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From the Flight Deck – Spring Training for GA Pilots – Runway Safety

Hello everyone, and thank you for joining us this afternoon to talk about safety, and runway safety in particular. 

I’m Billy Nolen, the Acting Administrator for the FAA. 

I’ve spent a lot of time on runways in more than four decades in the aviation business...I started as an Army helicopter pilot flying the UH-1 Huey and the OH-58 Kiowa, and moving over to fixed wing on the U-21 and C-12 King Airs. 

I left the Army in 1989 to join American Airlines, first as a flight engineer on the Boeing 727. During my 26 years with American, I flew the MD80, the 757 and the 767 all over the world. 

Later I got into the safety side of the business at American, and after I retired from American, I did the same at Qantas and WestJet. 

So it’s fair to say I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly in runway safety. 

I’ve also seen the good that comes when groups like this get together to proactively wrap our arms around safety trends that might not be going in the right direction. 

And that’s what today is all about—being proactive. We’re not here to talk about an accident. We’re here to talk about what the data is telling us, and how we’re responding...and how you, the general aviation community, can help. 

So is there a runway safety problem in GA right now? Some initial data on lower severity runway incursions for fiscal year 2022 is telling us there might be...  

We saw the number of pilot deviations for the first half of the fiscal year jump 17% compared to the previous year. 

When we looked behind the numbers, nine out of every 10 of these were GA pilot deviations. 

You’ll hear more about the data later from senior FAA leaders who have also joined us for this meeting....

...The bottom line is this—based on the data, we’re redoubling our efforts to mitigate any risks that could eventually lead to an increase in more severe incursions, or worse, a fatal accident.

Our shared responsibility for safety makes it all the more critical that we take time to examine the trends we’re seeing. 

We’re here to raise awareness, discuss the data and talk about how all of us—working together—can make sure this is an anomaly and not a continuing trend. 

I know there are many other areas where we are working together to better the GA safety record—including a wide variety of data-driven initiatives underway with the General Aviation Joint Safety Committee—with our focus today  on runway safety.

Along with a deep dive on the data, you’re going to hear about FAA and industry efforts to help pilots navigate the airport environment. 

Included will be information about the Runway Incursion Management program, our “From the Flight Deck” educational videos, Hot Spot standardization, arrival notices, charting upgrades, new technologies and more. 

So let’s get this conversation going. Thanks again for joining us, and thank you for being proactive. 

We’re all in this together, and we’re all working toward the same goal—a safer general aviation community. 

Administrator Steve Dickson’s Remarks at the University of North Dakota Mental Health Summit

Hello everyone. I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you in person today. I wanted to say a few words at the beginning of the summit   because mental health in the aerospace profession is an extremely important and timely topic. 

One of the things I love so much about this industry is the passion that all of us have for aviation. I see it in my FAA workforce....I see it when I  visit with industry...I see it in the GA community...and I see it every time I visit institutions like UND.  

That passion also means that all of us are hesitant to take any risks—real or perceived—when it comes to the regulations that could threaten our ability to fly or otherwise participate. 

For many years, being honest about mental health has been one of those risky areas. I’m here to tell you that it’s a perceived risk, though, and we’re doing our best at the FAA to make that clear.  

So let’s start with this: It is a misconception that if you report a mental health issue, you will never fly again ... It’s just not true.  

In fact, only about 0.1% of applicants for a medical certificate who disclose health issues are ultimately denied a medical, and then only after an exhaustive attempt to “get to yes”. 

The important thing to stress to our pilots is to please ask for help when any symptoms begin, and to treat the underlying conditions before your health degrades. The worse these conditions become, the harder it is for us to get you back in the air.

We—all of us—do our best every day to improve safety, but there are always wakeup calls.  

In March 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 was a wakeup call about pilot mental health.  

The industry responded by putting more emphasis on aircrew peer support networks, where pilots with concerns could talk to other pilots who were specifically trained to help.  

The idea is to remove the stigma of mental health problems, and it works. This is similar to the work that the airline industry did in the 1990s to remove the stigma around alcoholism.  

We’ve made changes at the FAA since then too, increasing mental health training for our medical examiners … and building up our staff to include multiple psychiatrists, psychologists, and even a neuropsychologist.  

And we’re continuing to evolve, and reevaluate every aspect of mental health. 

It’s clear from your efforts in setting up this summit that John Hauser’s tragic last flight was a wakeup call for general aviation, and I want to offer my—and the entire FAA’s—condolences to John’s family.  

It is my hope that through you—his friends and colleagues—we can further remove the stigma and fear around mental health. These issues have been in our community for much too long.  

I want you to know that the FAA, and all of our medical professionals, led by our Federal Air Surgeon, Dr. Susan Northrup, are your partners on this journey.  

I’m proud of the work all of you are doing here, and I trust you will have a very productive summit. 

Thank you for listening. 

InfoShare (St. Louis)

Hello everyone, and thank you for coming to InfoShare. I’m Billy Nolen, the new Acting Administrator of the FAA. I might be new to the agency … having joined in December as the Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety …  but I’ve been a safety advocate for decades. I got my start with the U.S. Army and later flew for domestic and international airlines.

I know the value of InfoShare, and your participation here speaks volumes about your dedication to safety, and to the people everywhere who count on aviation as a safe and efficient form of transportation. 

I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you today, but I do plan on joining you—in person—in six months. I hope there’s room! You know you’ve got something good going on when attendance comes roaring back. We have well over 1,200 people registered for this week’s event, and by the time you see this, you may have set a new record for participation. 

I know that everyone here this week is more than ready to talk about safety, and to openly share information. By doing that, you are collectively making this industry better and safer. I’m in awe of the special bond among this group—that you are willing to stand in front of your peers and raise concerns so that others may learn. That’s only possible because of the trust you’ve built.

This is a Just Culture and a Reporting Culture in action, both of which are fundamental to a healthy Safety Culture. What’s also fundamental is InfoShare’s core rule – What’s said here, stays here. But what is learned here, goes out into the world in the form of a safer aviation system.  

I know that airlines have this process down pat – you’ve been doing this since a handful of carriers met in a room in the mid-1990s. But what’s particularly encouraging to me is all of the new sectors that are joining InfoShare—the rotorcraft industry, business aviation, OEMs. I’m hoping more and more will come to InfoShare.

On the horizon, we have whole new industries and new entrants, like drones, commercial space and advanced air mobility, coming to the airspace, and we want them to join us too. I’m reminded of the character Martin Brody, in the movie Jaws, when he told the captain, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat...”

But that’s a good thing. We can all help to spread the Safety Culture message—everyone in this business must know they can share safety concerns so together, we can reduce risks. 

Keep sharing, and keep up the great work. I can’t wait to see you next time. 

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