[House Hearing, 113 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
REVIEW OF THE FAA'S PROGRESS IN
IMPLEMENTING THE FAA MODERNIZATION
AND REFORM ACT
=======================================================================
(113-15)
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
AVIATION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
MAY 16, 2013
__________
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COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman
DON YOUNG, Alaska NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia
THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon
HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of
JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee, Columbia
Vice Chair JERROLD NADLER, New York
JOHN L. MICA, Florida CORRINE BROWN, Florida
FRANK A. LoBIONDO, New Jersey EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas
GARY G. MILLER, California ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland
SAM GRAVES, Missouri RICK LARSEN, Washington
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts
CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York
DUNCAN HUNTER, California MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine
ERIC A. ``RICK'' CRAWFORD, Arkansas GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California
LOU BARLETTA, Pennsylvania DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois
BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota
LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
BOB GIBBS, Ohio ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland
RICHARD L. HANNA, New York JOHN GARAMENDI, California
DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida ANDRE CARSON, Indiana
STEVE SOUTHERLAND, II, Florida JANICE HAHN, California
JEFF DENHAM, California RICHARD M. NOLAN, Minnesota
REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin ANN KIRKPATRICK, Arizona
THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky DINA TITUS, Nevada
STEVE DAINES, Montana SEAN PATRICK MALONEY, New York
TOM RICE, South Carolina ELIZABETH H. ESTY, Connecticut
MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas CHERI BUSTOS, Illinois
TREY RADEL, Florida
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania
RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois
VACANCY
------
Subcommittee on Aviation
FRANK A. LoBIONDO, New Jersey, Chairman
THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin RICK LARSEN, Washington
HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon
JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of
SAM GRAVES, Missouri Columbia
BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas
LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts
PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois
DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
JEFF DENHAM, California ANDRE CARSON, Indiana
REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin RICHARD M. NOLAN, Minnesota
THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky DINA TITUS, Nevada
STEVE DAINES, Montana SEAN PATRICK MALONEY, New York
ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas CHERI BUSTOS, Illinois
TREY RADEL, Florida CORRINE BROWN, Florida
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia
RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois, Vice Chair (Ex Officio)
BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania (Ex
Officio)
CONTENTS
Page
Summary of Subject Matter........................................ iv
TESTIMONY
Hon. Michael P. Huerta, Administrator, Federal Aviation
Administration................................................. 8
PREPARED STATEMENTS AND ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD SUBMITTED
BY WITNESSES
Hon. Michael P. Huerta:
Prepared statement........................................... 22
Answers to questions from the following Representatives:
Hon. Frank A. LoBiondo, of New Jersey.................... 35
Hon. Sam Graves, of Missouri; responses include ``A White
Paper on the National Aeronautical Charting Office
(NACO) High Performing Organization (HPO),'' Federal
Aviation Administration (June 30, 2008)................ 56
Hon. Rodney Davis, of Illinois........................... 124
Hon. Rick Larsen, of Washington.......................... 126
Hon. Andre Carson, of Indiana............................ 131
Hon. Ann Kirkpatrick, of Arizona......................... 138
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD
Hon. Larry Bucshon, a Representative in Congress from the State
of Indiana, request to submit letter from the Indiana
congressional delegation to Hon. Ray LaHood, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Transportation and Hon. Michael P. Huerta,
Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, which urges Mr.
LaHood and Mr. Huerta to consider the application of the Ohio/
Indiana Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center and Test Complex to
serve as one of the six Unmanned Aircraft Systems test sites
required by the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012....... 5
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REVIEW OF THE FAA'S PROGRESS IN
IMPLEMENTING THE FAA MODERNIZATION
AND REFORM ACT
----------
THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2013
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Aviation,
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2:54 p.m., in
Room 2167, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Frank A.
LoBiondo (Chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. LoBiondo. The committee will come to order. Good
afternoon. Apologies. Series of votes. Longer than expected.
Yada, yada, yada. But we apologize.
As a followup to our February hearing we are again going to
attempt to examine what progress the FAA has made in
implementing the Modernization and Reform Act that was signed
into law on February 14th of 2012. The reform act was passed
after 5 years--5 excruciating years--of short-term extensions,
but it created a stable 4-year framework for the FAA, industry,
and other stakeholders. The act makes important reforms to the
aviation system and to the FAA in order to increase efficiency
and modernize the system, and ensures that we maintain a safe,
modern, and efficient civil aviation system for now and into
the future. Ensuring implementation of the FAA reauthorization
is and will remain a top priority of the subcommittee.
NextGen is a central part of the reform law. I am extremely
fortunate to represent New Jersey's Second Congressional
District, which happens to include the FAA's premier technical
center. So I have seen firsthand the work that goes on there
and I have been able to learn more about why NextGen is
important to the FAA, the aviation industry, and the traveling
public.
What has become clear is that we must attempt to do more--
we must do more--to provide certainty for the FAA and the
stakeholders, which is why the reform act requires the FAA to
appoint a chief NextGen officer for a term of 5 years. This is
going to help with the technology and accelerates deployment of
the performance-based navigation procedures for large, medium,
and small airports. The reform act also requires the FAA to
include FAA employees, such as air traffic controllers, in the
modernization process, and requires the FAA, with input from
the industry, to identify operational incentives to encourage
the aviation industry to equip with necessary avionics.
The FAA is making progress with some of these efforts, and
I want to thank Administrator Huerta for his efforts. But we
know that we still have a long way to go together. Since the
subcommittee's last hearing, the Aviation Subcommittee has held
the first in a series of listening sessions broadly focused on
implementation of NextGen. We were able to hear from industry
stakeholders about various issues of concern in the
implementation of NextGen air traffic control procedures.
Next week we are holding a second NextGen listening
session. This will give the subcommittee an opportunity to hear
from the FAA and industry stakeholders in a less formal
setting. We, of course, intend to use what we learn in the
listening sessions to help us, industry, and FAA achieve near-
term real world benefits, measurable benefits from NextGen.
Today, I look forward to hearing from Administrator Huerta
what the plan is for the FAA to fully implement the reform act.
In particular, I am interested in learning how the FAA is
complying with the various safety modernization, reform, and
good governance provisions included into law.
The FAA has had some successes in implementing the act.
However, similar to NextGen, the FAA has also faced some
challenges and is behind on some of its deadlines.
Administrator Huerta will testify that the FAA is on track to
meet or has met 80 percent of the deliverables, including the
FAA reauthorization law, and has currently completed half of
that.
But I think, Mr. Huerta, even you would agree that not all
of the reauthorization requirements are created equal. The FAA
has yet to complete some of the most important and challenging
requirements of the law, including the Unmanned Aircraft
Systems, UAS, integration plan to allow for safe integration of
UAS by 2015. The small UAS rulemaking, the facility realignment
and consolidation plan, and reforming and streamlining
certification processes. Completion of these requirements are
delayed. And I look forward to hearing from Administrator
Huerta on what we can expect, when we can expect to see more
progress, and what we may be able to do to help be a force
multiplier for you.
Before we turn to Administrator Huerta for a statement, I
would like to ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5
legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material for the record of this hearing.
Without objection, so ordered.
Mr. LoBiondo. I now would like to yield to Mr. Larsen for
any statement you may have.
Mr. Larsen. Thanks, Chairman LoBiondo, for calling today's
hearing to review the FAA's progress in implementing the
reauthorization law. For the past several weeks, budget
sequestration and its effect on the FAA have distracted the
subcommittee's oversight on reauthorization. And I just want to
make a few brief remarks on that and refocus on the agency's
implementation of FAA reauthorization, which contains several
important provisions.
First, last month we took action to end air traffic
controller furloughs and airline delays throughout the system.
That said, the public should understand that this action was
only a temporary solution. Sequestration will have lingering
effects this fiscal year that we need to better understand, and
the bill ending the furloughs that passed last month does come
at a cost. Lost funding for the Airport Improvement Program
means less investment in our Nation's airports and less long-
term competitiveness for our economy.
Our country already does not have a top 25 airport,
according to annual rankings that came out last month, and
cutting AIP makes that climb tougher. Moreover, if we don't
pass or enact a longer term comprehensive and balanced solution
to cut the deficit and end sequestration, then none of my
colleagues should act surprised when we are backed into another
crisis in the aviation sector this October.
Mr. Chairman, a key feature of the FAA reauthorization law
was the new policy direction it provided for the FAA's NextGen
initiative and development of new technologies. The
subcommittee must provide vigorous oversight to ensure these
provisions are effectively implemented. For example, theFAA
reauthorization sought to increase leadership and
accountability over NextGen by creating a chief NextGen officer
position. Congress created this position to break through
bureaucratic barriers at the FAA and to unify the agency's
NextGen efforts, but it has been vacant for over a year. So I
am pleased that yesterday the administration announced that it
would appoint a new deputy administrator who will fill the role
of chief NextGen officer.
Section 212 of the reauthorization requires the FAA to
implement more fuel-efficient, performance-based navigation
procedures at the Nation's top 35 airports and to report to
Congress on its progress. Yet to date the FAA has not produced
the implementation plan and the report required by law that is
several months overdue.
The FAA is also working with the RTCA NextGen Advisory
Committee and industry stakeholders to analyze nontechnical
barriers to implementing performance-based navigation. I look
forward to hearing an update from Administrator Huerta
regarding the FAA's efforts to implement these procedures.
Aviation manufacturing and technology development are major
economic drivers in my home State of Washington. Therefore, I
am pleased with the FAA reauthorization, that it contained
important provisions to improve the FAA's processes for
certifying airplanes, engines, and other products. To address
these issues raised by the GAO, section 313 required the FAA to
convene an advisory panel to address inconsistent
interpretations of flight standards and aircraft certification
regulations. Unfortunately, that report to Congress on this
effort is overdue.
The FAA reauthorization also requires the agency to develop
a plan for safely integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems into
the National Airspace System by December 2015. The FAA's Joint
Planning and Development Office has collaborated with industry
stakeholders and other Federal agencies to develop and finalize
a comprehensive UAS implementation plan. Additionally, the FAA
will select six test sites this year to gather data on how UAS
operations may impact air traffic operations.
I would like Administrator Huerta to identify some of the
technical issues that need to be tested and resolved so that
unmanned systems can safely and routinely operate in civil
airspace. These are all critical issues for maintaining an
American leadership in the aviation sector. And I am hopeful
that the FAA and this subcommittee will continue to work
together to meet the challenges that we have ahead of us.
Thank you. I look forward to hearing from our witness. And
I yield back.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you, Mr. Larsen.
Mr. LoBiondo. Normally we don't go to Members for opening
sessions, but Mr. Bucshon has a special circumstance with
needing to manage the floor, so he has asked for 1 minute. And
with the committee's indulgence, you are recognized.
Dr. Bucshon. Thank you for your indulgence, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for coming back today, Mr. Huerta. As you know,
the FAA reauthorization, in that we authorized several test
sites for Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Indiana and Ohio have
jointly applied to be a test site. I just want to submit for
the record the letter that the entire Indiana delegation sent
to the DOT regarding our application and put in a plug for our
State. It is a great place to do business. We would love to
work with the FAA on this issue.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to submit this for the
record.
Mr. LoBiondo. Without objection, so ordered.
[The information follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Dr. Bucshon. Thank you. I yield back.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you.
Mr. LoBiondo. Mr. Huerta, once again, we apologize for the
delay. And you are recognized.
TESTIMONY OF HON. MICHAEL P. HUERTA, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL
AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
Mr. Huerta. Thank you. Chairman LoBiondo, Ranking Member
Larsen, and members of the subcommittee, a year ago Congress
reauthorized the Federal Aviation Administration after 4\1/2\
years of uncertainty and stopgap measures. The biggest benefit
of reauthorization was that it would provide predictability and
allow us to invest with greater certainty in the future. So we
are grateful for your effort on this and we have been working
very diligently in the past year to implement the provisions of
reauthorization.
As we move forward, the number one mission of the FAA is
safety. This will always be our priority. In the last few
years, Congress has given us much guidance on how to advance
aviation safety and we have accomplished a great deal. The FAA
overhauled flight and duty rules to guarantee that airline
pilots have the opportunity to get the rest they need to
operate safely, and we are raising the required numbers of
hours of experience before a pilot can operate the controls on
any airline flight.
We are also finalizing a rule that will require more
rigorous training so that flight crews can better handle rare
but serious scenarios. We are also improving our safety culture
at the FAA and throughout the industry by voluntarily reporting
hazards before they could become a problem and by adopting
safety management systems. Internally, we created the Aviation
Safety Whistleblower Investigation Office. One of the
cornerstones of our safety culture is to ensure that employees
can provide information without fear of reprisal.
While we are enhancing the safety of the system that we
know today, we are also working to deliver the benefits of new
technology to create the aviation system of tomorrow through
NextGen. We are working to safely integrate Unmanned Aircraft
Systems into our airspace. Earlier this year, as directed by
Congress in reauthorization, we requested proposals to host six
test sites across the country to test Unmanned Aircraft
Systems.
This is a matter of significant public interest. We need to
better understand operational issues to safely integrate these
aircraft into our national airspace. We need to explore pilot
training and make sure that unmanned aircraft sense and avoid
other aircraft. And if they lose the link to their ground-based
pilot, these aircraft need to operate safely.
If we are going to continue to move aviation forward and
remain a world leader, we need to collaborate across the FAA as
well as with other Government agencies and also with industry.
Reauthorization asked us to do this, and we have made great
strides in collaborative efforts.
Chairman LoBiondo, as you know, Atlantic City is a leader
in NextGen research. The William J. Hughes Technical Center
plays a key role in fostering NextGen, and we appreciate your
support.
We have worked with our labor unions, with industry,
airports, and others, to address the problem of congested
airspace over busy metropolitan areas. We are producing
satellite-based procedures much more quickly and we are using
these NextGen procedures right now to reduce the miles that
aircraft must fly to create more direct routes, to cut delays,
and to reduce fuel burn and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
I am pleased that the President has announced his intent to
appoint Michael Whitaker as Deputy Administrator of the FAA.
Mr. Whitaker is a veteran of the airline industry and will
serve as the FAA's chief NextGen officer, responsible for
fostering the transformation of our national airspace.
The FAA has an initial set of NextGen metrics available on
our Web site, and we expect to publish additional performance
metrics in the coming months. Our NextGen performance snapshots
show that NextGen is happening now. For example, in Chicago we
have been able to reduce delays at O'Hare International Airport
in bad weather, thanks to NextGen. O'Hare and nearby Midway
Airport have overlapping airspace at times. We made better use
of this congested airspace in the last 2 years with a
satellite-based procedure that aircraft use when flying into
Midway. This procedure has allowed O'Hare to improve its
arrival rate by 8 to 12 aircraft per hour when it is rainy or
foggy and the ceilings are low. And aircraft flying into Midway
travel fewer miles and save fuel. This is one of the many
positive effects of NextGen and the type of improvement that
reauthorization supports.
The reauthorization laid out a vision to address the future
needs of our Nation's aviation system, and these needs have not
gone away. It is important for us to work together to protect
the great contribution that civil aviation makes to our economy
of $12.3 trillion and 10 million jobs.
As you know, we are again facing fiscal uncertainty and
unpredictability. The sequester is requiring the FAA to make
sizable budget cuts that affect our operations and our future.
While we are very grateful that Congress found a temporary
solution to the FAA furloughs, this measure does not end the
sequester. We will not enjoy the benefits or the stability that
reauthorization provides until we find a solution to the
sequester and find a sensible long-term solution. I sincerely
hope that we can work together to ensure that America continues
to operate the safest and most efficient aviation system in the
world.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I would
be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you, Mr. Huerta. I am sure we will
have.
Mr. LoBiondo. In starting off, as you had indicated in your
opening statements and statements that have been made in the
past, the FAA Technical Center that I represent is the test and
integration facility for NextGen. I understand now the Florida
test bed also reports through the Technical Center, and I am
wondering if it is appropriate to assume that the soon-to-be-
named six UAS test sites will also report to the Technical
Center.
Mr. Huerta. We haven't made a determination of the
reporting because the test sites would actually be privately
operated. What we are providing as part of the unmanned
aircraft test site designation is a designation for them to
operate and to perform research and analysis so that we can
understand how these integrate into the national airspace.
Currently, the process of selection of the test sites is
administered through a joint program office that is jointly
administered by our Aviation Safety Organization and our Air
Traffic Organization. As we get later in the year we will make
some further determinations and decisions regarding the
selection of the test sites. We will make some decisions as to
how best to integrate them into our organization.
Mr. LoBiondo. So then the final testing and integration
collaboration from the six test sites for UAS into the national
airspace remains to be seen whether that will be done at the
FAA's Technical Center?
Mr. Huerta. I think what we have to see is what the
proposals put forward and then how we best leverage that data
across the whole FAA.
Mr. LoBiondo. I, obviously, have a keen interest in this.
Moving on to another topic, the FAA is currently behind on
providing Congress with a National Facilities Consolidation and
Realignment Report. Can you give us a status of the report and
can you tell us will it be comprehensive and include all of the
FAA's facility consolidation and realignment projects?
Mr. Huerta. Yes. As you know, the consolidation of
facilities has been something that has been a high priority for
the agency. Reauthorization provided us important tools to
address how we look at consolidation of facilities. One of the
things that has bedeviled us in the past as we have looked at
this has been that the agency used inconsistent technical
approaches in evaluating whether or not and how best to achieve
benefits associated with consolidation. We have been working
collaboratively with our stakeholders and partners to work
through a process of how we would look across the full scope of
facilities that exist across the country. And while it has
taken longer certainly than was anticipated by the committee
and certainly longer than I would like to see, I think that the
benefits of this collaboration have been quite fruitful.
We are expecting to finalize an approach that we would like
to share with the committee at a point in the future and talk
about what the way forward would look like. But we are looking
at the full scope of FAA facilities.
Mr. LoBiondo. Any idea at what point in the future?
Mr. Huerta. In the coming couple of months.
Mr. LoBiondo. Couple of months.
Last question for now. You may be aware that several
Members have recently introduced a bill called the Small
Airplane Revitalization Act of 2013. The legislation is
intended to remove some outdated regulatory barriers to
streamline certification processes and improve the well-being
of general aviation industry, all while keeping a keen eye to
improving safety. Have you at all been familiar with this
legislation or have you seen it or had a chance to look after
it?
Mr. Huerta. I have seen the legislation. And as you know,
Mr. Chairman, we have been working on safety improvements for
small airplanes regulated under part 23 for quite some time
now. We have had an Aviation Rulemaking Committee composed of
industry experts that have been working since August of 2011 to
review our regulations and processes and to provide actionable
recommendations to the FAA.
We are expecting that we would soon be receiving the ARC's
recommendations and we will able to evaluate them for
implementation planning and assigning resources and
establishing timelines. I am not able to comment on the pending
legislation, but should this legislation become law, the FAA
will, of course, implement its provisions, as we do with any
other mandate.
Mr. LoBiondo. We would be interested if you and your team
have an opportunity to take a look at this and if you have any
suggestions you can offer us about how we can dovetail in so
that we are sort of working together on this and not have the
committee working on something, that you can see some
improvements that can be suggested with.
Mr. Huerta. We can certainly do that. On a high level, the
approach that, as I understand the legislation, does
acknowledge the work that has been ongoing. And I think that
there is a great deal of convergence there. But we can take a
look at it.
Mr. LoBiondo. OK. We would appreciate that. Thank you.
Mr. Larsen.
Mr. Larsen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Administrator, earlier this year Chairman LoBiondo and I
met with families of Colgan flight 3407. In February as well I
asked you about the FAA's progress finalizing a rule on pilot
qualifications due this August and another pilot training rule
due in October. How would you assess the progress on both of
those rules at this time?
Mr. Huerta. We are making good progress. We are still
expecting that we would publish the first rule in August and
the second in October, as I testified in February.
Mr. Larsen. Yeah. All right. Thanks.
Chairman LoBiondo mentioned next week that we will be
having a listening session. Our first one had focused on
NextGen, and some stakeholders stressed the need for the agency
to move more rapidly to deploy PBN routes into airports.
Section 213 of the authorization requires FAA to report to
Congress on its plan to implement PBN at the top 35 airports,
but to date, we have not received that report. Can you update
the subcommittee on your efforts to implement PBN at the top 35
airports.
Mr. Huerta. Well, PBN has certainly been a high priority
for the agency. It is the centerpiece of our initiative that we
call Metroplex. And that is a collaborative process that we are
implementing across the country that is very much focused on
what we can do to advance and ensure the use of advanced
navigation procedures throughout the National Airspace System.
The report that you mention is a report that we are
finalizing our work in now. It is now in executive
coordination. I hope to be able to provide it to the committee
soon.
Mr. Larsen. Thank you. With regards to the collaboration,
are there certain factors that are helping that collaboration
and other factors that are inhibiting that collaboration?
Mr. Huerta. Well, the major thing that characterizes the
Metroplex initiative and problems that we have had in the past,
I think it is fair to say that in advancingperformance-based
navigation years ago the focus was on quantity rather than
quality. And by that, I mean that there was a lot of discussion
about how do we develop and publish advanced navigation
procedures and we weren't really focusing on how they were
being used or what the operational challenges were with
actually enabling air carriers and other users of the system to
take advantage of them.
What has changed is we are now very focused on these second
two pieces, how do we ensure that they are actually being used
so that we can get the benefit and how do we ensure that we are
taking all the steps that are necessary to ensure that they can
be operationalized. That includes an understanding by all of
the users of the systems--pilots, controllers, airports--if
there is military airspace, how does it fit into the Defense
Department's particular requirements, what is the mix of
traffic that might exist in a particular metropolitan area. All
of that is crucial to being able to develop a procedure that is
going to work for the users in the metropolitan area as a
whole.
There are also issues that we identified. We have had an
effort where we have looked at the operational barriers. That
has focused us on things such as the air traffic controllers
handbook. We had an activity underway over the last year which
really focused on what are specific things that we need to do
to update and amend the air traffic controllers handbook.
Fifteen specific changes were recommended as a part of that. We
are expecting that we are going to complete work on about 10 of
them by the end of this fiscal year. The others are more
complex and will require longer term work to get them
implemented. But the focus is on what can we do to ensure that
these procedures are actually operational.
Mr. Larsen. Thanks. The bill created severalmilestones for
the safe integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the civil
airspace, and your written testimony notes that you requested
to host six test sites around the country. In addition to some
of the privacy issues that I tend to hear more about from folks
when it comes to unmanned aerial vehicles and systems, what
technical issues, so the top three or four technical issues,
need to be resolved before we can see some safe integration
into the NAS?
Mr. Huerta. Well, the things that we are looking at relate
to the types of things that I talked about in my opening
statement. How does an aircraft operate, for example, when it
loses link with its ground-based station and what are the rules
under which that aircraft would operate until link could be
reestablished? That is a different way of looking at the
traditional aviation practice of sense and avoid. But since the
pilot is in the remote location, if link is lost between the
ground station and the aircraft that is flying above, then you
have to have a clear set of procedures in place of what happens
so that that aircraft can avoid other aircraft.
We also need to understand how these characteristics
actually operate in different types of airspace, different
weather conditions, and with particular purposes in mind. For
example, a lot has been suggested as the potential for the use
of unmanned aircraft for such things as aerial surveys,
environmental monitoring. And those raise questions about how
do we ensure that those activities can be conducted safety in
conjunction with other aircraft operating within the National
Airspace System.
Weather characteristics and how they operate in inclement
weather is also a factor that we need to understand. And so
while there is always bad weather everywhere around the
country, we also have to understand, are there particular
issues that come up in different climate conditions? The
legislation anticipates that and suggests that we look at
geographic diversity in the award of the six test sites.
So those are some of the factors that we are focused on:
the technical factors of how these aircraft operate, the human
factors of how the operators actually would interact with other
operators within the system, and then some of the questions
relating to the use of these.
Mr. Larsen. Great. Thanks.
Mr. Chairman, I will have a second round, but I will yield
back for other Members. Thank you.
Mr. LoBiondo. Mr. Meadows.
Mr. Meadows. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you for coming to testify. I want to pick up a
little bit on what the chairman had touched on briefly with
regards to the Small Aircraft Revitalization Act. I know you
don't want to comment on that. But I think earlier this week
you convened a general aviation safety summit there, where you
talked about it. And part of that would be really a rewrite of
part 23. So that is your opinion, that we need to rewrite that.
Is that correct?
Mr. Huerta. Well, that is what we have been working on,
what can we do to improve part 23 to achieve the objectives
that the industry wants to see in terms of streamlining and
faster response time.
Mr. Meadows. If you were to highlight three areas that you
say, Congressman Meadows, these three areas, if we could have
legislative assistance on those three, what would those three
areas be?
Mr. Huerta. I am not sure that we are at a point, since we
are still working through the process with industry to identify
what the priorities are, and we expect to receive that report
from them later on this summer, but the thing that I hear
consistently is that things just take too long, that the
industry is very interested in what can be done to streamline
the process of achieving a certification for new products
coming to market. There are two dimensions to that. One is that
it greatly reduces the amount of time for a manufacturer to get
products into the marketplace, but there is also a cost-benefit
associated with that, that it reduces the cost of these.
And one of the things that we have heard loud and clear
from the general aviation industry is that, while they see huge
potential for improvements in safety as a result of adopting
these technologies, they can be expensive. So what can we do
through this process that would help bring the cost down?
Mr. Meadows. So what would you say is the greatest barrier
to that? Is that the National Safety Transportation Board? I
mean, is the enemy us or is it just technology in general?
Mr. Huerta. That is exactly what we are looking at right
now, to try to develop a better understanding of what are those
barriers, where can we reduce time. I think the big thing is
time, that the requirement for certification is there for a
good reason. You want to ensure that if you are installing
equipment in aircraft, that it will promote safety and not have
unintended consequences. Everyone is very interested in doing
everything that we can to promote safety, but at the same time
we have to make sure that we are not doing things that are
duplicative, redundant, and take more time than they need to.
Mr. Meadows. All right. And any specific recommendations
that you have, I am sure the committee would love to hear those
from you. And so if you could submit those along with your
record.
But let me pick up on one other thing. You talked about
rewriting the controllers handbook.
Mr. Huerta. Sure.
Mr. Meadows. And we had a roundtable that the chairman kind
of convened and I sensed a level of frustration--and that may
be a harsh word--but a level of concern on the part of some of
the airlines where they have installed NextGen equipment and
yet they are saying the real barrier is FAA controllers that
are operating under an old set of rules, and even though we
might be able to adopt the new rules in some of the lower
trafficked airspaces, the higher traffic that controls so much
of the hub and spoke kind of arrangement. What are we doing to
change that, and is there a date certain on when that might be
changed?
Mr. Huerta. Well, that is exactly the concern that I have
heard, and that is why we have decided that where we need to
focus is in metropolitan areas, and that is what Metroplex is
really all about. We need to look at an entire metropolitan
area, bring all the stakeholders together, and understand what
it is that is really going on within that particular
metropolitan area and what can we do to ensure that, first of
all, we know what the priorities are. What are the ones that
the industry would like to see most?
The second point is, how do we ensure that they will
actually get used once they are published? That raises the
operational things like the controllers handbook and the
operational details associated with that.
The final point is we have to track what their utilization
is, because you are putting them in place for a particular
reason: You want to yield benefit. We are all in a much better
place if we actually have solid data on their actual
utilization. There is a lot of folklore that is out there of
whether or not they are being used, and it is important that we
actually have real data to do that. That is what we are trying
to do through this initiative and why we focus it on metro
areas.
Mr. Meadows. So bringing those stakeholders together, do
have you any kind of a timeframe, date certain when that is
going to happen in terms of getting everybody together?
Mr. Huerta. Well, it is rolling timetables that we are
working through specific metropolitan areas. Like, for example,
we had convened two to start, one in north Texas and one here
in Washington. And we are actually taking advantage of
procedures in both of those metropolitan areas that have been
developed. Later, we started development in other metropolitan
areas.
And so what we are trying to do is separate out the
development of new procedures into two buckets: What are things
that we could do right now, what are others that are going to
require more analytic and perhaps environmental work in order
for us to get through the process. We have initiatives in a
wide variety of metropolitan areas and they are all operating
under difference schedules.
Mr. Meadows. I appreciate the Chair's indulgence, and I
yield back.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you.
Mr. DeFazio.
Mr. DeFazio. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Administrator, good to see you.
In the testimony, you talked about the consolidation,
realignment of your facilities and said that you are engaging
your employees. Now, as you know, there has been some
controversy in this area before about whether or not it was
real and meaningful involvement. Can you just give us a little
bit of an idea what is going on and how engaged the line staff
are in this?
Mr. Huerta. Well, you know, I would ask them to answer that
question as well. But I will say this. Yesterday I participated
in a meeting of well over an hour where there were
representatives of all of our employee organizations that would
be affected by this and where they were making a consolidated
presentation to me of where they are in the process.
I think the thing that I was most impressed by was that as
you worked your way around the table, if you didn't know the
people, you wouldn't know who was representing the controllers
or the specialists or the technicians or the facility
management because they were all providing in a very
collaborative way meaningful information of how do we get
through this. And they were listening to one another, they were
respecting one another's positions, and they were coming to me
with what looked like a lot of thought. It was very clear that
these people had been working together very closely for a long
time.
I thought that was a good sign. I had a bunch of questions.
They had a lot of good answers. There are some things that they
are continuing to work on as we are trying to move this
forward. But certainly from my standpoint it looks like the
collaboration is working quite well.
Mr. DeFazio. Right. Over a number of years the committee
has expressed concern about overseas foreign repair stations.
And there was a reauthorization that mandated the
implementation of a safety and assessment system. I know
sometimes you have problems dealing with the State Department
and other issues on this. Where are we at in terms of the
oversight of foreign repair stations?
Mr. Huerta. Well, as it relates to the specific State
Department issue, the issue here related to drug testing and
the reauthorization of the requirement that we require that at
facilities both inside and outside of the United States, which
raises territorial issues. And so the Secretary of State and
the Secretary of Transportation wrote a joint letter last fall
to the International Civil Aviation Organization membership
asking for their willingness to support such an approach, and
we are continuing to engage ICAO to work through developing an
international agreement on how we move forward.
Mr. DeFazio. OK. So not so much progress.
Mr. Huerta. When we are dealing with international
oversight, as you know, you have to have the consent of the
host countries. Those are the things that we need to work
through.
Mr. DeFazio. Well, yeah, we do, except that we can also
prohibit our people from using facilities that we haven't been
able to certify meet our standards.
Mr. Huerta. Well, I think that we have an approach that has
served us very well in terms of in other parts of the world
relying on the certification authorities there, just as they
rely on us for certification of facilities that take place in
this country. That is a process that has served the aviation
industry quite well. But we do recognize that we need to
continue to push the envelope on oversight, and we are doing
that.
Mr. DeFazio. Yeah, I mean, I am pretty confident in our
oversight, although we have had hearings on that issue also in
terms of how often you can get to each of these facilities,
whether you are doing real inspections or whether you are
inspecting paperwork that certifies inspections, et cetera. So,
anyway, it is an ongoing concern with me and perhaps other
members of the committee.
And then finally a question about your certification
process. We obviously have become somewhat more reliant upon
the manufacturers themselves to self-certify and test things,
and we had a recent concern regarding the new Boeing plane. So
are you revisiting that in any way?
Mr. Huerta. Yes. As part of the Boeing effort we undertook
two things. One was a detailed review of the specific systems
related to the battery. As you know, on April 19th we did
recertify the battery system and the aircraft are now being
modified and gradually returned to flight.
Earlier, we had announced a review of the certification
process related to the 787, and that review is ongoing. And it
is one that we think is extremely important because what we
want to understand is the whole process, are there issues that
we need to take another look at and rethink.
I will say this, though. Certification has always been all
about bringing the best technical minds together to surface
issues, to identify what do we need to do to ensure the highest
levels of safety. But it is ultimately the FAA that has to
issue the certification, and that is something that we take
very seriously.
Mr. DeFazio. OK. Well, and I appreciate the fact you are
reviewing the process, and we don't need to add unnecessary
layers of review and bureaucracy, but we want an effective and
safe process. So thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you.
Mr. Williams.
Mr. Williams. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Administrator, thank you for being here. Appreciate
your testimony.
Mr. Huerta. Thank you.
Mr. Williams. I fly into DFW every Sunday. I am rooting for
you. OK? But I am a business guy. I come from the business
sector. Still have a business. And I hear your testimony, and
streamlining and reforming are two key words in the FAA. And I
guess what I would like to say--and you have touched on this a
little but, just as a reminder, ask this question--are you
prepared, as the private sector is prepared always, to deal
with cutting these expenses, wasteful spending, so we are not
in a crisis management mode like we have seen here in the past,
that we get on a level of spending that we can still give the
service but also not have a crisis situation every day.
Mr. Huerta. Absolutely, sir. We have done an awful lot of
work to try to reduce the cost of operating the agency. The
agency has been able to make due with flat budgets for a number
of years now, at the same time, we are trying to make
significant investments in new technology while reducing the
cost of operating the National Airspace System that we have
today.
There has been a lot of focus on areas such as acquisition
and technology. We have seen a lot of cost savings. We will
continue to see cost savings in that area. We are also, as we
talked about in the last few minutes, reducing the costs
associated with providing the regulatory oversight that we
provide through the streamlining of processes that enable us to
bring new products to market more quickly. We have had a lot of
focus on what we can do to improve our acquisition processes to
take advantage of the fact that we are a large purchaser. And,
yes, this is something that I take very seriously.
Mr. Williams. When you go to cutting costs, don't forget
the customer.
Mr. Huerta. OK.
Mr. Williams. Thank you for your testimony.
Mr. Huerta. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Williams. I yield back.
Mr. LoBiondo. Mr. Nolan.
Mr. Nolan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And, Mr. Huerta, I apologize for coming in late, and thank
you for your patience. I am sure they told you we had a bunch
of votes that came up. Our schedule got somewhat conflicted.
But congratulations for the work that you have done to
implement the major new Federal legislation and
reauthorization. I certainly believe that you are to be
commended for the splendid job that you have done.
Mr. Huerta. Thank you.
Mr. Nolan. We are proud of you.
Together with Congressman Pompeo and several other members
of this committee, I am one of the sponsors of H.R. 1848, the
Small Aircraft Revitalization Act of 2013. And as you know--and
I saw mention of it in your testimony, and I appreciate that--
this bill will require that the FAA complete a rewrite of the
Federal regs governing small craft by no later than 2015. If
that bill were enacted today with your existing funding and
authority do you anticipate you would have a problem with this
deadline or do you feel that it is doable?
Mr. Huerta. Well, I may have mentioned this before you came
in, sir. This is something that we have been focused on,
working collaboratively with industry under an Aviation
Rulemaking Committee since August of 2011. I think at a high
level this is very consistent with the approach that we have
been taking. We are expecting this rulemaking committee to
provide their report to the agency later on this summer and at
that point we will see what the specific recommendations are
that they are looking at and we will be in a much better place
to assess the timetables associated with it at that point.
Mr. Nolan. Very good. That is very helpful. Thank you.
I didn't see any mention of the Essential Air Service
program, which serves several airports in my district and
throughout the country. And it has been very, very valuable,
very helpful to our regional economic development and the
strong regional centers. Do you anticipate that sequester will
have an impact on this critically important program?
Mr. Huerta. Well, while the Essential Air Service program
is carried in the FAA budget, it is actually administered by
the Department of Transportation under the Assistant Secretary
for Aviation and International Affairs. And so I am not
familiar with what their plans are for this year, but we can
certainly get you a response for the record.
Mr. Nolan. OK. That would be very helpful.
And, lastly, I know you are looking at half a dozen
different sites to be considered for the Unmanned Aircraft
Systems test sites around the country?
Mr. Huerta. That is correct.
Mr. Nolan. And how many sites are you looking at? Where are
you at in that process?
Mr. Huerta. Well, we are in a competitive process where the
final submissions were presented to the agency in the last
couple of weeks. We received 25 distinct submissions from about
half of the States, and what the legislation provides is for us
to designate six. And we are in the evaluation process now. We
expect to complete that process by the end of this calendar
year.
Mr. Nolan. OK. Thank you very much, Mr. Huerta. And, again,
thank you for your work.
Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time.
Mr. Huerta. Thank you.
Mr. LoBiondo. Mr. Davis.
Mr. Davis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Administrator Huerta. First off, I want to say
thank you. And also to Secretary LaHood, my friend from
Illinois, please offer my thanks to him for administering our
recent legislation very quickly, especially to save some air
towers in my district, and also to address the furlough issue.
I am happy with that response. And as a new Member of
Congress, it shows me that you did well when the time came for
us to pass that legislation, and I have to commend you.
I came in a little late. I got off the floor, I guess, a
little later than some of the other Members here. So if I am
redundant with my first question, I apologize, but it is in
regards to the required navigation performance procedures. What
is the FAA's plan to push for beneficial required navigation
performance procedures?
Mr. Huerta. Yes, this is an initiative that is a very high
priority for us because it is something that a lot of air
carriers are already equipped to be able to take advantage of.
This is really the centerpiece of our effort that we call
Metroplex, which is focused on major metropolitan areas where
we bring together the users of the system and the operators of
the system in a collaborative process with the intent of
identifying what are priorities for development of navigation
procedures, how can we get them implemented as quickly as
possible, and then once implemented, how do we ensure that they
are actually being used.
It raises a host of operational issues and challenges that
we need to work through as a group. It also raises significant
things that we need to do on our end as well as the operator
needing to do on their end.
I think before you came in we were having some
conversations about the controller hand book as illustrative of
some of the things that we needed to work through. But it is as
a result of bringing the stakeholders together that we
identify, hey, we have got a problem with the controller
handbook and we need to actually make some revisions to it. And
so I think it is a process that has served us very well.
It started with a program that we had in north Texas, as
well as here in Washington. We have since expanded it to
include most major metropolitan areas of the country. And that
work is a very high priority for the agency.
Mr. Davis. Great. And third parties are being used to
expedite the delivery of these benefits?
Mr. Huerta. Yes. Reauthorization did request that we
consider the use of--it provided direction to us to allow for
third-party development of these advanced navigation
procedures. We did make a contract award under that, and that
work is ongoing, and we actually think it is progressing quite
well.
Mr. Davis. OK. Thank you for ending with you think it is
progressing quite well, because that was my next question, what
do you think this experience is. But I will yield back the
balance of my time, but I do want to say thank you again.
And thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Huerta. Thank you.
Mr. LoBiondo. Mr. Larsen. Oh, I am sorry, Dan. I didn't see
you there.
Mr. Webster. I have no questions, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. LoBiondo. No questions? OK. Apologies.
Mr. Larsen. Administrator, the GAO previously reported on
the need for greater consistency in the FAA's interpretation of
standards for certification and approval decisions. And so in
section 313 the bill required the FAA to establish an advisory
panel to develop recommendations to address some of those
issues raised by the GAO. What is the status of that particular
advisory committee's work and when can Congress expect to see
that report?
Mr. Huerta. Now, the section 313 report is something that
has certainly been, I think, of great importance. This is one
of the things that I hear a lot about and it is one of the
things that we need to figure out how we can do a better job of
ensuring that we have consistency across the NAS.
The report that we have developed, we do have a draft of
the report. It is circulating within the Administration in
executive review. And we are working through some comments on
that and we will have to complete that coordination process
before we can present it to Congress. But we have a good draft
that we are working with.
Mr. Larsen. Do you have a timeline on that?
Mr. Huerta. I would like to say that I do.
Mr. Larsen. I would love for you to say that you do.
Mr. Huerta. Unfortunately, I can't really predict how long
it is going to take to get all the comments and then to be able
to respond to all of them.
Mr. Larsen. Well, I think as you are communicating with the
folks in the Administration and the executive review, letting
them know that the committee is extremely interested as well in
this report and the sooner that we can hear back, the better.
Mr. Huerta. We will certainly do that.
Mr. Larsen. Not to prolong the discussions on
sequestration, but I am wondering if you have all done any sort
of analysis yet of the impact of moving that $253 million out
of AIP and what that will mean practically. I mean,
theoretically we knew what that would mean. Do we know yet
practically what that will mean in terms of a second round of
AIP grants for this fiscal year?
Mr. Huerta. Yeah. For this fiscal year the $253 million
will come out of discretionary grants that we would award at
the end of the year. At this point we don't have a good sense
of what that actually means in terms of specific projects
because those projects tend to come in very late in the year.
Having said that, I think it is reasonable to expect that
you would see some delays or that there might be some requests
that would come in for AIP funding at the end of the year that
we would not be able to meet as a result of this transfer.
Mr. Larsen. Yeah, but it is still a little early----
Mr. Huerta. It is still a little early, yeah. Everyone is
still receiving their formula allocation, and so the
entitlement funds they receive. It is really the final round of
discretionary that would be affected.
Mr. Larsen. OK. Just a moment.
Yeah. In your written testimony you noted that you are
working on the ICAO to find some solutions to address aviation
greenhouse gas emissions and you are encouraged by the EU
decision to stop the clock on the application of the ETS. Can
you update the committee on the progress that FAA is making at
ICAO on this issue?
Mr. Huerta. Well, as you know, it is a complicated
international negotiation, but the United States is a very
active participant in those discussions. The expectation is
that this will be one of the central discussions that will take
place at the ICAO General Assembly, which is scheduled for
later on this fall. There is a great deal of focus on the part
of all of the members of ICAO to present actionable
recommendations for consideration by the General Assembly this
fall.
Like any large body or semi-legislative body such as ICAO,
agreements tend to emerge very late in the process. What we are
seeing right now is a lot of discussion back and forth, a lot
of the concerns that have been raised by developing countries
versus developed countries. But I think that what does unify
everyone is a sense that the only thing that is going to work
is a global solution rather than the regional solution that had
been proposed originally by the Europeans. So we are making
progress. It is a very slow process. But something will need to
be resolved in time for the general assembly this fall.
Mr. Larsen. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. LoBiondo. OK. That is it. Mr. Huerta, we thank you very
much. I am sure we will be following up.
And the committee stands adjourned.
Mr. Huerta. Thank you, sir.
[Whereupon, at 3:37 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]