Infrastructure And Controller Hiring Priorities With Safety

Ed Bolen, President and CEO of the National Business Aviation Association, submitted written testimony on March 4, 2025, to the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Aviation hearing, “America Builds: Air Traffic Control System Infrastructure and Staffing.

Bolen noted that the country’s ATC system leads the world and is robust and diverse but can only remain so if provided adequate funding to modernize and maintain its infrastructure and to hire and train the best air traffic controllers. He said it’s also critical to expand the system’s safety initiatives such as data sharing and communications.

Bolen also noted, “NBAA’s mission is to foster an environment that allows business aviation to thrive. In order to do so, America’s National Airspace System (NAS) must be safe, and also be perceived to be safe. The events of the past month have us looking at those tough questions, including: Is air transportation in the U.S. safe today?”

He also lamented the response of the public to recent accidents and incidents in which they rushed to judgment and blame rather than letting the NTSB and FAA conduct their investigations without being burdened by rumors and speculation.

Bolen’s testimony continues, “The foundation on which the aviation community dramatically improved our safety record over the last three decades is the development and implementation of a ‘just culture’ compliance philosophy, which encourages reporting errors, analyzing the collected data and learning from mistakes, without fear of retribution.

“Just culture empowers the community to identify and address areas of risk before they become incidents or accidents, and when we jump to conclusions before the investigators’ report, we erode that foundation.

“These data-sharing programs give us insight into events before tragedies happen. Our ability to drive down accidents and incidents relies on data collection, data sharing and a culture that encourages education, removed from an enforcement culture. We should expand the safety equation to include all players at the table – airlines, general aviation, military, ATC and other stakeholders – and strengthen these programs to improve our safety record.”

Bolen concluded, “The U.S. ATC system is one of the safest and most robust in the world, but the events of the past few months show we need to be better. The data show accident rates are low and headed lower, but the reality is we need to do more, and we need to do better, from ATC infrastructure and controller workforce funding to industry safety initiatives.”

FMI:  nbaa.org/