Airport Alert: Focus on Aviation Safety Intensifies in Washington
March 16, 2023
As evidenced by recent congressional hearings, the President's fiscal year 2024 budget request, and the March 15 FAA-convened Safety Summit, the focus on aviation safety in Washington is intensifying as the House and Senate march forward with efforts to draft FAA reauthorization legislation. Recent high-profile incidents including close calls on runways and other operational events have garnered close attention from lawmakers, regulators, safety officials, and industry leaders and are becoming a top priority for FAA reauthorization legislation.
The FAA Safety Summit included participation by DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen, former NTSB Chair Robert Sumwalt, and a line-up of industry officials including AAAE President and CEO Todd Hauptli, A4A President and CEO Nick Calio, ALPA President Jason Ambrosi, NATCA President Rich Santa, NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen, and RAA President and CEO Faye Malarkey Black. CSPAN has a helpful index of remarks by each participant.
For his part, AAAE President and CEO Hauptli pointed to the importance of training. 'One of the challenging things … is the ramp up of the workforce where we have lots of ‘new entrant' workers into the system,' Hauptli said. 'We have seen with a lot of the tenants, contractors, partners that we have at the airports, an awful lot of churn [in the workforce], and so training and getting everyone up to speed ends up being super important.' Hauptli also discussed how airport infrastructure development and Safety Management Systems (SMS) play an important role in helping mitigate risks and improve safety in the system. However, he noted that the infrastructure needs at airports are far greater than what the federal government has been able to support.
Breakout sessions on commercial operations, general aviation operations, the air traffic system, and airport and ground operations rounded out the Summit agenda. In a read-out of the airport and ground operations session, FAA noted that a primary concern was workforce experience and attrition. The agency further noted that airport operators, airlines, workers, and the FAA discussed sharing the best practices of training programs among airport tenants and other stakeholders operating at airports. Airlines that operate regularly at specific airports said the industry could explore airfield familiarization training for employees. Safety Management Systems and the recently published SMS final rule were also covered, although FAA pointed to the upcoming SMS collaborative workshop on March 30 at which implementation will be discussed further.
The Summit is the first in a series of efforts that DOT and FAA are undertaking to bolster system safety. In a recent Call to Action, Acting Administrator Nolan announced that he has tasked the Commercial Aviation Safety Team to 'take a fresh look' at Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing data. 'We need to mine the data to see whether there are other incidents that resemble ones we have seen in recent weeks. And we need to see if there are indicators of emerging trends so we can focus on resources to address now.' In addition, Nolen formed a safety review team that will focus on the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) to assess internal processes, systems, and operational integration. SMS for airports is also an upcoming focus with the March 30 industry day on the calendar.
Ongoing efforts in Washington to bolster safety and security and meet other challenges and opportunities as part of the upcoming FAA reauthorization and annual appropriations processes will be a focus of next week's AAAE/ACI-NA Washington Conference.
Scheduled speakers over the course of the March 21 and 22 event include: TSA Administrator David Pekoske, FAA Deputy Administrator Brad Mims, Senate Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Member Jerry Moran (R-KS), Senate DOT Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), House Transportation Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA), House Aviation Subcommittee Chair Garret Graves (R-LA), House Aviation Subcommittee Vice Chair Rudy Yakym (R-IN), House DHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chair David Joyce (R-OH), and House Transportation Committee members Pete Stauber (R-MN) and Dina Titus (D-NV).
