Duffy, Bedford highlight ATC progress, AAM milestone
Senior aviation officials speak at NBAA convention
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford discussed ATC modernization, the FAA’s rescission of single pilot operations in some Cessna Citation jets, and advanced air mobility (AAM) at the National Business Aviation Association Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Las Vegas.
On October 20, Bedford took the stage during the event’s “Meet the Regulators” session and discussed the status of the Brand New Air Traffic Control System—the ongoing modernization effort—including the impacts of the initiative on general aviation.
With NextGen, Bedford said the FAA “promised something that we had no idea how we were going to deliver,” but that it led to a number of new technologies: the creation of ADS-B, the creation of terrain awareness warning systems to help prevent controlled flight into terrain, and the introduction of Wide Area Augmentation Systems into aviation for navigation.
“It just never got integrated into something that would actually help airplanes move more efficiently from point A to point B,” said Bedford.
He also thanked the Modern Skies Coalition, the industrywide group made up of nearly 60 associations and companies, whose advocacy for modernization funding has been “very effective on the Hill,” according to Bedford. AOPA is a founding member of the coalition, and a member of its steering committee.
In addition to replacing hundreds of legacy copper lines with fiber, Bedford said a new artificial intelligence-assisted software tool—Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories—can leverage existing data sources to help relieve congestion.
“People think the system is over capacity… the way we operate it today, it is,” said Bedford. “But I can tell you there’s massive inefficiencies that can be solved for… that even our controllers can’t see.
“Controllers have about an 18-minute line of sight through conflict probing. Once they resolve a conflict, they have no idea what the downline effect is,” added Bedford. “That’s a lot of unnecessary workload for our controllers, when we could sort the trajectory out from gate to gate and strategically deconflict them.”
Johnson then asked Bedford about the FAA’s sudden decision in late September to rescind single-pilot exemptions for several popular Cessna Citation models that have commonly been flown by single pilots since the mid-1980s.
“Exemptions were given with certain understandings that training would be given in a certain way, inspections would happen, type ratings would be maintained,” said Bedford. “What we’ve discovered over the years is… compliance problems with the training organizations that… simply weren’t fulfilling those obligations.”
Bedford also said the FAA and the NTSB found a higher rate of accidents in these aircraft when they’ve been flown by single pilots.
AOPA, NBAA, and the Citation Jet Pilots group have all urged the FAA to reconsider the decision and to work with the aviation industry on a solution. Bedford said he’s open to continuing the dialogue.
The next day, Duffy took the stage with Johnson at a luncheon, and pointed to the Modern Skies Act, which would provide the additional $30 billion in funding—providing $10 billion for modernizing ATC equipment, $10 billion to replace ATC facilities, and $10 billion to medium-size commercial airports for passenger terminals.
Much of the ATC funding would go to a new common automation platform (CAP), which would replace multiple, siloed, aging ATC systems.
“If you don’t have software… we’re not going to get the result that I think the American people will absolutely, absolutely want,” said Duffy, who equated not implementing a new CAP to buying a new computer and installing Windows 98.
“The computer can be great, but the software is what the computer runs off of, and so we need new software to get better efficiency out of the airspace,” added Duffy.
Johnson and Duffy then introduced Beta Technologies CEO Kyle Clark and announced Beta had just received a special airworthiness certificate allowing the company to carry passengers on its Alia 250, a first for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
“The undertone is much more important,” said Clark. “It’s that we have to have a stable, reliable configuration for many, many hours, in order to submit that data to the FAA, along with a full envelope of flight maintenance manuals, and all of the things that basically bring up to the edge of certification.”
Clark also said ATC modernization plays an important role in AAM.
“The adoption of advanced air mobility is dependent on the Modern Skies Act,” said Clark. “It’s the only way that we can utilize this national asset that we have to its fullest extent. In business we would never tolerate an inefficient use of an asset.”
