Drone Pilots: Mark Your Calendars

USTDA East and Southern Africa Airport Modernization Reverse Trade Mission – Welcome Remarks

Thank you, India [Pinkney]. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the FAA. 

We’re happy to host you here today to discuss airport modernization. We’re eager to work with you to strengthen airports, and aviation systems, across the African continent.

I’ve taken more than 20 trips to Africa. One of my most notable visits was in 1998. We took a 3-day trip there, as part of the Clinton administration. 

We visited South Africa, where I had the good fortune to meet President Nelson Mandela, and other countries as well.

During that time, we announced the Safe Skies for Africa initiative. As part of that effort, we teamed up with African states to improve aviation safety, security and air navigation services.

I also helped lead efforts to secure Open Skies agreements with many African states. Through these agreements, we’ve greatly expanded passenger and cargo flights to and from our respective continents.

Today, we have a chance to build on the progress we've made. We have a chance to strengthen and expand our cooperation, so we can fulfill shared priorities. 

We must do it. And the FAA and the Biden Administration are ready to continue our exchange of best practices. 

Safety is our highest collective priority. And one major key to our success has been the use of safety management systems – or SMS – by commercial airlines and some manufacturers. 

We know many African aviation authorities expect their operators to use SMS, and we can work together in this area.

This month, the FAA published a final rule requiring more than 200 of our nation’s busiest commercial airports to implement SMS. The rule becomes effective on April 24th, and it will help airports detect and mitigate safety problems before they result in accidents or incidents.  

SMS will be an essential safety enhancer, and it’s happening at an important time, as we make historic investments in U.S. airport infrastructure. 

The FAA has also been collaborating with ASECNA and ICAO to harmonize domestic and oceanic air traffic operations in North Atlantic and South Atlantic airspace. These improvements are resulting in greater operational efficiency and enhanced safety.

And reiterating what Annie mentioned earlier from a total transportation perspective, we in the FAA also want to partner with you to reduce aviation’s impact on the climate. 

One big way to address the problem is through more fuel-efficient air traffic procedures. At airports across America, we’re implementing software that calculates the best moment to have the aircraft pushback from the gate at busy hub airports, so they can roll right to the runway. With this capability, we can reduce taxi delays and ramp congestion, and burn less fuel.

But more efficient operational procedures is only one part of the solution. The United States is scaling up the production of sustainable aviation fuels, making engines and airframes more fuel efficient, and investing into electrifying airport equipment.

The FAA is eager to share what we’re learning in all these areas. We want to continue working with African states to expand air transportation capacity; and make aviation safer, more efficient and sustainable across the continent.

We also want to work with you to integrate new kinds of aircraft activity like drones, advanced air mobility and commercial space transportation.

Of course, Africa has been a global leader in the integration of drones. We’re seeing how drones are being used in Tanzania and many other countries, to save countless lives by transporting blood and medical supplies to people in hard-to-reach areas. 

We have also seen how drones are being used to improve crop yields, inspect infrastructure, and for many other purposes. And we have seen how nations like Rwanda, Kenya and others have advanced their regulatory systems.

We’re making similar integration efforts in the United States. We can learn from you. 

We need to continue to exchange knowledge and best practices, including in areas like unmanned traffic-management systems and remote identification, so we can all take the next big step on drones. 

And this past December, at the US-African Space Forum here in Washington DC, the FAA pledged our cooperation to work with African states to develop launch and reentry regulations for commercial space transportation.

In all areas of aviation, we look forward to strengthening our US-Africa partnership.

So again, welcome to the FAA. And now, I’ll turn it back over to India…

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Nearly $1B in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Airport Funding Awarded to Meet Surging Air Travel Demand

Bessie Coleman US Mint Quarter Presentation (remarks)

On behalf of the FAA, thank you, Ventris, and all the people of the US Mint who have brought “Brave Bessie’s” story to life. Not only is the coin itself beautiful, but it represents a significant milestone for Black and Native people, women, and aviation. And highlighting Bessie Coleman’s history is only half of it.

Around the FAA, lots of us have stories about what landed us in this field. I like to share how, playing outside one day as a small child, I heard helicopters in the distance. From that moment, I was completely hooked! I became a pilot the minute I could, and I’ve never stopped loving aviation since. Across the agency, I often hear similar stories from others. The details usually vary—someone recalls their first flight over here, another watched a space shuttle landing over there—but the resulting life-long love of aviation is always the same. 

The point is, there’s no telling what will spark a child’s imagination and literally make them take flight. As someone who’s concerned about ensuring the aviation workforce will meet our country’s needs in years to come, I’m always buoyed by these stories and how they’ve brought people to the agency. 

I know that passion is only one part of what makes a talented workforce …but it’s an important part. The Bessie Coleman coin puts a significant piece of history in the hands of millions, many of them children, and some of them future aviation professionals. And I have a feeling that this coin will be a part of someone’s aviation story one day soon.

Again, thank you, Director Gibson, and thank you, US Mint employees. We appreciate this gift and, even more, the way you’re keeping Bessie Coleman’s legacy alive for the future. 

FAA Proposes $175,000 Fine Against SpaceX for Not Submitting Required Pre-Launch Data

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a $175,000 civil penalty against Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) for failure to submit launch collision analysis trajectory data directly to the FAA prior to the August 19, 2022, launch of the Starlink Group 4-27 mission.

SpaceX was required to submit the data to the agency at least seven days prior to an attempted launch. 

Launch...

FAA Completes Rule to Increase Safety at Airports

WASHINGTON – A new rule from the Federal Aviation Administration will help airports detect and mitigate safety problems before they result in accidents or incidents. The final rule requires certain airports to develop and implement a safety management system (SMS). 
 
“The safe operation of our nation’s airports is paramount during these historic times in aviation as we work to...

Written Statement Of Billy Nolen, Acting Administrator Federal Aviation Administration Hearing Before The United States Senate Committee On Commerce, Science, And Transportation - Notice To Air Missions System

Chair Cantwell, Ranking Member Cruz, and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide clarity on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) management of the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, share details on recent events, and explain our efforts to modernize the NOTAM system.

Today is also an opportunity to discuss the modernization needs of the national airspace system (NAS) overall, some of the challenges we face, and some of the opportunities on the horizon. 

We are experiencing the safest period in aviation history, but we do not take that for granted. Recent events remind us that we cannot become complacent and that we must continually invest in our aviation system. 

NAS Modernization 

2023 will be a big year for aviation. Our current authorization expires on September 30th, and there is sustained energy from both industry and government around the development of ideas and proposals to modernize the NAS and the FAA’s approach to managing it. As we delve into that reauthorization process, there are several important points we would like to highlight for the Committee. Right now, the FAA is managing three airspace systems to serve the diverse users of the NAS. The first is the classic or legacy system that many users of the NAS still count on. The second is the system that relies on the next generation of technology for improved communication, navigation, and surveillance. The FAA has operationalized the foundational pieces of this system, and we continue to deploy additional services as operator equipage and federal resources allow. The third is the future—a future that has already arrived. It is the system that must accommodate new entrants in all their forms, including drones, advanced air mobility aircraft, commercial spacecraft, and other new aircraft yet to be imagined. It will involve autonomous aircraft, data exchanges, and a dynamic airspace. For us to sustain, implement, and plan for all of these systems, we have a lot of work ahead. We look forward to partnering with the Committee to ensure that the FAA’s oversight and regulation of the NAS continue to deliver the level of aviation safety and efficiency expected by the American public, as new entrants come into service.  

On our end, we must work with stakeholders and make strategic investments, and create an agile regulatory structure that maintains safety, ensures efficiency, and facilitates access for new entrants. We are committed to this work and need Congress to be a supportive partner both in terms of enacting a long-term reauthorization measure, and funding our modernization needs. We look forward to working with you on these challenges and assure you that safety will always guide our actions no matter the challenge. 

The NOTAM System 

A NOTAM contains essential information for airspace users providing safety information about particular aspects of the NAS that are not operating under normal status. FAA’s NOTAM system is a dynamic system that captures recent changes to conditions in the NAS. For example, NOTAMs frequently provide pilots and operators with information about an anomaly with a particular navigational aid, airport runway, or taxiway, or about an air space closure or a temporary flight restriction.

The FAA’s overall NOTAM system consists of two systems—an older U.S. NOTAM System (legacy system) and a newer Federal NOTAM System. The older portion of the NOTAM system relies on 30-year-old software and architecture.  This portion collates NOTAM data from all sources and distributes it to some airspace users. The Federal NOTAM System portion is newer and serves as part of the foundation for the FAA’s ongoing NOTAM modernization effort.

NOTAM information comes from a variety of places: an airport or air traffic control tower that observes local changes, an FAA technician planning to work on a system, or an air service provider, to name a few. Airspace users enter and access the information from applications sitting on both portions of the FAA’s NOTAM system. Most airlines download NOTAMs from the FAA into their internal databases for dispatching aircraft. Users can also get NOTAMs from third party providers who get it from the FAA, or they can go to the primary source for specific NOTAM information, by calling a flight service station, air traffic control tower, or airport, for example.  

NOTAM Service Interruption and Response

Late on January 10, 2023, NOTAM applications and services became unreliable.  Technical experts attempted to address the issue by, among other things, switching to a backup database. There are three NOTAM backup databases—one in Oklahoma City and two in Atlantic City. While technical experts worked through the night, the FAA activated a hotline to provide real-time status updates to system users. During this time, there were no reports of operational impacts.  In the early morning hours of January 11, 2023, the system appeared to have been restored, but formatting issues persisted. To resolve this, FAA’s air traffic leadership directed the rebuild of the databases.

As the morning air traffic rush approached, and work on the system continued, I ordered a ground stop at approximately 7:15 a.m. EST, pausing all departures in the United States in order to maintain safety and preserve predictability. I did so after consulting with the airlines and safety experts. Once resiliency testing on the system was conducted, I lifted the ground stop at 9:07 a.m. EST on January 11, 2023. 

The FAA’s preliminary findings are that contract personnel unintentionally deleted files while working to correct synchronization between the live primary database and a backup database. We have found no evidence of a cyber-attack or other malicious intent. After the incident, we implemented a synchronization delay to ensure that bad data from a database cannot affect a backup database. Additionally, we have implemented a new protocol that requires more than one individual to be present and engaged in oversight when work on the database occurs.  As our review of the root causes of this incident continue, please know that the FAA will keep the Committee apprised of our findings.

NOTAM Modernization

Beginning in 2012 with the Pilot’s Bill of Rights (Public Law 112-153) and continuing in 2018 with the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-254), which further amended the Pilot’s Bill of Rights, Congress directed the FAA to continue developing and modernizing the NOTAM repository, in a public central location, in a manner that is Internet-accessible, machine-readable, and searchable. Since those enactments, the FAA has made progress modernizing the NOTAM system. This progress includes improvements not only to the NOTAM content and presentation/publication, but also to the information technology architecture that supports and delivers this vital safety information. The nearly decade-long modernization work includes transitioning away from the legacy portion of the system mentioned earlier. We expect that a significant portion of the modernization work will be complete by mid-2025. We continue to assess the feasibility of accelerating the current schedule.  

The goal of the FAA’s NOTAM modernization effort is to provide NOTAMs that are complete, accurate, timely, and relevant to safe flight operations. The FAA has made great progress in fulfilling the congressional mandates for modernization, including close coordination with industry and the adoption of recommendations from industry stakeholders that use NOTAMs. Specifically, the FAA is working in coordination with the Aeronautical Information Services Reform Coalition (coalition), whose members include representatives from, among others, air carriers, aircraft owners, pilots, airport executives, labor interests of air carriers, general and business aviation, and international operators. Our continued work with the coalition is one of the many examples where a government-industry partnership has helped to significantly inform and improve the direction and quality of our work. 

We are working to face the challenges in maintaining our systems while keeping pace with new and emerging technologies and entrants. However, we are committed to improving and securing our systems, finding new ways to be agile in order to face these challenges, and continuing to achieve the highest levels of safety and efficiency. We look forward to working with the Committee and this Congress in developing a long-term FAA reauthorization bill that accelerates the next era of aviation—one that is safe, efficient, sustainable, and open to all.

Statement Of Billy Nolen, Acting Administrator Federal Aviation Administration Hearing Before The United States Senate Committee On Commerce, Science, And Transportation - Notice To Air Missions System

Chair Cantwell, Ranking Member Cruz, and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide clarity on the FAA's management of the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, share details on recent events, and explain our efforts to modernize the NOTAM system.

Today is also an opportunity to discuss the modernization needs of the national airspace system overall, some of the challenges we face, and some of the opportunities on the horizon. 

We are experiencing the safest period in aviation history, but we do not take that for granted. Recent events remind us that we cannot become complacent and that we must continually invest in our aviation system. 

NOTAM Service Interruption and Response

I know we are here to discuss the challenges we experienced with our NOTAM system last month, so I want to provide a brief background about what we know so far.

Late on January 10, NOTAM applications and services became unreliable.  Technical experts attempted to address the issue by, among other things, switching to a backup database. While technical experts worked through the night, the FAA activated a hotline to provide real-time status updates to airspace users. During this time, there were no reports of operational impacts.

In the early morning hours of January 11, the system appeared to have been restored, but formatting issues persisted. To resolve this, FAA’s air traffic leadership directed the rebuild of the databases.

As the morning air traffic rush approached, and work on the system continued, I ordered a ground stop at approximately 7:15 a.m. EST, pausing all departures in the United States in order to maintain safety and preserve predictability. I did so after consulting with the airlines and safety experts. Once resiliency testing on the system was conducted, I lifted the ground stop at 9:07 a.m. EST.

The FAA’s preliminary findings are that contract personnel unintentionally deleted files while working to correct synchronization between the live primary database and a backup database. We have found no evidence of a cyber-attack or other malicious intent.

After the incident, we implemented a synchronization delay to ensure that bad data from one database cannot affect a backup database. Additionally, we have implemented a new protocol that requires more than one individual to be present and engaged in oversight when work on the database occurs.

As our review of the root causes of this incident continues, please know that the FAA will keep the Committee apprised of our findings.

NAS Modernization 

As you are well aware, 2023 will be a big year for aviation. Our current authorization expires on September 30th, and there is sustained energy from both industry and government around the development of ideas and proposals to modernize the NAS and the FAA’s approach to managing it. As we delve into that reauthorization process, there are several important points we would like to highlight for the Committee.

Right now, the FAA is managing three airspace systems to serve the diverse users of the NAS. The first is the classic or legacy system that many users still count on.

The second is the system that relies on the next generation of technology for improved communication, navigation, and surveillance. The FAA has operationalized the foundational pieces of this system, and we continue to deploy additional services as operator equipage and federal resources allow.

The third is the future—a future that has already arrived. It is the system that must accommodate new entrants in all their forms, including drones, advanced air mobility aircraft, commercial spacecraft, and other new aircraft yet to be imagined.

For us to sustain, implement, and plan for all of these systems, we have a lot of work ahead. We look forward to partnering with the Committee to ensure that the FAA’s oversight and regulation of the NAS continue to deliver the level of aviation safety and efficiency expected by the American public.

Call to Action

Before we get to questions, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge some of the recent incidents we have seen throughout the system. I am sure that you and the public have seen some of the news reports about close calls on runways and other operational events.

Because I want to make sure we are giving the right amount of attention to all of these recent occurrences, I am 
forming a safety review team to examine the U.S. aerospace system’s structure, culture, processes, systems, and integration of safety efforts.

The initial focus will be to hold a Safety Summit to examine what additional actions the aviation community needs to take to maintain our safety record. A group of commercial and general aviation leaders, labor partners, and others will examine which mitigations are working and why others appear to be not as effective as they once were.

I can say without reservation that the aviation professionals who comprise the American aerospace industry are proud of our safety record. But we all know that complacency has no place in air transportation -- whether it’s on the flight deck, in the control tower, the ramp or the dispatch center.

We are confident that we are taking the right steps here, and we look forward to working with the Committee and this Congress in developing a long-term FAA reauthorization bill that accelerates the next era of aviation—one that is safe, efficient, sustainable, and open to all.

FAA Urges Laser Manufacturers, Distributors to Add Warning Label to Not Shine Lasers at Aircraft

High-powered laser pointers can incapacitate pilots flying airplanes with hundreds of passengers. To combat the threat, Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen requested laser manufacturers add a warning label to their packaging to make consumers aware of the safety risks and federal laws when using lasers.

Lasers may seem like just a toy, office tool, or game for most, but they can incapacitate pilots putting thousands of passengers at risk every year. People need to be...

FAA Fact Book: Explore Commercial Space Data

WASHINGTON — Which state has the most commercial space launches? What launch site is the busiest? How many companies are licensed to conduct launch and reentry operations? You can find answers to all these questions and more by exploring the interactive commercial space data section of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Fact Book.