by Mark R. Baker
President & CEO Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association
The FAA’s funding is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2015, and crafting a new long-term funding package, along with the guidance and direction on how the money can be used, will be an important job for Congress in the coming year.
As an industry and activity that’s highly regulated by the FAA, general aviation is an important stakeholder in that reauthorization process and we need to be sure our perspective is heard.
In November, I had the chance to testify before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee—a group that will play a major role in deciding FAA funding—on the subject of “FAA Reauthorization: Issues in Modernizing and Operating the Nation’s Airspace.”
I told the Committee that when the FAA really listens to the aviation community and works with stakeholders collaboratively from the beginning, we can accomplish great things. The Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative is an example of how the government and industry are working together effectively to find a replacement for leaded avgas.
On the other hand, it’s hard to overlook the fact that the FAA is a giant bureaucracy that can be painfully slow, risk averse, and wasteful. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta has been working to turn around the cumbersome organization and find ways to keep pace with rapidly changing technology, but more needs to be done.
Right now, overly complex and costly certification and regulatory processes are making it difficult or impossible for many owners of older aircraft to install modern safety equipment like electronic flight displays, digital autopilots, and advanced engine monitoring technology. That’s because the FAA must approve the design, production, and installation process for each individual make and model of aircraft. The result is limited availability and high cost.
And that’s just one example of how the FAA, despite the best intentions, can get in its own way.
As the debate over the future of the FAA heats up in 2015, we’ll make sure Congress knows what’s important to the general aviation community. We want the FAA to have stable long-term funding so it can achieve big goals like modernizing our air traffic system, investing in airports and infrastructure, and continuing to provide the safest air transportation system in the world. And we believe strongly that the current funding system of fuel taxes—and not user fees—is the most efficient and effective way to come up with the money.
But we also want the FAA to take a hard look at how it operates and find ways to better serve its constituents, move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to regulation, support incremental safety improvements, cut waste, and work with the general aviation industry to create an environment where we can get and keep more people flying. And we’re ready to work closely with FAA, Congress, and the rest of the GA industry to make it happen.
