The current multiyear authorization of the FAA expires in September.
OUTLOOK
Streamlining FAA certification and approval processes, cultivating a future workforce, meeting environmental challenges and setting the stage for new aircraft entrants are foremost among business aviation legislative priorities for a new U.S. Congress.
Among the pressing issues for lawmakers who convened for the 118th Congress in January is FAA reauthorization. The current legislation to renew the agency’s funding and authorities passed in 2018 and expires in September. The bill represents the first major multiyear reauthorization of the FAA since 2012; the prospects of Congress approving a new multiyear bill before it expires were uncertain.
Reauthorization legislation sets an agency’s program funding levels over a fixed period; Congress passes appropriations bills each year allowing agencies to spend the money that has been authorized. The FAA was operating under a budget of $18.6 billion for fiscal year 2023—funding that was contained in the $1.7 trillion omnibus appropriations bill the 117th Congress approved and President Joe Biden signed into law on Dec. 29, 2022.
The $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that Biden signed in November 2021 will add $5 billion in advanced annual appropriations to the FAA’s fiscal 2023 budget, increasing it to $23.6 billion. The law commits $25 billion for aviation over five years: $15 billion for airport infrastructure projects, $5 billion to replace airport terminals and $5 billion to modernize air traffic facilities.
U.S. Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri now leads the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, succeeding the Oregon Democrat Peter DeFazio, who has retired from Congress. Credit: Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Republicans
When Congress does approve new reauthorization or other legislation, trade associations representing the general aviation (GA) industry want to see the FAA’s certification and oversight processes shortened and made more efficient. In November 2022, the agency issued a final rule extending the duration of aircraft registration intervals to seven years from three years as of Jan. 23, satisfying an amendment that was introduced in the 2018 bill. But as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, the FAA is managing through an attrition of leadership and experience in its ranks that creates drag on the industry it regulates.
The agency has said that 40% of its certification personnel have less than two years’ experience working at the FAA, notes Paul Feldman, General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) vice president of government affairs. “There is a huge backlog of not just rules but regulatory policy guidance materials, things that our members need to get product to market,” says Feldman. “There’s been some improvement getting those materials out, but they’re still struggling with that.”
FAA technology and equipment constraints were revealed in glaring fashion on Jan. 11 when the agency’s Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system malfunctioned, causing the first nationwide ground stop since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The FAA said a preliminary analysis had determined that a data file “was damaged by personnel who failed to follow procedures.”
The NOTAM system breakdown “highlights a huge vulnerability in our air transportation,” said U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-Missouri). “This incident also underscores the number of empty desks and vacant offices at the FAA. Centuries of combined experience has gone out the door in the past several years and far too few of these positions have been filled. The FAA does not run on autopilot—it needs skilled, dedicated and permanent leadership in positions across the agency, starting with the administrator’s office.”
Naming Permanent LeadershipBilly Nolen, formerly head of the FAA’s Aviation Safety organization (AVS-1), has led the agency as acting administrator since April 2022, after former Administrator Steve Dickson unexpectedly stepped down halfway through his five-year term. President Joe Biden nominated Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington to the post last July.
But the appointment of a permanent administrator, which requires Senate confirmation, foundered when Washington’s name surfaced in a corruption investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, relating to his tenure as a former CEO of LA Metro. Washington has denied any wrongdoing, and Biden renominated him to serve as FAA administrator on Jan. 3.
Billy Nolen, formerly head of the FAA’s Aviation Safety organization, has led the agency as acting administrator since April 2022. Credit: Bill Carey
In the wake of the NOTAM system outage, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Jan. 15 that he would “push to clear the bureaucratic logjam” preventing Washington’s confirmation, which he blamed on Republicans.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations and Innovation, derided the nomination of Washington during a September 2022 hearing at which he also called out “more than a dozen important roles” at FAA being served by acting officials.
“Even when the administration finally sends us a nominee for FAA administrator, they send someone with almost zero aviation experience—a requisite for the job—and who as recent news has highlighted, has more than a little bit of scandal surrounding him,” Cruz charged. “It is more than a little rich watching the transportation secretary beat up on the airlines when he seems to simultaneously ignore the absolute hollowing-out of the FAA and the lack of confirmed, permanent leadership.”
Industry representatives believe a permanent administrator reinforces stability and consistency at the agency. “There is a real concern about moving forward and getting a confirmed administrator,” Feldman says. “Part of that as well is they took the head of AVS-1 [Nolen] and made him the acting administrator. What that caused within the safety organization is a lot of people who are doing great jobs but are in acting positions right now because it created a ripple effect.”
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA), which represents FBOs, Part 135 carriers, fractional ownership companies and other aviation businesses, seeks improvements in the FAA’s check pilot functions for charter operators and Part 135 aircraft conformity approvals.
“Our members have experienced very inconsistent timelines and processes at the various [FAA] district offices,” says Karen Huggard, NATA vice president of government affairs. “We are hoping that FAA can be mandated or directed to work with industry to review these current processes and come up with recommendations to modernize processes and make sure that the FAA workforce is allocated correctly to avoid bottlenecks.”
A&P mechanic Crystal Castaneda, a graduate of San Diego Miramar College, worked last year on a Cirrus SR20. Workforce development is a pressing issue for associations representing general aviation. Credit: Bill Carey
“There’s a huge queue right now in the certification process,” Huggard adds. “We had a member report that it took two years to get a new 135 certificate approved, and this is someone who has been in the industry, has plenty of experience and had [everything] in order to start the process.”
Aviation Workforce GrantsGA associations are aligned in advocating for the extension and possible enlargement of the Aviation Workforce Development Grant Program for pilots and maintenance technicians, another legacy of the 2018 legislation.
“We look forward to building on programs from the 2018 FAA bill, including grant programs to support the education of future pilots, the recruitment of much-needed aviation technicians and the introduction of other much-needed professionals into our sector,” NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen stated in testimony to the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations and Innovation. The recommendations of two groups that Congress ordered formed in the last reauthorization bill—the Youth Access to American Jobs in Aviation Task Force and the Women in Aviation Advisory Board—“will provide excellent starting points along these lines,” Bolen said.
The FAA accepted the final applications from schools and other entities for Aviation Workforce Development Grants last June; the so-called “625” grants have proven “wildly popular,” says Huggard. NATA would also like to explore an expansion of pilot visa approvals to recruit pilots from other countries who have trained in the U.S., and extend federal loan eligibility to include flight schools, she adds.
Firefighting Foams And PFASNATA advocates exempting from potential litigation all federally obligated airports, hangar owners, aviation businesses and airport lease holders that have been required to maintain foam fire-suppression systems containing Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). Under federal law, military installations and FAA-regulated airports for decades have been required to use Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) containing PFAS chemicals to suppress aircraft fuel fires.
PFAS chemicals persist in the environment and can move through soils and contaminate drinking water sources. Studies of laboratory animals given large amounts of PFAS indicate that some chemicals may affect growth and development, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Human health effects from exposure to low levels of PFAS are uncertain, the CDC says.
Congress directed the FAA in the 2018 reauthorization bill to eliminate the mandate within three years. The FAA and the Defense Department (DoD) are testing PFAS-free firefighting foams, with the Navy expected to release a new specification in January 2023, according to the American Association of Airport Executives. In September 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would designate two PFAS chemicals as hazardous chemicals “and help to hold polluters accountable for cleaning up their contamination.”
Sailors participate in firefighting training in Norfolk, Virginia. The FAA and Defense Department are testing PFAS-free firefighting foams, with the Navy expected to release a new specification. Credit: U.S. Navy
“It’s dangerous for the environment and it’s also dangerous for our businesses because it opens them up to potential litigation,” says Huggard. “No. 1, we’re looking for FAA and DoD to fast-track a PFAS-free alternative to AFFF. No. 2, we’re looking for guidance for not just airports but also for aviation businesses located on airports, on how to remediate systems that have had PFAS chemicals in them.”
“There may also need to be some funding for that,” Huggard adds. “We have heard, depending on where you are in the country, that it can cost anywhere from $500,000 up to closer to $1 million dollars to remove a foam fire-suppression system that has fluorine foam in it from an aircraft hangar.”
Under its $15 billion apportionment for airport infrastructure, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law commits up to $2.39 billion per year for primary airports and up to $500 million for GA airports, based on the formula for Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants. Only certain projects are eligible for AIP funding, which goes to airports, not aviation businesses, Huggard points out.
NATA wants to revisit AIP funding mechanisms, including a federal cost-share entitlement for GA airports that has remained stagnant at $150,000 per year, and the treatment of all GA airports as one category under the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems.
GA associations would like to extend and expand incentives to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) contained in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that Congress approved last August, possibly through FAA reauthorization or other legislation. The act provides a blenders tax credit through January 2025 to incentivize SAF production, followed by a Clean Fuel Production Credit that expires in December 2027. Though “thrilled” with the incentive, NATA had asked for a 10-year credit and is seeking guidance from the Internal Revenue Service on how aviation businesses can take advantage of it, Huggard says.
The Inflation Reduction Act also provides $300 million to establish a competitive grant program for projects that demonstrate low-emission aviation technologies or produce, transport and store SAF, with the SAF component receiving more than 70% of funding. “There may be an interest in expanding that program through reauthorization,” GAMA’s Feldman says. Language enabling the secretary of Transportation to make discretionary grants to airports for infrastructure needed to distribute, blend or store SAF is contained in the 2023 omnibus appropriations bill that Congress approved in December.
The omnibus spending package also boosted funding for the Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions (EAGLE) program, a joint initiative the FAA and industry associations announced in February 2022 to phase out the use of leaded avgas in piston-engine aircraft by 2030. At the time of its unveiling, there was no mention of dedicated funding for EAGLE; the omnibus bill provides $10 million to test unleaded fuels, associations say. The FAA already had budgeted $12 million for fuels testing in general in 2023.
The EAGLE program could be reinforced when the Biden administration submits its next budget request for federal agencies in February. “We’ll know [in February] when the administration releases its proposed budget about what additional resources it may ask for,” Feldman says. “We’re of the mind right now that the EAGLE initiative needs to continue to develop as people are getting together and thinking about what could really make a difference—is there an infrastructure need, is there more testing needed? We’ll be in a position to take those [proposals] and talk to [Congress] about that.”
Advanced Air MobilityAssociations welcomed passage of the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Coordination and Leadership Act that Biden signed into law last October. The act will create a federal interagency working group on AAM led by the Transportation Department. But associations are holding the FAA to account for modifying the certification basis of AAM vehicles, seemingly in midstream of their development.
The agency caught the industry by surprise when it announced the regulatory policy shift in May 2022, soon after Nolen took over as acting administrator. Rather than evaluating new electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft under existing Part 23 regulations for airplanes, the FAA informed AAM developers that it will require them to certify their vehicles as powered-lift aircraft under Part 21.17(b) “special class” rules.
The shift requires that the FAA now issue a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) to recognize the new class of powered-lift aircraft within its pilot training and operating regulations—something it has committed to doing within two years. Language in the 2023 omnibus appropriations bill reiterated that commitment, requiring the agency to complete the SFAR by Dec. 31, 2024.
“They made some promises that they were going to deliver certain things by the end of 2024,” Feldman says. “In [FAA] reauthorization, we would be looking at things that would help facilitate that commitment actually being realized.”
Associations applauded inclusion in the 2023 omnibus appropriations bill of the Advanced Aviation Infrastructure Modernization (AAIM) Act, which was introduced in the previous Congress, authorizing the FAA to award $25 million in grants over two years to assist state, local and tribal governments in developing new AAM infrastructure. “The AAIM Act outlines a comprehensive set of considerations for infrastructure planning that will enable communities to maximize the societal benefits that AAM will offer,” says Helicopter Association International President James Viola. “States and local governments across the country realize that AAM has the potential to create 300,000 jobs by 2035, and they are eager to make the investments necessary to support new vertical flight technology.”
NBAA and members of its AAM Roundtable support an expansion of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Tax Credit—which allows a 30% tax credit for the cost of electric vehicle charging and hydrogen refueling stations—to cover a charging infrastructure for electric aviation.
“There is an enormous amount of investment being made to try to bring these products to the market,” Bolen told senators. “Understanding a clear pathway to a type certificate, production certificate, op specs, and being able to begin the operations—it’s very important for us to know what to expect as we prepare.”
A Standalone GA TitleThe incoming 118th Congress presents the GA industry with a new balance of powers among parties, with Republicans taking control of the House and its committees and Democrats still controlling the Senate.
U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, who had served as the ranking Republican member of the House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, assumed the chairman’s gavel previously held by Rep. Peter DeFazio, the long-serving Oregon Democrat who has retired from Congress. Rep. Garret Graves (R-Louisiana), who is not related to Sam Graves, was the presumptive chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Washington) became the ranking Democrat on the T&I Committee, winning out over the more senior Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington, D.C.’s delegate to Congress, to succeed DeFazio. Larsen previously chaired the Aviation Subcommittee.
Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) and Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) carried over to the 118th Congress as chairperson and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
Sam Graves, a prominent general aviation pilot and advocate, has spoken of adding a first stand-alone title, or subject heading, for general aviation in the FAA reauthorization bill, raising expectations that GA will have a higher profile relative to other segments of aviation. He has also said he would prioritize the federal permitting process and aviation workforce rules in the new legislation, Roll Call has reported.
U.S. Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana, who previously served as ranking member of the House Aviation Subcommittee, was expected to become its chairman. Credit: Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Republicans
“From our parochial interest, we have a vantage point that the top Republican on the T&I Committee is a general aviation pilot,” said Jim Coon, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) senior vice president of government affairs. “He knows what pilots are facing every day and he has indicated that he would like to have a GA title in the FAA reauthorization bill. I don’t think it’s ever been done before so we’re very encouraged by that.”
Both Graves’s were among 200 House Republicans and six Democrats who voted against the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and Sam Graves has promised to exercise aggressive oversight of its implementation. The two lawmakers were among 200 Republicans and one Democrat who voted “no” on the 2023 omnibus appropriations bill, with another Democrat voting “present.”
Notably, Sam Graves and Rep. Scott Franklin (R-Florida), a former U.S. Navy pilot, speaking during a panel discussion at the NBAA-BACE conference in October 2022, were skeptical of the FAA and industry’s EAGLE program goal of phasing out leaded avgas by 2030. “I don’t want to force it,” Graves said of the unleaded fuel initiative. “I worry about the legacy engines that are out there, too.”
AOPA’s Coon was among panelists who spoke during the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) Global conference in Washington in November. The annual event, focused on air traffic control policy and technology, provided another occasion for industry experts to call out the need for more stable and predictable, as well as additional, funding for the FAA. Aviation consultant Donna McLean, a former Transportation Department budget official who serves on the FAA Management Advisory Council, said the agency’s Facilities & Equipment account of roughly $3 billion has remained static for the past 15 years.
The FAA’s fiscal 2023 budget request for F&E includes $536.3 million to improve ATC facilities, of which $481.3 million will be used to chip away at a $5.1 billion backlog in sustainment needs.
“The remaining $55 million, in concert with funding for the replacement of facilities in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will support replacement of aging facilities in poor condition and experiencing operational issues,” the FAA says. “Most air traffic control facilities are in poor condition,” it reports, with enroute centers ranging in age from 56-62 years and some terminal facilities as old as 79 years.
Paul Rinaldi, past president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, delivered a blistering critique of the situation.
“As air traffic controllers walk into this room and see Raytheon’s MARS (Multi-platform Application Re-hosting Solution), Harris’ equipment and space-based ADS-B, you’re scratching your head, knowing you’re never going to see that in your career,” Rinaldi said. “The system is broken. The way we bring equipment online—it takes too long. When we bring it online, it’s already antiquated. [W]e’re not able to meet the challenges of the future.”
—Based in Washington, DC, Bill Carey covers avionics, air traffic management and aviation safety for Aviation Week. A former daily newspaper reporter, he has covered the commercial, business and military aviation segments as well as unmanned aircraft systems. Prior to joining Aviation Week in November 2017, he worked for Aviation International News and Avionics and Rotor & Wing magazines.
