the most complex airspace in the country into some of the most efficient.

We created more efficient routes that separate traffic flowing into Love Field from that headed to D/FW. As a result, both airports can expect to operate more efficiently, and the flights taking off and landing at both airports are flying more precise flight paths.

We estimate jetliners will fly 1 million fewer nautical miles each year in northern Texas, based on flight plans.

Together, these new procedures and routes will prevent 41,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering our atmosphere each year.  That’s like taking 8,000 cars off the streets of Dallas and Fort Worth. NextGen improves efficiency and makes aviation greener.

This project takes into consideration the flight paths into not only the large commercial airports – Dallas/Fort Worth and Love Field – but also Alliance, Meacham, Dallas Executive, Arlington and Addison – as well as other satellite airports – to make the entire system work better.

NextGen is delivering significant benefits in northern Texas now. Around the United States, we are creating similar new airways that will relieve bottlenecks, improve safety, and foster the flow of commerce in more than a dozen major metropolitan areas.

Back in the 60s, the leaders in Dallas and Fort Worth had a vision to create a better air transportation system for future generations. We are carrying that commitment forward, with the North Texas Metroplex air traffic system.

I want to again thank the many people who worked so hard to modernize the northern Texas airspace. It took teamwork from all areas – controllers, technicians, pilots, environmental specialists, managers, airlines and airports—to achieve such a great outcome. You have laid the groundwork for a modern air transportation system that will benefit generations to come.

Discipline, Mission, and Camaraderie

Thank you, Carrolyn [Bostick].  It’s great to be here.  As we look ahead to Veterans Day, it’s really a time to reflect.  There is, as we all know, a segment in our American society that knows a lot about the meaning of courage … a lot about the meaning of service.  And that’s something that we can all take a cue from and that group is of course our military veterans.  They are the reason we are here today. 

There was a study that looked at what motivates people in military combat.  The researchers talked to service members in the United States Marines Corps, the French Foreign Legion and the British Commandos.  They found three common threads.

The first was that all of them had an important sense of discipline.  They recognized that it’s something that they do because it is their job.

The second thing was there was an appreciation for the history and the values that were embodied in the regiment.  People were highly motivated to honor the great tradition of that regiment. 

While these were important, they were not the most important things that the researchers found.  The most important factor that contributed to their absolute willingness to put themselves into harm’s way was love for fellow service members.  They talked about a bond between a team that was really unbreakable.  One put it this way in an interview, “You work with them, and you soon realize your survival depends on one another.”

Whether it be military combat, or anything else, the lesson is clear.  We can only be successful if we count on one another. 

That’s a spirit I’m proud to say we have here at the FAA.  And no doubt, it’s a spirit infused with the quiet, but powerful energy of our military veterans. 

We’re fortunate to have almost 15,000 veterans here at the FAA.  That’s about a third of our workforce. 

Since 2011, one third of our newly-hired air traffic controllers … and one half of our newly-hired aviation safety inspectors have been veterans.   

When our veterans talk about their military experience and how it has shaped their career at the FAA, what do you think they say are the three factors that have contributed to it?  It won’t surprise you.

The military gave them a sense of discipline … and a sense of duty.

The military gave them a history to live up to … and a sense of mission and pride in serving the United States government.  

And the military gave them a sense of camaraderie. 

Very similar to what the researchers found when they talked to these three distinct services.

We’re fortunate that so many of our veterans have brought these values and principles here to support the FAA’s mission to maintain the safest and most efficient aerospace system in the world. 

I want to take a moment to recognize the veterans in the room.  Could all of our veterans please stand?

We know our veterans stand strong.  When they sign up, they are choosing a cause greater than any one individual.  You may have to put off plans for family or education, and you’ve done that so you can serve your country.  And some of you may have to leave behind on more than one occasion your family for months, or in some instances, years at a time.

Often, it can be very, very tough on families.  We all know what it’s like to be without loved ones during holidays … to miss out on a college graduation or a high school event.  Often times, you have to move to a new city with each additional assignment.  Or some of you may have had to take care of a wounded warrior. 

No event … no parade … no monument … can repay what we owe to you and your families.  But we should do what we can to support you, just as we support one another.  We need to extend our thanks for your service and sacrifice and recognize the contributions you’ve all made.

I’d like to take a moment and highlight four veterans today and tell you how they’re serving our nation, both in uniform, and more recently, here at the FAA.

First, I’d like to thank Kristen Stewart.  Kristen is an air traffic controller at Washington Dulles Tower and previously, a controller at Washington Center.  She was active duty Air Force for four years, and stationed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.  She was an air traffic controller, and supported Operation Desert Storm in 1991.  Kristen handled military flights that would stop and refuel between the United States and Kuwait or Turkey.  She handled flights carrying injured and fallen soldiers, and military equipment.   

Next, I want to talk about Robert Parker.  Robert is in our Aviation Safety organization.  He’s a manager in Air Traffic Safety Oversight for Eastern Area operations.  He was also an air traffic controller at Memphis Tower.  He’s a Colonel in the Air National Guard and continues to serve after 32 years. 

As part of the Guard, Robert supported flight operations on many assignments including Bosnia in 1995 … Salt Lake City for the Olympic Winter Games in 2002 … and the Gulf coast after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  He also served two tours in Iraq, where he was in charge of airfield operations at Mosul Air Base, and later at Baghdad International airport.  This was in 2005, when, as I’m sure you recall, it was an especially dangerous time to be in Iraq.  In fact, one night, Robert and his service members saw 13 mortars come into their base over a two-hour period.   

I also want to recognize Laura White.  She is an Employee and Occupational Safety and Health program manager at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City. Laura served in the Army for four years.  She was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  Her job was to repair ground control approach radar. 

When she joined in the late 1970’s, there weren’t a whole lot of women in the technical fields.  She was truly a pioneer.  Through the GI Bill, Laura earned a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering technology and started as a technician here at the FAA in 1989.  She began training technicians at the FAA Academy and now works to make sure that the safety component is always included in each and every course taught.  Laura’s combination of military service, technical education and on-the-job experience makes her a great example for young women and girls as we encourage them to pursue technical fields and careers in aviation and aerospace.

Finally, I want to thank Roy Johnson, a Security Assistant at the Great Lakes regional office in Chicago.  Roy served in the Air Force, active duty for four years, and then served in the Air National Guard until he retired in 2006.  After 9/11, he was called up to be part of Operation Noble Eagle, an effort to strengthen homeland security on our military bases and potential targets such as ports and bridges.  Roy also served as a Military Police officer at many locations including the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Kuwait, and in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

Of course, we have many executives who are military veterans.  For instance, Major General Edward Bolton, Assistant Administrator for NextGen, joined us from the Air Force. 

And Maria Fernandez-Greczmiel, who runs the agency’s Accountability office, served in the Army’s JAG Corps.  

These are only a few of the 15,000 veterans who are making tremendous contributions here at the FAA.  They are role models of discipline … dedication to the mission … and of course, camaraderie.

Our veterans here at the agency, and throughout the nation, have given so much.  Let’s make a point of giving back, as we mark Veteran’s Day on November 11^th.

Thank you very much.   
______________________
Before we close, I'd like to recognize a group of people – the FAA’s Military Liaison office.  I’d like to ask them to join me on the stage here.  As they’re coming up, I’m going to tell you a little bit about them.  Many of our employees may not be fully aware of what they do.   

The Military Liaison office was established as part of an agreement between the Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration.  The purpose of the office is to enable the close working relationship that we have with our colleagues at the Department of Defense.  They need to have access to the airspace for defense purposes as you heard.  In turn, the DOD helps us support our mission to ensure safe and efficient airspace operations. 

The liaison office helps to coordinate our partnership efforts.  For instance, there is always a discussion that begins around this time of year about handling traffic during busy holiday travel periods.  The liaison office will work directly with our Command Center to facilitate the release of military airspace that they will not be using during the holiday period, but what that enables the Air Traffic Organization to do is to implement strategic routes that have the effect of reducing delay and making sure everyone can make it home for a great thanksgiving dinner or wonderful holiday celebration with their family. 

Also, our military liaisons are helping us to integrate unmanned aircraft into civilian airspace.  They provided us with a lot of input that resulted in the announcement that we made last year, where we selected our six unmanned aircraft test sites.  We’ve been working with them to develop a sense and avoid technology that will substitute for the see and avoid principle that has guided aviation from its beginning.  This is necessary before we can really see full integration of unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system. 

These are just two areas where the FAA works with the Defense Department and there are many, many others.   
               
So if any of you have any questions about DOD airspace operations, they are located in this building, 10A, in room 420, and they can give you what you need.

With that, I’d like to recognize them for their contributions…

Moving Past Gridlock

Thanks, Anil (Deolalikar, Dean of UCR School of Public Policy). It’s so good to be back, and it’s good to be home. I was telling Anil when we were walking up here that as a political science graduate from UCR, the prospect of walking into a building called the Genomics Auditorium was absolutely terrifying. But it’s great to see that the campus has grown so much and that there are so many things that have changed here, and to see so many vibrant students who are really the future of not only aviation but what we as a nation have to look forward to.

I’m going to talk about three things this evening. I’m going to talk about my own journey of how I got to where I am today and some of the things I’ve learned along the way.

I’m going to talk a bit about the challenges that we are facing as a nation in aviation and the things that we have to consider in the years ahead.

And then I’m going to talk a little bit about why we should be interested and why we need to invest in the next generation of public policy professionals, because this is something the country needs very, very badly.

First a little bit about me. I am very proud of my roots here in Inland Empire. I’m a second generation Riversider. My dad was also born here in Riverside, and I grew up just west of the city in what was then unincorporated Riverside County in a community called Rubidoux. I understand it’s now the city of Jurupa Valley. It really seems to have gone up in the real estate brokers’ eyes. When I was growing up, we lived in a place that was adjacent to a strawberry field, and the guy who ran the strawberry field would save the last row of strawberries for my sister to eat, which she did with great gusto.  

My dad, he didn’t finish high school, but he was drafted in World War II. He was a World War II vet, and he was active in the Pacific theater as a medic.  

My mom was a stay-at-home mom. But once she got us all into school, she went back to school and got an Associate’s Degree from Riverside Community College and became a librarian.  She served as the librarian at Ina Arbuckle Elementary School in the Jurupa Unified School District until she retired.

Now, my parents were big, big believers in the power of education. And they instilled in all of us a significant belief that what you are able to do is a function of what you are able to learn; and what you take the time to learn; and how you take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to you. And so, I went to high school at Notre Dame High School, and got involved in a program that was very international – and it was all about, you know, what’s the world all about? And I decided that what I really what to be when I grow up is probably a diplomat. I want to take the Foreign Service exam and I want to work in embassies all around the world. I thought that’s really what’s for me.

I came here to UCR and many of you have heard stories about what it was like at UCR in the 1970s. It was a very small place, about 5,000 students, graduate and undergrad. It was a wonderful place where you really got to know your professors and that’s still the case today, I know. But I happened to get to know a wonderful mentor, professor and friend, and that’s the former Mayor of Riverside Ron Loveridge. The mayor was my academic adviser, and when he heard the story about how I wanted to run off and be a diplomat, he suggested I do an internship.

And that internship that he suggested I do was at the redevelopment agency of the City of Riverside. And my first project that I got to work on was a parking lot. I learned about things like tax increment financing which was really big in the 1970s and which was used a lot by cities and counties to finance all kinds of great facilities.  And then Proposition 13 came in and that was kind of the end to that as a viable financing mechanism for a lot of communities. But what Professor Loveridge suggested that I really needed to get was a broad-based understanding of the full scope of public policy challenges.  

So I helped to develop a parking lot, with tax increment financing for the City of Riverside. But what I learned about in that internship was that cities are a wonderful laboratory where great things happen and where a lot of really good work takes place. Important public policy questions get dealt with because you are right at the center of what citizens deal with every day. Sometimes it’s about the garbage getting picked up. Sometimes it’s about why is that traffic light not working, or why is that street light burned out? But, that stuck with me. What stuck with me is that cities are really important places, and really an important and vibrant part of how you develop an economy and how you really make profound change in our country.

Well, after I finished here at UCR in 1978 I got a BA in political science, and I still wanted to pursue that dream of being a diplomat. I was fortunate to be accepted into Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. I enrolled in the masters in public affairs program in the concentration of international relations. I learned a lot about all the great international organizations. And then I had my first opportunity to go to work in an embassy. I spent my summer internship between my two years at the United States Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium. And I got to see that embassies are kind of boring places. It’s extremely important work, don’t get me wrong, because representing the interests of the United States in the international community is something we can’t take for granted. It’s a skill where you have to understand the nuance and sometimes the unwritten agendas of what is going on as you try to advance the U.S. diplomatic objectives. But things moved really slowly in diplomacy, and one of the things I learned was that I was looking for something perhaps a little bit more fast-paced. So I went back and finished my MPA program and I refocused it a little bit on international trade. When I left Princeton with my MPA the focus really became, how do I really develop a career around international trade.

Well, in the intervening years, I got a lot of great jobs.  I got to work on a U.S. AID project in the Eastern Caribbean – a tiny little country, newly independent, called the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, about 100 miles east of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. My job was to figure out how to attract U.S. companies to set up operations to create employment there.

One of the things you learn about when you live on an island is that ports are very, very important. It wasn’t long after that, that I received an opportunity to go work in one of the biggest ports of all as the Commissioner of Ports for the City of New York.  I worked for Mayor Ed Koch, who was one of the most transformative mayors that the city has ever seen. He brought New York back from the brink of one of the worst fiscal crises that any city had ever had and really restored in me the belief that it’s cities that can really do fabulous things.

I then moved to San Francisco, where I was director of the San Francisco Port around the time when we started to think about transportation as multi-modal. You can’t just think about roads. You can’t just think about transit. And I was the port guy who was saying, and we have to figure out how we connect our ports to the rest of the transportation infrastructure. So, all of the transportation planners got tired of my complaining about the lack of landside access to the Port of San Francisco and so they suggested and they recommended to newly elected President Bill Clinton that he hire me to figure out this intermodal transportation thing, which he did. So, I spent six great years in the Administration doing intermodal transportation, ending up as Chief of Staff for U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater. It was a wonderful experience, but that’s where I first got introduced to aviation, and what aviation has to bring to the table.

In between I did a couple of other things. I got to work for the Salt Lake Olympic Committee for about five years at an incredibly challenging time, and I’m going to come back to that a little bit later. And then ran a company, a transportation technology solutions company. Here in California you know our work as FasTrak. We are providers in the San Francisco area of the electronic toll program. In the East Coast we’re known as E-Z Pass. And we provide transit fare collection systems all over the world.

So you can take all of that, and you can draw a couple of conclusions. One conclusion you can draw from that is that I have been incredibly blessed with a wonderful variety of opportunities to do wonderful things with great people in many different capacities. Or you might conclude that I can’t hold down a job. But it’s probably somewhere in the middle. But I will say that I feel that I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to work with some of the best people as we try to deal with big, big issues and big compelling issues, which brings me to the FAA.

I’d like to talk a little bit about the FAA and what we do.

As you know, it’s an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Secretary of Transportation is a member of President Obama’s cabinet. The Department of Transportation at the federal level does three things. The first thing that it does is that it regulates the safety of all the modes of transportation. And so that’s things like ensuring that roads are designed to the highest standards of safety; that operators of commercial vehicles are properly licensed; that pilots are properly certificated; that aircraft will meet the highest standards of safety. So we’re a regulatory agency.

The second thing that the Department does, is that it operates key parts of the transportation system. We run a small part of the St. Lawrence Seaway. And we operate the air traffic system.

And the final thing is that it is a funder of infrastructure. The federal government provides financial resources to states and localities all with the purpose of ensuring that we have world class transportation infrastructure that will support the economy and that will support our nation.

The FAA is the only part of the DOT that does all three of those things. And it’s also the only part of the DOT where the largest piece of what we do is the operating piece. And for us, that is the operation of our nation’s air traffic control system. In total, we have over 45,000 employees and about 15,000 are air traffic controllers. We have an additional 6,000 who are the technical specialists who actually make sure that the air traffic infrastructure can operate efficiently each and every day. We have about another 9,000 people who focus on making sure that airplanes and airlines are safe.

Every day in America tens of thousands of people get on airplanes. And what they’re thinking about are a lot of things. They’re thinking about the security line, bag fees and which snack they’ll get on the plane. But what they’re not thinking about is – is it safe? And that’s really a testament to the work that many generations of FAA employees have done over the years.

We make the rules that govern the safety of aviation. And we also have to figure out sometimes how we account for changes in technology. A lot of what we do is invisible. But a lot of what we do is very, very visible. It was about a year ago that we had probably the biggest announcement that we have ever made as an agency in my tenure, when we announced that we had changed the rules on the use of portable electronic devices on airplanes. You know, it’s kind of interesting how this one evolved. The original rule that was put in place that said you had to shut off your devices during critical phases of flight was developed about 50 years ago. It was intended to deal with transistor radios. Well, portable electronic devices have come a long way in the intervening 50 years, as have avionics that power airplanes.

But what we did is we brought a group of people together and said you’ve got to figure out a way to do something differently. And we brought a lot of science to the table and we determined that actually they didn’t present a hazard to most types of aircraft in most phases of flight. And so what we said is that it’s OK to use your portable electronic devices – not your phones – that’s a different problem – that you could use them during all phases of flight. There will only be one phase of flight where you may be asked to turn off your phone. If a pilot asks you to turn it off, you’re going to want to do it because it’s generally going to be that you’re in a really old airplane and you’re arriving in really bad weather. If you can’t see anything out the window and the pilot asks you to turn off your electronic device, do it.

Now more recently we’ve been focusing on a new evolution in technology and that’s unmanned aircraft. This is one of the fastest developing areas in aviation. And for us it represents some pretty significant challenges that we need to figure out how to work through. We figure that there will be thousands of these operating in the not too distant future within our national airspace system. But, where they will likely operate is in the same airspace that private pilots operate in. They bring a new paradigm to what has been a bedrock principal of aviation and that is a principle called see and avoid. Essentially, a pilot has the responsibility to ensure that she or he does not run into other airplanes. You need to see where they are and you need to take evasive action to avoid them. But if the pilot is not in the airplane that changes how that actually works, and there are a couple of important things.

The first is you have to make sure that the pilot is actually seeing what the aircraft is seeing. You have to make sure that you have the technological systems to deal with concepts like latency. If you’re in command of an aircraft, it takes a while for it to react, because the signal has to travel a significant distance. And you need to figure out how the pilots that are in the plane are going to interact with an unmanned aircraft. You also have to figure out, what is that aircraft going to do if it loses link with its base station. And you also have to be able to communicate that to all the other pilots that are operating in the system. So these are some of the challenges that we’re working through. We have been making good progress on it, but many who support unmanned aircraft think we’re not moving fast enough. But the important thing that we’re trying to do is to ensure the highest levels of safety, and for us, that is never something that we can compromise on. So those are some of the kinds of decisions that we make at the FAA that affect your travel experience and affect the future of our nation’s airspace.

Now the FAA was first created in 1958, when commercial aviation began to take off after World War II. And since that time, aviation has continued to grow. In fact, this year marks the 100^th anniversary of commercial aviation. Now, in that 100 years we have grown to 65 billion passengers who are paying for tickets worldwide. What do you do you think the forecast is for when we will add the next 65 billion passengers? It’s about fifteen years. And so what that really points to is the dramatic change that this industry is going through and how we as an agency need to adapt and relate to that.

Now that first commercial flight that we were talking about, it was a two-seat airboat and it flew from St. Petersburg, Florida to Tampa. The year was 1914. The former mayor of St. Petersburg paid $400 in an auction for the privilege of being on the first commercial flight. In today’s dollars that would be more than $9,000. The flight was from one side of Tampa Bay to the other. That’s pretty good revenue per mile on the part of that airline. It took 23 minutes, but it was a game changer because it was more efficient than the trip by train, which took about 11 hours. People really started to see the huge benefit they would receive from aviation.

Well, around the time that the FAA was created, was when we started to develop the base infrastructure for our air traffic control system that has served us well for so many years. We have a radar-based system that has provided for an incredibly safe system, but it’s about 50 years old. We have to modernize it and we have to replace it. But why are we doing that?

When you’re looking at radar, what a controller or a pilot who is looking at radar is seeing is targets at points in time. Those points in time are defined by the sweep of the radar. That can be a few seconds, or that can be as much as 20 seconds before a radar sees it again. So what you’re seeing is an aircraft might be here, and the next time you see it, it’s here. You are assuming where it has gone in between those points in time. The way we operate the system as a result of the limitations of radar is you have to plan for every conceivable place that aircraft could have gone in those few seconds. In our world those are called separation standards. That’s how we assure that we keep aircraft safely separated.

With the evolution of GPS technology, we now have a very different view of our national airspace system. Rather than looking at points in time, separated by many seconds, we now have a very precise, near real time view of what’s happening in our national airspace system all the time. It’s sort of like going from looking at an impressionist painting to HDTV. And what that means we’re able to do is we can move airplanes closer together and we can handle more traffic much more efficiently. And that’s how we’re going to handle those additional 65 billion passengers in the next 15 years.

But, we have some very old technology that we need to replace to enable us to do this. And that’s what the Next Generation Air Transportation system is. We call it NextGen. What we’re doing is we’re replacing our radar based system with a satellite based system – a technology called Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, or ADS-B. We’ve done a lot of work on this. Just this year, we completed the installation of the ADS-B infrastructure across the entire country. This improves precision tracking of aircraft and when combined with other technology, enables us to do some really cool things.  

In addition to ADS-B, which gives us a new system for tracking and navigation, we are also rolling out new satellite-based procedures that are easing congestion in our airspace. For example, earlier this year we turned on a new airspace redesign around Houston, Texas. The program is called Houston Metroplex. In one day, we turned on 61 new air traffic arrival and departure routes going into the metropolitan Houston area. What was different about it? As a result of using satellite-based technology, we were able to significantly increase the arrival capacity into the greater Houston area, and use a very different kind of procedure on the arrival side called an optimized profile descent.  What is that? When you are landing, have any of you heard the engines throttle up, throttle back, and throttle up and throttle back again?  What the airplane is doing is descending and leveling, and descending and leveling off. The profile of that aircraft arrival looks a lot like walking down the stairs. It is the aviation equivalent of stop-and-go driving in traffic. It is incredibly fuel inefficient. What an optimized profile descent is, is rather than going down the steps, you’re sliding down the banister. At the top of the descent, the engines are brought back nearly to idle and it practically glides down in a continuous descent. Every one of these new arrivals in Houston was an optimized profile descent. And on the departure counterpart, a similar, much more fuel efficient route. But what’s really exciting about this, is that in Houston, every year that’s going to amount to annual savings of about 3 million gallons of fuel.  And that translates to, in current fuel prices, to about $9 million per year in fuel savings. These are just on arrivals and departures in one metropolitan area. Think of the emissions that are being saved because the aircraft are burning so much less fuel. And that’s what this technology enables. We turned on the North Texas Metroplex just last month, and we’ll be turning on new procedures in Northern California early next year, and we’ll be doing this all throughout the country in the next few years. Now, everyone thinks this is a great idea. Everyone thinks we need to do more of this, but the problem is it costs a lot of money. And this is where we come to the challenges that we are dealing with at the FAA.

The FAA, like all of our government counterparts, is dealing with significant uncertainty and unpredictability. In our case at the FAA, we have been through a shutdown, we’ve been through a sequester, we’ve had our authorization from Congress to operate lapse, and this had been replaced by 23 short-term reauthorizations. And what that has led to is a great deal of instability in our ability to keep this program on track. We don’t know what our annual appropriations are going to be. Right now, we’re operating on an appropriations bill that’s only going to get us until December 11. After that, we don’t know what it’s going to look like. Hopefully, Congress will be supportive. But it makes it impossible for me to enter into a contract for anything beyond December 11. And that is a challenge, when you’re doing a long-term, multi-year, technology-based investment that is foundational and fundamental to supporting the economy of the United States.

What we as a nation have to figure out, is how are we going to get passed the gridlock and how are we going to get passed the challenges that we have had to deal with as a country, in order to figure out how we can create the stability we need to keep important programs like this going. I don’t think that’s really any way to run a government. We’re trying to build important infrastructure projects, and everyone agrees that you need a strong aviation system if you’re going to have a strong economy. So, what we’ve asked the aviation community, our stakeholders, to do is to figure out a way to come together, and we have made the point to them that we cannot be, as an industry, in a position where the interests of one sector, the airlines, might be traded off for the interests of another sector, the airports. Each sector has got to come together and really talk about what the needs of the industry as a whole are going to be. And, we have to figure out how we’re going to pay for it. We’re supported largely by the aviation trust fund, but those collections have been flat for the last few years. So, we need to come up with new ways to figure out how we’re going to pay for this industry that is so important to all of us.

Technology is evolving, and we as a nation need to evolve with it. We need to recognize that as we’re trying to modernize the system, that has served us so well, we need to figure out how we can build the public consensus that enables us to stay the course on the investments we have made, and to make new investments where we need to, in order to support this industry, which means so much.

Aviation underpins an industry that contributes about $1.5 trillion to our national economy. It’s a system made up of a lot of parts. It’s carriers, it’s manufacturers. It employs about 12 million Americans in all aspects of the aviation industry. And one thing I do know, is we can’t put that at risk. People might debate on an annual basis what the exact budget requirements of the FAA are, but I can tell you this. There is simply no way that the FAA can implement NextGen, and recapitalize our aging infrastructure, and continue to provide all the services we provide, without making some serious tradeoffs, and figuring out a new way forward and how we’re going to stabilize things in the future.

Now, the end to this story has not been written yet. I have appealed to industry leadership to join together to reach a consensus on where we should go, and we’re working all this year to present a proposal to Congress, hopefully early next year. So this is where I’d like to turn to you, the students, and appeal to you as you enter public service to start thinking about how you can build some coalitions that are going to help us figure out how we’re going to solve some problems like this.

There are some who question whether we as Americans still have the ability to do big and transformative things. I think it’s your job to prove them wrong. We can still do very, very big things in government. And we cannot back away from tackling the big challenges. But it’s getting harder and harder to do this because of very entrenched positions that many stakeholders have taken for many, many years. But you can be a very, very positive force for change.

How?

It’s because I know that many of you are open to forming communities of interest. You’re open to collaborating. And you’re open to exchanging ideas with people who aren’t necessarily going to agree with everything you say. What you need to do is use your ability to create coalitions to figure out how we solve these pressing problems that we have in government. Only by coming together and collaborating across the political spectrum will we be able to move public policy questions passed the entrenched positions and toward topics that interest most citizens. And those are pretty easy. Everyone wants a vibrant economy. Everyone wants to make environmentally sound investments. Everyone wants to have a great quality of life. And it shouldn’t be that hard to get there.

Now, if you’re wondering if a group of determined people can make a difference against entrenched interests, you may have heard the story about a showdown in Massachusetts over a super market chain. A company called Market Basket. Have you heard about this? This was an interesting story that developed earlier this year. There was a feud between two relatives, two cousins, one was on the board and one was the CEO. What resulted was the company’s board of directors fired the CEO and brought in new executives.  Well, the employees didn’t like that. The employees felt this was a CEO who cared about communities and cared about his employees. And so they organized a boycott; organized protests; they organized that communities would not shop there; that suppliers would not deliver there. Basically they threatened the very viability of the company.

In the end, the governors of two states, Massachusetts and New Hampshire got involved in the negotiations for the future of the company. And what do you think happened? The ousted CEO bought the remaining shares of the company from his cousin’s side of the family, got his old job back, and the fired employees were reinstated. The employees were able, through sheer force of will, and community, and coalition building, to turn around a situation that seemed to be looking at pretty significant odds.

As public policy students, you need to understand the importance of creating coalitions to achieve results. Bringing opposing sides to a consensus is not easy. In fact, I know it’s very, very hard. But it is my hope that dedicated people, such as yourselves, can create an alternative path to the gridlock that is so prevalent in Washington these days.

I want to encourage you students to think big and to think about how to create coalitions to solve problems as you go through your internships and get your first jobs. Have faith that you can make a difference.

I mentioned that I had spent a number of years working for the Salt Lake Olympic Committee. It was one of the most transformative experiences of my life. There’s something about an immovable deadline that really focuses you. You think about the opening ceremony the day you get hired and you also know the day you’ll get fired. It was a wonderful experience for me, but we had a lot of things that were thrown at us. We had 9-11, which occurred a few months before our opening ceremony.  We had to figure out whether a small state like Utah could host something as big as the Olympic Games. But in the Olympic Museum in Salt Lake City, is a display that celebrates the success of Salt Lake 2002 Winter Games. I think most people would say they were probably the most successful Winter Games that were ever held. And from my standpoint, it was certainly one of the best teams that I have ever worked with. In that museum there is a display that is made up of quotes that kind of summarize the effort that what we as the organizing committee found inspiring. And there’s one that I take with me each and every day as I think about some of the challenges that we have to face. It’s a quote by someone named Patrick Overton. And it’s really all about how do you deal with uncertainty, and how do you deal with challenges that you don’t know how you’re going to get past.

What Patrick Overton said is, “When you walk to the edge of all the light you have, and take the first step into the darkness of the unknown, you must believe that one of two things will happen: There will be something solid for you to stand upon, or you will be taught to fly.”

So as this new school of public policy takes wing, I have no doubt you are going to be ready to address the challenges that our nation faces. We need you. Good luck.

All For One and One For All

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Pete [Dumont, President of the Air Traffic Control Association], for that kind introduction. It is great to be here with so many friends and colleagues in the aviation industry. Before I go any further, I want to acknowledge the great contributions of a civil servant who is leaving public office. John Pistole has announced he is retiring as Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration after four-and-a-half years leading that agency. I have the deepest respect for his work and the dedicated leadership he has provided and wish him the very best in his new endeavors. 

Chicago
As you all know, we have had a very busy last few weeks.  The sabotage and resulting fire at our en route center near Chicago can only be described with one word: devastating. But it was also something else.  It was an event that was marked by profound teamwork.

FAA Chief Operating Officer Teri Bristol and I have spent a lot of time together the last few weeks. When we visited Chicago Center to see the progress on our recovery, I couldn’t tell who was a manager, and who was a controller, and who was a technician.  I couldn’t tell who was from industry and who was from the FAA.  In fact, what it looked like was one team.

It just goes to show what can happen when the FAA and industry work together, come up with a plan, establish targets and then commit to meet them.  We did that in Chicago.  And we need to do that on a much larger scale for the future of the aviation industry. 

You are all aware that the FAA is facing significant challenges in both maintaining our system – 50,000 operations per day, countless companies all supporting nearly 12 million jobs – and at the same time modernizing that system.  And this needs to take place in the face of an extremely unforgiving budget environment. 

As an industry, we have the responsibility to pull together as one, like we did in Chicago, and create the kind of airspace system that will serve our needs and provide a very bright future for this country. When we cooperate, look what happens. Chicago Center came back into service three days ago, as promised. It took just two weeks.

Let me tell you why it worked. Chicago Center controllers traveled to facilities in other states to help keep air traffic moving. They are the experts in Chicago’s air space, and they put that knowledge to work helping their colleagues at adjacent facilities who had assumed the responsibility for air traffic that would typically be handled by Chicago Center.

Technicians rerouted phone lines to keep communications flowing. At the same time mechanics and electricians rebuilt from the fire – installing two dozen racks of equipment and connecting more than 10 miles of cable to some 835 distinct circuits. This was an extraordinary team effort and a very quick turnaround time. It should be a lesson to all of us about the rewards of cooperation and the rewards of having a clear mission. 

Regardless of this great work, I do understand the traveling public was frustrated. They were frustrated with flight delays and they were frustrated with cancellations. We are currently in the middle of the 30-day review of our contingency plans and security procedures for our major air traffic facilities. I’ve asked my team to think as creatively as possible and make recommendations for improvements.

Some think the FAA should have been able to restore full operations in a matter of hours, but our contingency plans have always been about the steps we take to maintain a safe system. Safety overrides every other factor. The plans have never been designed so that we could handle a full schedule for the airlines within minutes or hours of a major catastrophic event. 

In the long run, however, NextGen gives us the ability to recover from unexpected outages more quickly because it’s a more flexible system. Chicago is a good example of why we all need to come together to make sure we focus on upgrading our nation’s airspace infrastructure so that we remain competitive and make sure we can withstand the unexpected.

NextGen Priorities
That same team work and collaboration that allowed us to get Chicago Center up and running in two weeks is a model for what we, as an industry, need to do more of.  In fact, that same level of cooperation has taken place between the FAA and industry over the last year as we defined and focused our NextGen priorities.  We have worked collaboratively with industry through the NextGen Advisory Committee. We listen to what you say and we actively respond.

We are very focused on providing near term NextGen benefits and have already done so in many parts of the country.  And we are building on this and sharpening our focus on near term benefits.  Tomorrow, we will be delivering a report to Congress outlining the near-term priorities that we have all agreed upon – government and industry – and we are committed to deliver. These priorities fall in four areas: more satellite-based navigation procedures; better use of runways; better situational awareness at airports; and more streamlined departure clearances through DataComm.

Let me give you a couple of examples of what we are working on. 

The first is satellite-based navigation.  A lot of good work has been happening in Seattle and Denver and other cities through collaboration with airlines, airports, and other stakeholders. We are fast-tracking more direct routes in the airspace above other busy metropolitan areas through our Metroplex initiative. Already, airlines are seeing benefits in fuel savings and lower carbon emissions. Take Houston and North Texas for example. In Houston alone, this amounts to 3 million gallons of fuel savings annually – and millions of dollars in savings for the airlines that operate there.  Now we will expand these benefits to Northern California, Charlotte and Atlanta in the next three years in response to the request that came in from industry. 

While these procedures make our airspace more efficient, we also want to get the most out of our nation’s runways, which takes me to the second example. Industry has asked loud and clear for improved wake turbulence separation standards at more airports. We heard you, and we are increasing the number of airports with this capability. We are going to reduce separation standards at nine new airports in five cities over the next year. Those cities are: Houston, metropolitan New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Charlotte.

We have already seen the benefits in Memphis and Louisville over the last two years.  This year, we have implemented these new standards in Cincinnati and Atlanta.  At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, we’re seeing great results. Delta Air Lines is reporting faster taxi out times, reduced delays in the departure queue and that they are spending less time in TRACON airspace.

Industry and the FAA came together to choose these four NextGen priorities and we will deliver on them. We focused our efforts so that we could achieve the maximum benefits in the shortest amount of time.

Longer term NextGen and Chicago
But what about the longer term?  We’re also planning into the future, for longer-term benefits from airspace modernization through new technologies. Again, taking the incident in Chicago as an example, I want to paint a picture of how NextGen helped us recover from this air traffic outage much more quickly and how it will help us even more in the future.  

The common theme in NextGen is that we are switching our nation’s air traffic system from point to point communications to a network of communications. One facility can communicate with all, and all can communicate with one.

Right now each air traffic facility can only see and talk to aircraft within their proscribed area. Voice radios and radars are wired directly and exclusively into the facilities that they serve.  NextGen’s architecture is much more resilient and is more flexible than our legacy, point to point systems.  The NAS Voice System is one example. It will allow us to transfer duties from one facility to another much more easily, if need be. That’s a lot different than changing a lot of hard wiring. 

The NextGen alternative to radar – Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast – is once again, a network of sensors. This allows us to adjust the surveillance picture that controllers see by changing network settings. In contrast, radar is point to point and potentially requires modifying hardware like phone lines, routers, modems and switches to change the picture a controller sees. It is a much less flexible system. NextGen will take the entire airspace and make it much more flexible and adaptable.  

You’re already seeing the results. During this Chicago incident, we reconfigured our new en route automation modernization platform – ERAM – so that controllers in adjacent centers could see far beyond the boundaries of their own center and deeply into the airspace that was controlled by Chicago Center. It was great to visit Kansas City Center and see Kansas City controllers sitting at the screen, with Chicago sectors displayed and with Chicago controllers sitting next to them, and making sure that they understood the unique operational characteristics of that airspace. Now, we got a complete picture by putting it all together in a way where we were taking advantage of the flexibility of ERAM. Our legacy system would not allow controllers to see past their own center’s airspace. Since ERAM is a network, its architecture is more flexible and it’s powerful. ERAM can process information from a much larger base of surveillance points as well – 64 different radars versus 24 radars on the legacy system. And it can follow nearly twice the number of aircraft.  So, as a result, controllers in adjacent centers had the ability to see the traffic flying through Chicago Center’s airspace and they were better able to control it. The proof is that just four days after the shutdown, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport was once again the busiest airport in the world, and was handling more operations than any other airport.

With NAS Voice System, ERAM and ADS-B, we will have more flexibility to control our airspace in a much more dynamic way. It means we will be able to provide traditional, high efficiency separation of aircraft in the event of an unplanned outage.

ADS-B Call to Action
Many of you know that ADS-B is one of the foundational elements of NextGen. It’s the technology that allows us to move from a radar-based system to a satellite-based system. Our nation’s air transportation network has long been a paradigm for safety and for efficiency around the world, but our role as a world leader is not something that we can take for granted. Technology is evolving, and we as an industry need to take advantage of the greater efficiencies that are enabled by these new technologies.

It’s the job of government to lay the groundwork for infrastructure projects that will benefit everyone, and that’s just what we’ve done. This year the FAA completed the installation of hundreds of ground transceivers for ADS-B. In addition, the automation system that runs ADS-B –ERAM—is now operating in 16 of 20 centers across the nation that control high altitude air traffic. Now, we have come a very long way with ERAM and I’m very proud that we are pushing this program across the finish line this spring to the remaining four centers. This is a powerful automation tool, and it is going to make a huge difference in the efficiency and safety of our skies.

We are also installing a new automation system in the TRACON airspace as well, and key facilities will have it by 2016. This is all very significant progress.

Recent assertions by the DOT Inspector General that ADS-B is not providing benefits today are missing the key point. The ADS-B network has created the foundation for NextGen and the many additional benefits that will be layered on top of this base system. It’s like the foundation of a house – it’s essential that you build it first.

A report by the MITRE Corporation came out last week showing that we are right on track with NextGen. We have followed through on a decision made in 2010 – with the help and input from industry – to move our country to a satellite-based system that will provide greater situational awareness for all airspace users and greater competitiveness for our country. The MITRE report looked at the bigger picture and recognized that the full benefits of ADS-B will be realized once industry equips to use the system that we have built.

The deadline for equipping is a little more than five years from now. As many of you know, we are holding a Call to Action on ADS-B equipage at the end of this month. We are going to bring together industry leaders and associations to identify the barriers to compliance and discuss solutions. We need to make sure that everyone is prepared to comply with the January 1, 2020 mandate, because that deadline is not going to change.

Unity in Reauthorization
We need to bring this same level of focus, and cooperation as we look to reauthorization.  We will only realize the full benefits of our airspace system when we have an aviation industry that is engaged and that is united around our priorities. We have a lot to accomplish to modernize our nation’s airspace and also maintain the equipment we use each and every day. Our stakeholders would like us to do everything better; to do it faster; and to do it cheaper. Believe me, we’re all for that, but the question is, how are we going to do that in a constrained and unpredictable fiscal environment?

This industry needs to come together and rally around what is important, just as we all rallied together in Chicago to get the job done. This industry needs to fight for the priorities we all arrive at, and agree on how we’re going to pay for them. This process will take compromise and setting aside of the many differences we might have between us. Everyone in this room has a responsibility to support efforts to secure an airspace system that best serves our entire nation. A good way to accomplish this is through the FAA reauthorization that we’ll be working on this year.

We started a conversation last year about what kind of an airspace system we want and how we should pay for it. There’s a sense among some in the industry that it’s time for structural reform. That is because the FAA is facing two main problems. First, there is a lack of predictability in our budgets due to short term extensions and continuing resolutions, and because of the constrained fiscal climate here in Washington. Second, we face challenges focusing on core priorities in light of the very diverse interests of all of our stakeholders. It’s clear to me, however, that we will not succeed if we don’t prioritize.

Now, there is no shortage of viewpoints on how to solve these problems and the direction we should take. But what I hear are many separate conversations – conversations about air traffic control or about addressing certification.  What we need to have is a conversation across the industry to identify the priorities for the system as a whole. The danger is that if we only promote certain narrow interests, we could devolve into trading one of our interests off against another, and our industry as a whole will be worse off.

If the incident in Chicago teaches us anything, it’s that when the system shuts down, there are immediate economic consequences. Our national airspace system underpins an industry that adds $1.5 trillion to our economy. This system is really an ecosystem, where each part relies on the other to function well. There can’t be a disconnect between industry and government or between sectors in the industry if we expect to be successful. All of us should have a very keen interest in how all of these issues play out.

So, we need to have an honest conversation about the fiscal challenges we face. While you can always debate the exact budgetary needs of an agency, one thing is clear: there is simply no way the FAA can implement NextGen, and recapitalize our aging infrastructure; and continue to provide our current level of services without making some serious tradeoffs. Even with short term choices, there will be significant impacts to our budget and the services we can provide. We need to have the flexibility to make investment choices that further the health of our airspace system, and not make choices simply because they might be politically popular.

A year ago it was clear to me that there was a sense of urgency, and many parts of the industry were willing to entertain some approaches that might have been ruled out previously.  The past year has only sharpened my own sense of urgency. However, I fear there is a level of complacency that’s developing that business as usual might work. It won’t. And complacency is a mistake. If we don’t come up with a concrete plan, and if we don’t do it collectively, I’m afraid we’ll be signing up for more instability and uncertainty –which is exactly what we all say we don’t want.

America truly is unique in that we have a vibrant and diverse aviation industry – commercial carriers, regional carriers, business aviation and recreational flyers, not to mention new users like unmanned aircraft and commercial space operators. We have a strong manufacturing base for aircraft and for avionics. Each sector is important and together they create those 12 million jobs that civil aviation contributes to our economy.

Aviation was born in America. It started here, and it’s always embodied the pioneer spirit. So many before us have made great contributions in engineering, avionics, design and manufacturing – all of which have gotten us to where we are today.

It’s our responsibility as leaders in this industry to protect our system and move it forward. We need to think about the future and how we will modernize our system. If all we’re going to do is protect our own positions and jockey for advantage, thinking we can somehow go it alone, we are wrong. We all need each other, and we need consensus across the entire industry.

Again, think back to our experience in Chicago. In just two weeks, a team of dedicated people turned an incredibly bad situation – an act of sabotage – completely around. They kept air traffic moving into the world’s busiest airport, doing whatever it took. They did it because they are dedicated. They are proud of our aviation system and they were able to set aside any differences, come together, and come up with a plan.  Our whole industry can do the same.

Coming to some kind of consensus is not easy. In fact, we all know it’s very, very hard. But the price of complacency will be much greater.  Aviation has consistently pioneered innovation in this country, so let’s create an alternative path to the gridlock that is so prevalent here in Washington. I look forward to finding a solution with all of you in this room to ensure that we at the FAA, and you in industry, are in the position to continue to provide the safest and most efficient system that we need in the years ahead. None of us should not settle for anything less than that.

Thank you very much.     

FAA Report

I’d like to start off by acknowledging the great work that Bill Ayer has done over the last two years. As you all know, this is Bill’s last meeting as chairman. Over the course of two years with the NextGen Advisory Committee, he has helped coordinate unprecedented cooperation between the FAA and industry. He has been extremely influential in the success of the NextGen prioritization work. It wasn’t without some friction, but that was necessary to break through some of the myths and achieve results. In many ways, today’s agenda is a culmination of that work.

We had a chance to honor Bill last night for his contributions. Let me just say that I am honored to have worked with Bill and wish him every success in his future endeavors. Thank you for your service.

I would also like to welcome, in abstentia, our new NAC chairman Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Air Lines. Richard became CEO of Delta in 2007 and has more than 25 years of experience in the airline industry, starting with Continental in 1987. He has served as CEO of Northwest Airlines and also as chairman of the Airlines for America board of directors and the IATA Board of Directors. We are delighted that he has agreed to be the next chairman of the NAC, and we look forward to working with him.

Also, welcome to our new NAC members, Brigadier General Giovanni Tuck, United States Air Force; Brad Pierce, President of NOISE and City Council member, Aurora, Colorado; and Eddie Angeles, FAA Associate Administrator for Airports.

Chicago Center

Before I begin a discussion of today’s agenda, I’d like to talk about what’s been happening over the last 10 days or so at Chicago Center. As you all know, we are working around the clock to restore service to the Center near Chicago that was damaged by fire Sept. 26^th.

We are grateful that everyone was evacuated safely from the facility and there were no fatalities. A contract employee was criminally charged in relation to this incident and was treated for self-inflicted injuries. Another employee was treated for smoke inhalation at the scene and returned to work the next day.

This was a criminal act – a deliberate act of sabotage at Chicago Center. It led to a very significant disruption to service in extremely busy airspace. But it also has resulted in heroic amounts of work, innovation and cooperation in our workforce, with the operators in that airspace, and with our contractors.

Our air traffic controllers and technical specialists have been especially amazing as they dedicated themselves to not only maintaining the flow of air traffic, but to installing an entirely new telecommunications room at ZAU. Last week, on Tuesday, just four days after the fire, FAA air traffic controllers managed more operations at Chicago O’Hare than at any other airport in the country. I could not be more proud of the people of the FAA who have been giving their all to keep traffic moving in Chicago and to restore full operations at Chicago Center as soon as possible.

I’m going to turn it over to Teri Bristol for more details.

Ed Bolton and Teri anniversaries

This meeting also marks the one year anniversary of Ed Bolton as the Associate Administrator for NextGen and the approaching anniversary of Teri Bristol as COO of ATO.

Ed has added a refreshing culture change to NextGen, moving us from focusing on delivering milestones, to delivering capabilities.

Teri will also complete one year in her position in December.

Teri’s engagement with the priorities, and the support from the entire ATO, has been key in our focus on delivering benefits.

This year marks some outstanding coordination with industry to sharpen our focus in NextGen. We’re all rowing in the same direction now. The leadership of Ed, Teri and Peggy Gilligan and John Hickey has been key in driving this work within the FAA.

FAA Update

We will focus much of today on the work of the last year around the four NextGen priorities – those key procedures and technologies that will have the biggest impact on improving the efficiency of the NAS.

This work has focused on four areas: surface operations, multiple runway operations; performance based navigation and DataComm.

We’ve been working closely through the NextGen Integration Working Group to identify locations and to scope the work.

Perhaps the most important thing to come out of our collaboration is that we’ve forged a plan with industry for these key NextGen priorities, reducing the risks to implementation and assuring we can deliver benefits to the traveling public.

Our efforts with the integration working group reflect our commitment to work together. We in the FAA have been focused on getting the technology, procedures, and standards out the door, particularly as we have deployed the foundational NextGen technology. Now we’re concentrating on working hand-in-hand with operators to determine where to roll out these capabilities that are available today and ready to be deployed. We want to choose the most beneficial locations and generate the benefits that are, in the end, the whole point of this effort.

It’s a lot of work. It’s not always easy. But this approach is better. It’s a good working model.

One example is that through this approach, we have been able to respond very quickly to your input on multiple runway operations.

I am particularly pleased that we have been able to increase the number of wake recategorization locations. I know how important wake recat is for carriers. I hear about it in detail at every hub I visit. We’ve got that message loud and clear.

We received this recommendation from you in June, and quickly conducted a review of the roll out schedule. Everyone worked closely within the program and with the various facilities and determined that we will be able to meet your needs and implement these improvements.

We are going to reduce separation standards at nine new airports in five cities in the next year. This will give us a total of 13 airports nationwide that have these reduced separation standards. We have already seen the benefits in Memphis and Louisville.

This year, we have implemented these reduced separation standards at Cincinnati and Atlanta.

In Atlanta, we’re already seeing great results. We implemented wake recat there on June 1, 2014. After 90 days, Delta Air Lines is reporting a 2.3 minute reduction in taxi out times and a 14 to 24 percent reduction in departure queue delays. In a hub the size of Atlanta, these are significant numbers.

On the arrival side, Delta is also benefiting from each aircraft spending two minutes less in the TRACON airspace. These efficiencies are reducing fuel usage and emissions. 

Next year, we plan to add nine airports in five cities:

The two Houston airports

In New York at: JFK, Newark and LaGuardia

In Chicago at: O’Hare and Midway

SFO

Charlotte

The other three NextGen priorities are on track as well.

PBN

We have made significant progress with performance based procedures. As we discussed at the last NAC meeting, our Houston Metroplex site went live in May. That redesign included 61 new satellite-based procedures in the Houston area. We estimate these procedures in Houston could save airlines $9.2 million dollars in fuel each year.

Just a couple of weeks ago, on September 18^th, we went live with our second large-scale Metroplex implementation, this time in North Texas. That redesign included more than 80 new satellite-based procedures in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

The lead industry partners there were American Airlines and Southwest, with additional participation from NBAA and Express Jet.

We expect to see similar benefits as we saw in Houston, such as reduced fuel consumption, reduced flight time, and reduced carbon emissions. We will report those as data becomes available.

MITRE REPORT

While the priorities work has been going on, we continue to deliver on deploying the foundational technology of NextGen. Earlier this year, we asked MITRE to conduct an independent assessment of our progress on NextGen, and they briefed their report this morning at the breakfast.

The report confirms that the FAA remains on schedule in delivering on foundational NextGen technologies. The MITRE report confirms our path forward and enables us to make necessary adjustments.

NextGen remains on track, and it is our job – all of us—to work together to make sure it stays on track.

ADS-B Call to Action

As we complete the foundational work of NextGen, and as we work with the NAC to deliver on the priorities, we are also looking ahead. The most important milestone looming ahead is the 2020 ADS-B equipage mandate. To keep NextGen on track, we need to meet that mandate. Which means industry needs to be on schedule to meet that mandate.

ADS-B equipage will allow us to replace the radar-based system with a GPS-based system that is more efficient. This is one of the key components of NextGen. As you all undoubtedly know, the rule was put in place in 2010 –with a lot of help and input from industry. It was put in place with a 10-year lead time to allow equipage to occur. That lead time was there to allow the carriers to have a normal cycle of aircraft replacement and maintenance. It was there to give GA an opportunity to equip, and for the cost of equipage to come down. It was also there to allow the FAA to demonstrate our commitment to installing the ground system well before aircraft would be required to equip.

The FAA has done its part: As you are aware, this year we completed the ground installation of ADS-B nationwide. We also are well on our way to completing the computer system we will use to run ADS-B. To date, 16 en route facilities have fully modernized their automation systems. By next spring, all 20 en route centers will complete the transition. We’re also upgrading and standardizing the automation systems at more than 150 terminal facilities throughout the country.

But the clock is ticking. We’re just over five years away from the day of the mandate. Now we come to the point where we’re looking at how we are going to go operational, and that means equipage. We have only so much visibility into the plans of carriers. These plans for equipage are commercially sensitive. But these are the kinds of issues that we need to start looking at, and how we’re going to stay on track with that date.

Recently we have seen some very good trends. We have seen the price of equipage for GA come down, with multiple products on the market. Suppliers that are still developing products are announcing their schedules. We’re seeing an acceleration of the number of aircraft equipped. We want to build on these trends and reaffirm our joint commitment to the mandate.

We’re doing two things in this regard.

The first is that we are communicating clearly and unequivocally that the 2020 mandate will not change. We need to make sure that everyone is prepared to comply with the mandate. This is imperative to keep NextGen on track.

The second thing is that we’re announcing an industry Call to Action, which the FAA will host on October 28 in our offices. We are going to bring together industry leaders and associations to have a day where we look at where we are with ADS-B and where we are with equipage. We want to identify the barriers to compliance and discuss solutions.

We need to understand if suppliers will provide solutions with sufficient time to allow everyone to comply? Will repair stations be able to handle the projected volume of installations? What policy or guidance do you need from us to help you make decisions on what to buy, and when to install it?

By the end of the Call to Action, we hope to have a high-level plan to resolve the various barriers to on-time compliance. Many of the aspects of that plan will require a sustained level of commitment and follow-through. To that end, I have asked the NextGen Institute to form an Equip 2020 working group. I expect that this group will meet shortly after the Call to Action, and will continue to meet through 2019 to coordinate and guide the implementation of ADS-B across the fleet.

Leading this effort will be the Executive Director of the NextGen Institute, Major General Marke “Hoot” Gibson, retired United States Air Force. Please stand, Hoot.

The Call to Action and the Equip 2020 working group are focused on coordinating the implementation of plans and decisions which were laid down in 2010. We are not expecting that group to achieve consensus or develop recommendations for the FAA, like the NAC has done. Instead, we expect this group to address each individual barrier to help keep ADS-B implementation on track.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the Call to Action, and to obtaining your renewed commitment to the January 1, 2020 implementation date.

I know we have time on the agenda this afternoon to discuss various issues, including ADS-B, and I look forward to that discussion.

Updates

In finishing out the agenda, we also have some very good news today on how we measure the benefits of NextGen. We have started to receive actual fuel data from A4A on flights between more than 80 city pairs. As you know, we tasked the NAC with this work. And you all put forth an extensive effort to help us determine how best to measure NextGen benefits.

A significant and notable shortfall was how to collect, track and measure actual fuel burn data. A4A members have provided historical data going back two years for all flights between dozens of key city pairs. We plan to report aggregated data on our FAA harmonized metrics web site to fulfill our obligations under reauthorization.

As an update to another previous tasking, we asked for your help in providing recommendations to overcome noise challenges that hindered our ability to issue guidance for categorical exclusions. Those exclusions were part of reauthorization. This was to accelerate environmental reviews of NextGen procedures.

You gathered a group of experts and provided recommendations last September that helped us examine the impacts and provide a potential way forward.

The public comment period on this is still open – until October 20^th. At the February NAC meeting we will come back and give a report out on your recommendation.

Closing

I’m going to leave it there for now. Thank you for your attention this morning. We have a very good meeting in front of us today and I look forward to the fruitful discussions that are a hallmark of this committee.

I’d like to turn it over now to the FAA’s Assistant Administrator for International Affairs, Policy and the Environment, Rich Swayze, for a few words on our upcoming reauthorization. After Rich, we’ll hear from Ed and Florian for our regular update on SESAR/NextGen collaboration.

Towards a More Flexible National Airspace

Thank you, Jim [Washington, ATCA chairman and COO of B3 Solutions].  As always, I’m glad to be a part of the ATCA conference. I’d like to start out today with some comments on Friday’s incident near Chicago.

I am sure many of you have seen the news reports over the weekend about the fire at our Air Route Traffic Control Center in Aurora, Illinois.  Early Friday morning we evacuated the en route center, and our employees got out safely. The individual charged in relation to the incident is receiving treatment for self-inflicted injuries and is under guard. One of our technical operations employees suffered from smoke inhalation and was treated at the scene. We are thankful that he is OK. He went back to work soon thereafter. We are relieved that everyone is safe and that initial cleanup of the site has progressed throughout the weekend.

We are steadily increasing the amount of air traffic we can handle in the air space around Chicago, and we are trying to reach as close to normal operations as quickly as possible. Yesterday, air traffic controllers safely managed about 60 percent of typical traffic at O'Hare and more than 75 percent at Midway. 

I think the question on many people’s minds is how could one incident have such an impact on our system? And I’d like to address that. We always have redundancy built into everything we do. We have contingency plans in place for unexpected incidents. On Friday morning we activated our contingency plan, which is why we have been able to keep air traffic moving, despite the loss of capability at Chicago center, a facility which controls traffic over an area that encompasses five states and hundreds of airports – 91,000 square miles!

First, we transferred control of high altitude air traffic to neighboring en route centers in Minneapolis, Kansas City, Cleveland and Indianapolis. These centers are Chicago’s next door neighbors in terms of airspace.

We established consistent altitudes for hand-offs. Controllers in these centers are handling air traffic at 18,000 feet and above. They are directing the air traffic coming and going from Chicago center’s airspace. They are also handling the transcontinental flights at cruising altitudes by sending those flights around Chicago airspace entirely.

The centers are funneling the lower level traffic to 19 different TRACON facilities in the area. These TRACONS have increased their control upwards to about 17,000 feet altitude, from the normal range of about 10,000 feet, to provide increased coverage.

In addition, air traffic controllers who normally work at the Chicago en route center are now working at other surrounding FAA air traffic facilities to help safely maximize the traffic flow in and out of the Chicago area airports.

Some Chicago center controllers also are traveling to the other high-altitude centers I mentioned to assist controllers at those locations to provide local knowledge and to minimize disruptions for travelers.

We recovered operations in Chicago by developing new communication and flight plan processing solutions. We also adapted our automation and modified our radar feeds.

The day after the fire, we created direct phone lines between all four centers and Chicago TRACON. When controllers handle a departure or arrival there’s a lot of coordination that has to happen, for example if there’s a go-around.  This ability to communicate directly has helped us increase capacity.

The fire also disrupted our ability to exchange flight plan data between Chicago center and its four neighboring centers. We had been typing in the flight plan info for each plane and printing it out on a strip for the en route controllers. We’ve been able to automate much of this, and it has significantly improved our throughput as well.

We reestablished consistent arrival and departure rates at Chicago area airports. We are speaking with the airlines continually to give them a better measure of predictability so they can adjust their schedules accordingly. Believe me, we are using all existing tools to maximize operations, and we’re developing new capabilities where necessary to return to normal service levels in the Chicago area.

While the operational changes enable us to build traffic, we also need to restore Chicago Center itself. The damaged communications equipment needs to be replaced entirely. While crews are cleaning the area damaged by the fire, others are reconfiguring space on a different floor, to house the new equipment. We have brought in our best technicians from around the country to expedite the replacement of the central communications network at Chicago center.

The supplier and the operator of the FTI system which was damaged is Harris Corporation. They have been working throughout the weekend to stage and assemble equipment to begin the restoration.

The first shipment of communications equipment arrived last night and crews began installing it over night.  All of the equipment will arrive this week and we are working with the Harris Corporation towards a target of having the communications capabilities rebuilt and up and running by October 13^th.  That is an extraordinarily accelerated timeline, and I have to thank the teamwork of the employees in the Central Service Area and all across the nation, for their dedication and willingness to work round-the-clock to get this done.

Secretary Foxx and I are very proud of how the FAA team has handled the last three days. Our people are working through incredibly challenging circumstances. I have been in constant communication with the Secretary, giving him updates on the incident and our progress in returning the system to near normal operations.

The FAA’s contingency planning focuses on the safe handling of aircraft. When a situation like a major outage occurs, our goal is to manage the aircraft in the air to ensure they reach their destinations safely. In the case of Friday’s fire, the FAA worked quickly to handle aircraft traversing Chicago center’s airspace and implemented its contingency plans to handoff airspace responsibilities to adjacent facilities.  What suffers under these circumstances is the efficiency of the system we have come to depend on. 

Regardless of the extraordinary conditions we are dealing with though, I do understand the traveling public’s frustrations with flight delays and cancellations. The air transportation system is vital to our economy and people rely on it to function 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I want to make sure that we have the most robust contingency plans possible.

That is why I’ve asked our Air Traffic Organization, in collaboration with our partners NATCA and PASS, to review our contingency plans for our major facilities. Over the next 30 days, they will take a look at our plans to make sure we are prepared to both assure the safety of aircraft but also the efficiency of the system. I want to make sure we have all the tools in place to get our airspace back up and running as quickly as possible.  I’ve asked the team to think as creatively as possible and make recommendations to me about our preparedness going forward.

As part of this review, we are also asking our security organization to review the security protocols at our facilities to make sure we have the most robust policies and practices in place. If we need to make changes as a result of what happened on Friday to improve the system, we will not hesitate to do so.

This incident in Chicago is also a stark reminder of the reasons that we are working toward an even more robust and scalable system. In the future, our ability to agilely shift air traffic management responsibilities between facilities is a key objective of NextGen.  But getting there requires stable and adequate funding, the right people in the right place, and a sustained commitment to follow through on today's plans.

We have followed through on a joint decision between industry and the FAA in 2010 to move to a system of satellite-based surveillance and navigation that will provide greater situational awareness for all airspace users. Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, or ADS-B, will bring more flexibility and more options throughout our nation’s airspace.

In the spring, we completed the installation of the baseline ground infrastructure for ADS-B, which gives us the capability to track aircraft using satellites instead of radar. What we need is equipped aircraft to take advantage of the system we have built. In the past, we’ve called ADS-B a game changer, but that’s only if we all use it. 

As you know, we’re going to hold a Call to Action regarding ADS-B equipage at the end of October to look at where we are. We will try to identify what the issues are, or what the barriers are, so that the carriers can equip by the deadline that we worked with industry to establish, a deadline that is rapidly approaching—January 2020. That date is not going to change. NextGen is on track. And we will keep it on track, but to do so, we’ve got to meet that equipage mandate.  

Meanwhile, we’re reshaping our airspace through implementing NextGen procedures.  In May, our Houston Metroplex site went live.  Airspace users can now benefit from 61 new satellite-based procedures in the Houston area.  These procedures include Optimized Profile Descents.  OPDs allow pilots to almost idle the engines while the aircraft descends at a constant rate. 

We also have procedures in place that will allow planes to climb without leveling off, which brings them to a cruising altitude sooner.  These procedures mean less fuel usage and less carbon emissions, and, based on flight plans, we estimate airliners will fly 648,000 fewer nautical miles each year in Houston. 

This will help improve on-time performance and it will save up to 3 million gallons of fuel and reduce carbon emissions by as much as 31,000 metric tons each year.  We estimate these procedures could save airlines $9.2 million dollars in fuel each year. That’s like taking 6,000 cars off the streets of Houston.

The Houston project was completed in only 30 months, which is 6-12 months less than previous projects of this scope.  This is a major accomplishment.

We are implementing these kinds of improvements in other metropolitan areas. This month, we started using these new NextGen procedures in North Texas, and we’re planning to roll out more benefits, in Northern California, starting in November.

And then there are NextGen benefits in places like Atlanta, Louisville and Memphis thanks to new wake turbulence separation standards.  In Atlanta, we implemented the new standards in June of this year.  After 90 days, Delta Airlines is reporting a 2.3 minute reduction in taxi out times and a 14 to 24 percent reduction in departure queue delays.  On the arrival side, Delta is also benefiting from each aircraft spending two minutes less in the TRACON airspace.  These efficiencies are reducing fuel usage and emissions. 

Last year, we started using new wake separation standards in Louisville and UPS is saving 52,000 pounds of fuel per night on arrivals.  We put the same procedures in place in Memphis a year before that and the airport capacity in Memphis is up by more than 20 percent. 

We see the many ways that NextGen can improve all that we do, and we are committed to following through on our implementation plans. However, we still remain in a difficult situation when it comes to long term planning and budgeting. 

In December, Congress passed a two-year budget resolution that has provided us with some degree of certainty for fiscal years 2014 and 2015.  This budget deal has temporarily suspended the cuts we faced under the sequester. Our funding levels for FY 2015 have yet to be finalized by Congress, but we are in a continuing resolution that keeps us at 2014 levels through December 11^th.

We have to prioritize our work, and the current budget environment is making us take a closer look at what we can do differently or perhaps stop altogether.  In addition to modernizing through NextGen, we have to maintain our existing infrastructure.

We are having discussions with our stakeholders about our mission and our work – what should be high on the list and what shouldn’t be on the list at all. 

In an aviation community as diverse as ours, this is obviously a much larger discussion.  We want to build consensus on the direction we’re going, and I believe that consensus around the future direction of the FAA is critical if we’re going to resolve our long-term funding challenges.

We can see the future clearly, and we want to get to the types of efficiencies that NextGen can bring us all. While we are able to respond to the type of incident in Chicago with our current infrastructure, we will be able to respond even more swiftly to future contingencies with the improved performance of NextGen.

With NextGen capabilities fully operational, we will be able to provide many more options for rapidly reconfiguring our facilities. 

We have made great progress in laying the groundwork for this. Already, we have updated the air traffic control automation system in almost all of our en route centers and are doing so in our terminal facilities too. These programs, En Route Automation Modernization, or ERAM, and Terminal Automation Modernization and Replacement, or TAMR, provide both the capacity and functional capability to "see" well beyond the traditional airspace boundaries. 

These new platforms are powerful, and when we combine them with the greater precision and coverage of ADS-B, we will have the ability to configure any single facility to view any part of our nation’s airspace.

In addition to seeing any part of our airspace, we will be able to talk with the aircraft in any part of it as well. The NAS Voice System is taking our communications equipment from point to point communications to a Voice Over Internet Protocol system, using the federal government’s more secure version of the Internet.  

Because of this greater flexibility, we will be able to rapidly reconfigure a facility’s access to radio resources to allow them to hand off control of sectors of airspace from one facility to another if traffic becomes extremely busy or if we lose the capability of a facility, as happened in Aurora.  

For example, in the current outage at Chicago center, we would be able to have each of the neighboring en route centers reach into Chicago center's airspace and take control of all of the radios used to control aircraft there. Additionally, we would be able to rapidly establish ground-to-ground connections between these en route centers and the TRACONS that normally connect to Chicago center. This would greatly increase the range of our operational response, ease the burden on the surrounding TRACONS, and increase arrival and departure throughput. It could also open additional routes into and out of Chicago.

NextGen tools will provide more accurate information and airspace flexibility in a much more dynamic way than we are able to do today.  As a result, we will be able to better reduce the impact of unplanned changes or outages on our operation.

I think we all want to benefit from the better capabilities that NextGen can bring us. It’s good for safety, good for efficiency, good for the traveling public and good for business. I look forward to working with all of you to find the best path to overcome the challenges that we face.

We are at a critical point in aviation, where the decisions we make today will affect this industry for decades to come. Thanks for joining with me to make the right decisions and make sure our nation’s aviation system is better for generations to come.

State of ATO

Thank you, Jim [Washington].  I’m very happy to be here. 

This morning, Administrator Huerta spoke at length about Friday’s fire at the Chicago en route center.  We were all relieved that our employees safely evacuated the building.  The individual charged in the incident is receiving treatment for self-inflicted injuries and is under guard. 

I think the question on many people’s minds is how could one incident have such an impact on our system?  And I’d like to address that.  We always have redundancy built into everything we do.  We have contingency plans in place for unexpected incidents. 

Our people at Chicago Center executed their contingency plan and safely transferred Chicago airspace to their neighboring en route facilities. 

We have been able to keep air traffic moving, despite the loss of capability at Chicago center, a facility which controls traffic over an area that encompasses five states and hundreds of airports – 91,000 square miles!

As Administrator Huerta mentioned this morning, we transferred control of high altitude air traffic to neighboring en route centers in Minneapolis, Kansas City, Cleveland and Indianapolis. 

We established consistent altitudes for hand-offs. Controllers in these centers are handling air traffic at 18,000 feet and above.  They are directing the air traffic coming and going from Chicago center’s airspace.  They are also handling the transcontinental flights at cruising altitudes by sending those flights around Chicago airspace entirely.  I would like to thank our friends to the North… NavCanada has been extremely helpful, providing us additional flexibility and access to help us better manage through the situation.

We are steadily increasing the amount of air traffic we can handle in the air space around Chicago, and we are trying to reach as close to normal operations as quickly as possible.  Yesterday, air traffic controllers safely managed about 70% of typical traffic at O'Hare and about 95% at Midway.   

My leadership team and I have been closely involved throughout the weekend and today to ensure that the cleanup and system restoration efforts are going well.  We’ve brought in our best technicians to rebuild our communications capabilities.  People are working around the clock in an effort to restore normal operational service by October 13th.  And over the next 30 days, we’re going to review our contingency and security protocols to ensure preparedness and continuity of air traffic service during a crisis like this.

Over these past few days, I’ve been seeing the tremendous character and professionalism of our workforce shine through.  Everyone, regardless of their job function, has pulled together as one unit.  And this is actually the very message I was planning to deliver today.   

I’m honored to serve as the FAA’s Chief Operating Officer.  I’ve been officially on the job for six months now, and I’ve never been more proud of the people of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization.  The busiest and the best.  We run a safe, efficient, airspace system every day. 

I’m also proud to be part of this aviation community.  The airspace users, and the flying public and the passengers are the ATO’s customers.  And I look forward to working in partnership with you to strengthen our nation’s air traffic system in the months and years ahead.

That’s really why we’re here.  How can we most effectively work together to make it happen?

Some of you may recall a book called The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, published in 2000.  Gladwell talks about what happens when ideas and trends cross a threshold    – that’s where he gets the phrase “tipping point” from.  These ideas and trends then spread like wildfire. 

How does that happen?  And more importantly, why does that happen?  The book has some theories – one of them essentially is that when the right people get behind the right ideas at the right time, there can be major change.        

Now what does this mean for us?  The aviation community is at a tipping point, in terms of how we work together to improve and modernize the NAS.  We are the right people.  Collaboration is the right idea and with the launch of NextGen – this is the right time! 

Are we going to fall back into old ways of business – silos, turf wars, and provincial thinking that characterize some of our past efforts?  Or do we build on the recent trend toward collaboration between government, labor, and industry?  We have to strengthen this collaboration, keeping in mind that our goal is a better future system for the nation.  It’s time for us to capitalize on our momentum.    

Our choice will determine how much we accomplish in the next five years.  The time has never been better for new ways of doing business.

Today, I’d like to provide you with a “State of the ATO.”  Specifically, I’ll cover three topics –

I’ll discuss our strategic plan called the ATO Blueprint.    

I’ll discuss the progress we’re making in modernization.    

And I’ll discuss some of our upcoming investment priorities. 

So let me start with the ATO Blueprint.       

The FAA is going to make aviation safer and smarter, by developing a risk-based decision making initiative.

The FAA is going to deliver greater benefits through technology, infrastructure, and more efficient streamlined services.

The FAA will target its international efforts more effectively. 

And the FAA will recruit and develop a highly skilled workforce.

The common thread running through these four areas is that we will better define, target, and prioritize our activities and services, relying on data to base our decisions.  This will include rightsizing or doing differently certain activities and services that we’ve conducted or provided in the past.  It’s especially important that we do this, given today’s very tough budget climate.

To support these strategic efforts, the Air Traffic Organization has developed what we’re calling the ATO Blueprint which includes three components: Safety, Efficiency, and Business Acumen.  Let me tell you more about it. 

The ATO is proactively committed to identifying and mitigating the MOST pressing safety risks in the airspace system. 

We’re in a better position to do this because of the wealth of safety data that’s now available. 

Through these data sources, the ATO identifies a Top 5 list of safety hazards each year.  We develop corrective actions against these hazards and then measure and monitor the actions for two years.  We recently determined the Top 5 list for fiscal year 2015. 

And we’re reaffirming a commitment to quality control through a National Safety Initiative, which is a collaborative effort between management and labor.  Here, we’re targeting three areas: consistent dissemination of weather information by controllers, conflicts between IFR and VFR aircraft, and parachute operations. 

While safety problems in these areas are exceedingly rare, our data tells us that when problems do happen, it could mean collision and loss of life.  In all of these cases, we want to make sure that controllers have clear, unambiguous guidance on what they can and can’t do to safely affect the situation.

One of the ATO’s major successes in 2014 has been reducing the safety risk associated with converging runway operations, which includes those operations with non-intersecting runways with intersecting flight paths.  Our safety data showed that there was a higher risk when aircraft execute a go around that conflicted with another aircraft departing from a non-intersecting runway, creating the potential for collision. 

To address the problem, we worked with our stakeholders, and put in place policy changes and new automation tools at 140 airports where this risk was identified.  This was one of the most significant reductions in safety risk we’ve made over the past decade. 

The second key component of the ATO Blueprint is our Efficiency Initiative, which is a collaborative effort between management and labor, to deliver consistent and predictable results based on metrics.  This effort is built on the same model we’re employing within safety in that we’re collecting data, finding areas of concern, and developing strategies for improvement. 

The Efficiency effort is essential as we look to optimize the NAS, both from an operations perspective and an engineering and infrastructure perspective.  The initial focus is on improving existing metrics and enhancing decision making using the Terminal Arrival Efficiency Rate (TAER) tool, which measures the performance and impact of Traffic Management Initiatives (TMI) and other similar tools.

A national review of the previous day’s operation and outlook for the current day occurs every morning linking senior ATO leaders with our Directors of Operations and Managers of Tactical Operations in the field.  At the end of every week, we conduct a “deep dive” on the previous week’s operation spending time to analyze what worked well and what needs continued focus. 

The third component of the ATO Blueprint is called Business Acumen.  We are expecting a significant loss of leadership and corporate knowledge over the next three years.  In anticipation of this shift, we are working to enhance managers’ non-technical business skills, which will help them make smarter tactical and strategic decisions.

Through these strategic efforts, we will enhance the safety and efficiency of the service we provide.  This is in keeping with our core mission.

And the ATO’s modernization efforts support this mission as well – which brings me to the second topic I’d like to discuss. 

My Program Management Organization within the ATO is responsible for completing the implementation and execution of NextGen programs.    

The foundation for NextGen includes upgrading the automation in our en route and key terminal facilities.  These are the ERAM and TAMR programs respectively.  ERAM will be finalized in all 20 planned en route centers by next spring and TAMR is now in full production mode.

And earlier this year, the ATO completed the installation of 634 radios that make up the ground infrastructure for ADS-B.  Now we’re in a position to deliver the benefits of more precise surveillance to equipped airspace users.  This includes providing more efficient separation of aircraft, surveillance coverage in non-radar environments like in the mountains or over large bodies of water, and greater situational awareness for both controllers and pilots.  With NextGen’s foundation near complete, we’re in a position to really unleash the benefits of NextGen. 

But make no mistake.  NextGen is happening NOW.  It’s being integrated into the NAS every day.  In May, we implemented the Houston Metroplex initiative.  Airspace users can now benefit from 61 new satellite-based procedures in the Houston area. 

In point of fact, as of May, the ATO has implemented more than 7,000 satellite-based procedures and routes around the nation.  These procedures enable equipped aircraft to fly on more direct paths across the country.  This cuts flight time, reduces congestion, fuel burn and emissions, and improves access to airports.    

And with Data Comm we have trials underway at Memphis and Newark airports to demonstrate Data Comm’s departure clearance capability.  Each site is using Data Comm, 24/7, to conduct as many as 80 operations a day.  We’re already seeing reduced communications time, resulting in faster taxi outs, reduced delays, and reduced pilot and controller workload.  In 2015, we’ll proceed with key site testing at control towers in Salt Lake and Houston, and we’re on schedule for deployment at 56 airports starting in 2016.

To upgrade voice communications, we just issued a final investment decision for NAS Voice System.  We currently depend on ten different kinds of voice switches, many of which are becoming obsolete.  With NAS Voice System, we’ll be able to transfer air traffic sectors within facilities, and between facilities, to better balance operations workload and be able to maintain operations in the event that we lose the capability of a facility like the recent situation in Aurora.  We’re working with our labor partners – NATCA and PASS, respectively, to get their input to define program requirements.  This is important, because early stakeholder input will help us deliver a product that is on time, within budget, and achieves performance goals.    

When stakeholders collaborate by giving each other input, we get a better product in the end.  I talked about how we’re at a tipping point.  Let’s tip forward to even more effective collaboration. 

In fact, it’s been through collaboration with industry, specifically through our NextGen Advisory Committee, that the FAA has decided on a set of four NextGen priorities, where we plan to concentrate our efforts in the next one to three years.  The four priorities are: increasing the use of Performance Based (or satellite-based) Navigation, making multiple runway operations more efficient, improving surface operations, and implementing Data Communications.  We believe, and industry agrees, that progress in these areas can benefit the aviation community right away.

The ATO is working closely with the FAA’s NextGen office and with industry as part of the NextGen Integrated Working Group.  In mid-October, we will submit a plan to Congress where we’ll make specific commitments, with locations and dates as well as costs, to deliver capabilities in these four areas. 

Finally, let me tell you about our contracting opportunities in the ATO.

The FAA plans to invest about $4 billion in procurement annually, with more than $1 billion provided to small businesses.  The ATO will make the bulk of these awards in areas like engineering and safety analysis services, facility construction, major air traffic control systems procurement, and direct operational services, such as satellite surveillance and telecommunications.

Over the next two years, some of the ATO’s major procurements include our Decision Support Programs: Terminal Flight Data Manager and Traffic Flow Management System. 

Terminal Flight Data Manager, or TFDM, is a new system that will automate flight plans and integrate them with surveillance data to create accurate, real-time predictive tools for the terminal environment.  This capability will enable controllers to make more informed decisions to improve traffic flow on the airport surface and decrease the time the aircraft is spent waiting to taxi.  In doing so, we’ll be able to reduce aircraft fuel usage and emissions.  We plan to develop TFDM’s surface capability starting in 2016. 

The Traffic Flow Management System, or TFMS, is designed to balance user demand with system capacity, so we can reduce congestion and delays.  The better we can forecast capacity and demand, the better our performance will be. 

You’re invited to hear updates on these and other programs at an Industry Outreach event we’re hosting at FAA Headquarters on Thursday morning, although preregistration is required by tomorrow.

As the backdrop to everything I’ve talked about today, the biggest challenge that we face is budget uncertainty.  We are in a difficult situation when it comes to long term planning and budgeting. Congress has passed a continuing resolution that will keep us at current funding levels through December 11.  And last December, Congress passed a two-year budget agreement that enables us to temporarily avoid the cuts we would have had to make under a sequester in fiscal years 2014 and 2015.  But unless there’s another fix, the sequester will be with us again in 2016.

In closing, the ATO remains committed to running the safest, most efficient system in the world.  Through the ATO Blueprint, and through NextGen and other modernization efforts, we’re committed to improving the service we provide for our customers.  But we can’t do it alone.  No one can.  We need continued, effective collaboration between government, labor and industry.  We’re seeing it on multiple fronts and it’s a big reason for much of our progress in recent years.

And here we are – at the tipping point.  Our future success comes down to our ability to strengthen this collaborative approach.  Let’s find out what each of our needs are and let’s meet these needs in a way that puts the future of aviation ahead of parochial interests.  In doing so, we’ll build an even greater airspace system and deliver greater benefits for our nation.

Thank you.