Towards a Framework for Standards

Thank you, George [Nield].  Good afternoon.  I am delighted to be here with you today. We’re making so much progress and things are happening so quickly in commercial space, that I think this conference is a good place for us to look ahead for a moment and anticipate what this industry will look like in the next decade and how we can position ourselves for maximum success.

It was only a few short years ago that the idea of private companies delivering payloads to the International Space Station was a novel idea. Could it be done? Could the private sector perform what had always been a government mission?

Well, this industry has showed that yes, private companies can handle this mission, and handle it very well. There have been nine deliveries to the International Space Station in the last three years by two private companies – proving to the naysayers that these types of missions are no longer the exclusive purview of the government.

In the next two years, private industry is working to also deliver NASA crew to the International Space Station, in addition to cargo.  As you know, contracts for these missions were awarded to Space X and to Boeing. Both companies are now finishing development of their vehicles.   

This is another example of public-private partnership.

On the horizon there could be any number of innovations: 

• We could see the launch of thousands of small satellites into lower earth orbit to help extend internet connections around the world. This could also allow students and researchers access to satellites to conduct their own research.
• Down the road, we could see flights from Los Angeles to Sydney in just three hours, thanks to space planes using rocket propulsion to touch the edge of space and then arc back to Earth in a controlled descent. 
• And we are not far away from commercial space tourism.

I won’t say commercial space travel, because no one intends for the public to travel from point A to point B in space, at least in the near future. However, the idea of private companies ferrying paying passengers to the edge of space for a tour is very real. Space flight participants will have the opportunity to experience weightlessness and to see the magnificent curvature of the Earth out of the spaceship’s window.

Astronauts on Apollo 8, the first manned mission to orbit the moon, were the first to see the blue orb of the Earth rise over the lunar landscape. It was Christmas Eve, 1968. The astronauts remarked what a beautiful sight it was to behold. In the words of Command Module Pilot James Lovell, “The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring, and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.”

It’s truly amazing that private citizens may soon have the chance to experience a similarly exceptional view of our planet.  

What has allowed progress and innovation to take place has been the very experimental nature and the very experimental culture of the commercial space industry. Companies have made breakthroughs in composite structures, innovative propulsion systems and remote sensing satellites. They have had the freedom to think creatively and to explore different applications for new technology and to make products more affordable.  

And the market has responded. It was responded with investment of billions of dollars in the promise of commercial space. People are investing in America because the sense of security that surrounds our industry and the regulatory environment that the United States offers, and that’s a good thing.

Consider how the pace of activity has quickened. There were just three commercial launches in the U.S. in 2012. Last year there were 19 launches. And by the end of next year, in 2016, if activity in suborbital space tourism continues apace, we expect that this number could triple. America has seen a resurgence in space related innovation, continuing a proud tradition. 

President Obama’s 2016 budget, released this week, acknowledges this and includes an additional $1.3 million for the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space to support 25 new staff positions to handle licenses, permits, safety inspections, and technical outreach.  We want to keep up with the demand and not present a bottleneck to the innovation that’s been taking place.

All of this progress is very good news. As an industry, commercial space enjoys a unique environment. The FAA promotes commercial space, but does not set standards for the industry in terms of those on board a flight into space. The FAA does, of course, protect the safety of the public not involved in the mission, and has regulations to protect national security and the environment. These are set forth in the licenses and permits we issue for launches. But for those going into space, everyone is informed of the risks and everyone consents to them.

That notwithstanding, the two failed launches last year coming one after another, focused the public’s attention on the commercial space industry. It was an important reminder that risk accompanies all ventures into space, and it was an important reminder that risk is something we all need to manage when making design and operations decisions. But I think how we take responsibility for this risk is the real measure of how we are doing as an industry. We should not take an attitude that “risk happens,” but adopt the attitude that we will need to address and mitigate risk as this industry continues to mature.

I am not here today to suggest that we change the experimental culture of the commercial space industry. Rather, I am here to suggest that industry and government have a responsibility to consider together the appropriate transition to a framework that involves performance based standards. There is a moratorium right now on regulation of occupant safety for commercial space transportation. That is set to expire at the end of this fiscal year, and it could very well be extended.

What I want to suggest is that we need to start a thoughtful discussion across government and across industry about risk. What we don’t want is to have some kind of framework that would be imposed upon us in reaction to something that might happen. We need to start a conversation about the balance between innovation and regulation.

Now, commercial space is a different animal from aviation, and the regulatory picture for this industry could be very different from that of commercial aviation. But it’s not realistic to think that there should not be any standards or any regulation at all, ever. What we need is a plan for how this industry will make the transition, and at what time, and what the future will look like as we integrate more and more launches into our national airspace.

Now, already efforts are underway to create industry standards. The Commercial Space Flight Federation has so far issued one completely voluntary standard to its member companies. They are working now in concert with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, as well as SAE International, to start the discussion about what kinds of standards are necessary for commercial space transportation. SAE has more than 100 years of experience in developing standards and AIAA represents the subject matter experts that are in the field. The Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee now has a standards working group as well, which can provide a link between government and industry.

Innovation is essential to the commercial space transportation industry. We want new products to come to market thereby fueling the U.S. economy, and we want to continue the America tradition of space exploration. We don’t know yet what future space vehicles will look like. Therefore, I realize that talking about standards at this time could be like standing on the sands of Kitty Hawk and asking the Wright Brothers for best practices on how to build a 787 Dreamliner. How do we know what the standards are when we don’t know what we’re going to be building?

While it’s too early for specifics, I don’t think it’s too early to call for a plan. We need to start to think about how industry and government can work together to create standards that will ensure success for this industry in the future.  A good place to start would be practices for human spaceflight occupant safety. The FAA released recommended practices for this area just last year.

America has had a rich history in space since the 1960s. We were the first to set foot on the moon. We developed the Saturn V rocket – the largest ever at the time – that made the Apollo missions possible. And today, the United States plays a vital role in the research and operations of the International Space Station.  

Now, American companies are continuing these proud traditions and building and launching rockets entirely funded by private investors. They are advancing our leadership in space. There is no one else in the world that is doing that.  Commercial space is an industry that runs on daring and big ideas. It’s exciting and it’s innovative. Let’s continue to work together to take the necessary steps that will help this industry continue to thrive for decades ahead of us.

Thank you.

A Global Safety Culture

Good day, Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, fellow delegates, and distinguished guests.  It is an honor for me to address this international gathering, and to discuss the progress made in the safety arena since the last High-Level Safety Conference in 2010.

Aviation continues to grow around the globe, and we are fortunate to have an unprecedented level of safety.  Global accident rates continue to decrease, and flying has never been safer.  This is a testament to the work of ICAO and its Member States in making safety a number one priority.  Countries here today have adopted strong safety cultures that enhance our incredibly safe system.  This is due, in large part, to ICAO’s important work.

In the past, our approach to safety was to study the causes of accidents after they occurred.  This helped us to continuously improve safety.  But we all know that our ultimate goal is to prevent accidents from happening at all.  The new way of doing business is to use safety data to identify hazards, and modify our operations to prevent incidents before they happen.  An example of how we can proactively use safety information is the data sharing agreement between the United States and ICAO that was just signed last week.  This agreement is a great step forward.          

While our current system is extremely safe, global aviation has also recently endured tragic events.  These incidents transcended borders and affected us all as a global community.  These events serve as reminders that more work needs to be done to keep aviation safe.

This second High-Level Safety Conference brings us together at a pivotal time when we can directly impact the future of aviation for the next several decades.  During this conference, we will discuss ways to prevent accidents from occurring even before an aircraft begins its departure.  This will be done in large part with more effective and integrated safety management systems.  This solid foundation will assist States in maintaining a safe aviation system. 

Once a flight departs, the challenge remains to monitor the aircraft to respond to any abnormalities.  These integrated safety systems must be in place to learn from incidents, and to prevent similar events from recurring.

We also face the challenge of working together to share information about areas of conflict that can impact civil aviation with catastrophic consequences. 

The challenges of enhancing safety even further are much bigger than one country or region.  It is essential that we work through ICAO, and its regional offices and partners, to effectively and efficiently improve aviation safety. 

Thank you for your kind invitation to speak.  It is again with great pride and anticipation that I am here.  On behalf of the United States, I wish this conference much success.

Safety Management System Rule

Thank you, Mr. Secretary.  I want to reiterate a point you made, and that is that we are constantly striving to enhance safety and to improve the system we have right now, which is very safe.

In the past, our focus in improving safety was to study the causes of past accidents.  As a result, we have continuously improved aviation safety and, fortunately, today we have very few accidents.  But we all know that our ultimate goal is to prevent accidents from happening at all. 

That is where Safety Management Systems come in.  A Safety Management System is an organization-wide approach to mitigating risk in airline operations. It’s a series of processes and procedures that everyone follows so that we can enhance safety. It does this by having a structured approach to look at data from airline operations. This data can help identify patterns and trends that could possibly lead to a problem.  But having this information enables the industry to take action before there is a problem. 

As the Secretary said, a safety management system does NOT replace FAA oversight or inspections, but what it DOES do is help foster a stronger safety culture within an airline.

A strong safety culture is a very, very valuable thing. It’s something that we cannot regulate completely in every aspect because it is something that a company has to create from within. This rule helps further that process. A vibrant Safety Management System stems from employee professionalism and from employee dedication to always doing the right thing, even when no one is looking.

Already, airlines are voluntarily sharing enormous amounts of their operational data with the FAA in a cooperative effort to enhance safety. We can all learn from each other. The data we have now covers about 96 percent of U.S. air carrier commercial operations. This represents a great willingness to work together. This data comes from a variety of sources, including self-reporting by employees when they see a safety risk.

The rule requires airlines to implement a safety management system within three years. They must submit their implementation plans to the FAA within six months. The rule also requires a single accountable executive to oversee SMS.

What a Safety Management System does is create a process for looking at this data in a systematic way, identifying the risk, and then taking actions to mitigate risk before there is a problem. This rule applies to all commercial carriers, both passenger and cargo. A Safety Management System can be scaled to the size of an airline’s operation. It is NOT one size fits all. We want airlines to create the best system that matches their operations.

In making this rule, we looked at more than 100 accidents of U.S. commercial carriers between 2001 and 2010 and we determined that if Safety Management Systems had been in place, they may have prevented many of these tragedies.

There is no question in my mind that Safety Management Systems are the right way to go, and we are adopting this approach within the FAA as well.

I appreciate you all coming out to learn more about this important advancement in aviation safety.

Now, I’d like to turn it over to Nick Calio, President and CEO of Airlines for America, for the industry perspective.

UAS Safety Campaign

Thank you, Michael (Drobac, Executive Director, Small UAV Coalition). Good morning everyone.

Thank you for joining us today to talk about safety in operating unmanned aircraft outdoors.

This is an issue of growing concern. The price of unmanned aircraft has come down, and this newer and more powerful technology is more affordable to more people, yet many are not familiar with the rules of flying.

In previous years, many model aircraft enthusiasts were drawn to the hobby by an interest in aviation and in developing stick and rudder skills and other aviation skills. Today, those enthusiasts are still among us and are using unmanned aircraft, but a large segment of the market for multi-rotor unmanned aircraft is photography enthusiasts.

Retailers and manufacturers sell all kinds of models, priced starting as low as $20 to models costing thousands of dollars.

These aircraft are sophisticated and they are relatively easy to fly compared to older types of model airplanes. Most of them are small helicopters with four or six blades.

We want consumers to have fun with their unmanned aircraft, but we also want them to follow these best practices for safety.

• Don’t fly above 400 feet.
• Keep your unmanned aircraft within sight.
• Don’t operate near people or crowds.
• Do not fly an unmanned aircraft within five miles of an airport without notifying FAA Air Traffic Control or the airport operator. These conversations with Air Traffic Control are critical for safety.
• You may only fly unmanned aircraft for hobby or recreational uses – you cannot earn money or use it for your business unless you get prior authorization from the FAA.
• Please respect the privacy of everyone. No taking pictures of people if they are not expecting it!
• We urge you to join a model aircraft club to help you learn how to safely operate and enjoy your aircraft.

Thank you again to everyone for joining this morning. These are very important safety tips and we urge anyone operating an unmanned aircraft to know the rules before you fly.

I’d like to open it up to questions now.

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.