FAA Administrator Says These Are Complicated Issues Requiring Input From Multiple Stakeholders

Those who came to the annual “Meet the Administrator” session at AirVenture hoping to hear there had been significant progress on issues like the Part 23 rewrite and third class medical reform were disappointed … again … when FAA administrator Michael Huerta would say only that the agency was continuing to work on those and other areas such as integration of UAVs in the National Air Space.

Huerta said that there is not yet a specific proposal for the elimination of the third-class medical. “I know this is extremely frustrating for all of you here. I know that you want to hear something very definitive about it. But … the pilot perspective is not the only perspective on this issue. We are dealing with a range of perspectives as we talk to our colleagues in the Department of Transportation and talk to our colleagues across the administration … and the white house and the office of management and budget … all of whom need to be on board with us making a proposal to go out and to seek public comment. I think what we all want is a lasting policy that will stand the test of time.”

Another item of deep interest to the GA community is a the rewrite of Part 23 of the Federal Aviation Regulations and the lengthy certification process. Huerta said again that there are multiple stakeholders to be considered, but some progress has been made in that regard.

“The FAA will define safety and airworthiness parameters, thus giving designers a goal without telling them how to get there. It’s a performance based rule, not a descriptive rule. And as long as the results, as long as the performance, meet the new Part 23 requirements, the industry can make extensive use of the latest materials, the latest designs, and the latest technology to build airplanes.”

But Huerta also said that there has been at least one culture shift at the agency when it comes to using certain products in airplanes. “We’re trying to get away from ‘it’s illegal’. The language we’re trying to develop is ‘it’s not presently authorized’. Let’s sit down and talk about how we make it authorized. The idea is not a ‘hell no’. It’s a ‘we need to figure this out’.”

On the subject of integration of UAVs into the National Air Space, Administrator Huerta said that one of the main issues is that the UAV industry comes at the problem from a different perspective than does the aviation community.

“Aviation is governed by a safety culture,” Huerta said. "We’re all very focused on ensuring that the system is operating as safely as it possibly can, and that’s why we have a lot of testing. There is innovation that takes place, but it’s all focused on in the end on safety.” The unmanned aircraft industry, on the other hand, is more based on a silicon valley model that rushes products to the market and makes its early adopters beta testers which leads to product improvements. “Nobody wants beta testers in the National Airspace System. But that is what we are dealing with as we look at how to regulate the unmanned aircraft industry,” he said.

The administrator drew a larger crowd this year than he did in 2014. But there was not much new in his remarks. The main takeaway from his presentation may be that Washington’s gears continue to grind pretty slowly.

(Staff images)

FMI: www.faa.gov