FAA-EASA Safety Conference – Welcome Remarks
Remarks as prepared for delivery.
Thank you, Eric [Fanning]. Good afternoon, everyone.
I’m happy that we’re all able to finally gather, in person, for this important safety conference.
I understand we have more than 350 people, with many of our safety partners and industry stakeholders here throughout the world.
In some ways, it seems like the last two and a half years – dealing with the pandemic – has gone by quick. And yet, so much has happened; and so much continues to happen.
Change has always been constant. But in aviation, it’s happening faster and faster. We’re seeing tremendous levels of new technology and innovation in this industry.
And that brings both excitement, opportunity, and challenge all at the same time.
If aviation isn’t safe, then it doesn’t matter how exciting it is; or what the promised benefits are.
As safety professionals, our job is to ensure safety. The close relationship between the FAA and EASA over the past decade, coupled with our ties with other civil aviation authorities, has created the foundation to make aviation even safer around the world.
This conference is a chance to build on that foundation.
President John F. Kennedy once said that “a rising tide lifts all boats.”
When we create ways to improve safety in aviation, we can share that knowledge to lift safety all across the world.
Americans, and increasingly every person across the globe, expect the high level of safety that we have in North America and Europe … they expect that in every airspace.
Our challenge is to make that happen, all while allowing the tremendous innovation to safely occur that we’re seeing in aviation today.
The U.S.-EU Aviation Safety Agreement is the bedrock of our partnership, allowing us to validate each other’s certifications of aviation products and parts … and maximize reliance on each other for approvals and monitoring of repair stations and maintenance.
This agreement is vital to maintaining a safe aerospace system on both continents during the most dynamic period in aviation history since the dawn of the jet age.
We must recommit ourselves to this framework. Its structure and process pushes us to collaborate, while holding each aviation authority accountable. When we collaborate, both sides can devote more resources to areas that pose a higher safety risk.
Stepping outside our agreements would diminish an important tool that has enabled us to work together to achieve the safest period in aviation history.
I’m encouraged that we’ve expanded the agreement by implementing annexes to cover both pilot licensing and flight simulators.
Since last year, we have been aligning schedules on flight simulator evaluations, resulting in more timely completion, and less duplication, of these evaluations.
Also, applications for conversion of pilot certificates under the Pilot Licensing Annex are increasing for both EASA and the FAA, with dozens of licenses issued to date.
Best of all, this has been a smooth implementation process.
The FAA and EASA have also worked closely together, along with fellow civil aviation authorities, on the safety evaluations of the 737 MAX aircraft.
We learned important lessons together during that review. And that we have to work across oceans to improve global pilot training standards for increasingly complex aircraft.
One of the ways we’re doing that is through our participation and leadership in ICAO’s Personnel Licensing and Training Panel.
The success of our work together on the 737 MAX also reaffirmed the importance of Safety Management Systems, and the need to broaden these programs.
In the FAA, we’ve seen the benefits of SMS in driving down safety risk for commercial aviation, which is why we are working to expand SMS requirements to manufacturers, airports, and aviation service providers.
And from proactive initiatives like SMS, fatigue risk management, safety reporting programs and others, we have collected a significant amount of safety data.
The more we can collect, analyze and share safety data, and discuss safety issues openly and transparently between stakeholders throughout the world, the better we can achieve a more predictive aviation safety system.
The FAA is actively expanding our portfolio of data collection and analytics tools. And we’re evolving toward using predictive analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence to yield cleaner, consistent streams of safety data.
Through these tools, we’ll be able to more effectively share safety data with industry stakeholders and international partners.
Through open sharing of safety information, we’ve made aviation safer around the world.
We also need to be open and transparent about complex challenges like pilot mental health. We need to encourage our pilots, and all aviation professionals, that they should ask for help the moment they begin to experience emotional or mental health challenges. They should start treating the underlying problems before they become worse.
The FAA firmly believes there should be no stigma, or fears, about coming forward and being open about mental health challenges.
When it comes to pilot mental health, or other safety issues, we’ve learned that being open, transparent and proactive has been the key our success.
And the same holds true when it comes to mitigating cyber risk.
Cyber threats don’t respect borders on a map. And that’s why we want to harmonize our cyber security efforts with EASA and other civil aviation authorities.
The FAA is also working through ICAO to design a global mechanism called the International Trust Framework. It will enable us to share aviation information with only trusted entities – across the international ecosystem.
The more we can collaborate, and share best practices, the better we can safely and securely integrate the tremendous innovation we’re seeing throughout the industry today.
Whether that is drones, advanced air mobility, supersonic business jets, alternatively powered aircraft, or other development types of aircraft, our job is to provide the regulatory framework to ensure high safety standards, while allowing dreamers to continue dreaming.
A decade ago, most would have thought having nearly one million drones safely integrated into the airspace was just a crazy dream. But today, that is a reality.
And now we’re building the framework for the next dream to become reality. We are currently reviewing recommendations from an aviation rulemaking committee on how to enable safe, routine, drone operations beyond visual line of sight, or B-V-LOS, as we call it.
We’re also developing a phased rulemaking plan for BVLOS operations – with initial phases focusing on flights at low altitudes and creating drone-specific airworthiness requirements. Follow-on phases will clear the way for more tailored approval paths for package delivery.
We’ve stayed in close contact with our EU colleagues and other global regulators on these drone regulatory developments.
We’ve also collaborated with 64 other civil aviation authorities, including many in Europe, on the Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems.
And we’re looking ahead to Advanced Air Mobility, or AAM. These are radically different vehicles, but the framework we have in place for crewed aircraft is agile enough to accommodate them.
We already have several AAM aircraft in the certification process, which we expect to certify in the 2024 timeframe, provided safety allows. These types of operations have the potential to better connect smaller communities with big cities.
As a global aviation community, we must continue to work together to address all safety concerns, so that we can enable these game-changing innovations, in a way that is seamless around the world.
At this conference, we’ll also put a focus on strengthening aviation’s resilience.
Over the past two years, the FAA and the EU have worked together, along with other partners, through all three phases of the ICAO Council’s Aviation Recovery Taskforce.
Through this forum, we provided consistent guidance for air carriers and airports to protect airline passengers and workers from virus exposure and transmission. We also provided guidance on virus testing, quarantining, and transporting of vaccines.
Today, we’re living in a world where the potential for more wide-spread pandemics is a real concern. We have to apply the lessons we’ve learned over the past two years, so that we can be more resilient if we face another type of outbreak similar to COVID-19.
Indeed, through our collaboration, the United States, Europe, and other nations have been successful at developing, and leading with, a proactive safety approach. We’ve created that rising tide that has lifted aviation, making it the safest mode of transportation in the world.
Now, our collective goal must be to develop a fully predictive safety system. This conference will help us make that journey. Let’s make it productive!
At this time, I’d like to introduce Patrick Ky, Executive Director of EASA. He has served in this position for nine years.
Prior to this position, Patrick was in charge of Europe’s ATM modernization program, SESAR.
He has more than 24 years of experience in civil aviation, having held managerial positions in the French Civil Aviation Authority and at Eurocontrol.
Let’s welcome, Patrick.