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Speech – Uber Elevate Urban Air Mobility Summit 2019

Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell
Ronald Reagan Building, Washington DC

Thank you for that kind introduction Nikhil. It is awesome to be here, soaking up the energy, creativity and innovation of a brand new form of transportation.

I find your vision for the future to be refreshing…invigorating even. And thats not easy to say, coming from where I come from.

We at the FAA have historically been a bit reticent to welcome new entrants in the National Airspace System, but that is changing rapidly.

It has to change, because this kind of energy, innovation and vision is what will fuel the future of aerospace, and frankly, get the next generation of kids interested in taking part.

They see innovation as a Tesla roadster circling the sun blasting David Bowie…or rocket boosters coming back and landing softly on the earth;

or drones delivering popsicles, or slipping the surly bonds of traffic in a flying taxi.

Hey… lets face it…you guys make aerospace cool again.

The energy you bring is also helping us at the FAA become more responsive to a rapidly evolving aerospace industry.

Gone are the days when we could ignore an entrant that was radically different. Nowadays, we either evolve or we get left behind.

We learned that the hard way when UAS technologies and an entirely new industry sprung up practically overnight and we werent ready for it.

Were sort of caught up now, but we are also determined not to let it happen again.

Thats why were out in front with urban air mobility, or UAM, working with the industry and with NASA to make sure we get it right.

Time is short companies are already testing a variety of vehicles both in the U.S. and abroad, some with passengers.

These two movements UAS and UAM really bring into focus how fast everything is changing now compared to earlier in my aviation career.

It doesnt seem possible that when I started flying as a C-141 pilot in the Air Force only 30-some years ago

yes…I realize that for a lot of the people in this crowd, 30-something years is like forever

But, when I started flying we had a dedicated navigator who would look through a small porthole in the top of the flight deck with a sextant.

Yes, a sextant. Its essentially the same equipment that Magellan used hundreds of years ago to look at the stars and get a position fix on the high seas.

Well, we got rid of the navigator and his medieval sextant in the 1980s when we ushered in the age of inertial navigation.

And soon after, computers and advanced systems design made flight engineers obsolete, leaving a pilot and copilot.

The pace of change picked up in the late 90s with the introduction of GPS, which greatly simplified navigation.

When GPS was combined with sensor and actuator miniaturization, more computer power and lithium-chemistry batteries, the unmanned aircraft revolution kicked into high gear.

And then some very bright minds saw too many people sitting in traffic and thought we can take all this technology and create a better way to move around cities-UAM.

Look what you collectively as an industry conceived and are currently working on.

These are some of the most exciting innovations and developments in aerospace since the Wright Brothers, and its all taken place over the course of a few short years.

Everyone is riveted by this. But then I put on my FAA regulator hat and now Ive got something new to keep me awake at night.

You see the ideal way of transporting people across cities. I see car-sized vehicles with multiple rotors hanging over dense urban areas.

Thats the challenge taking an industry of incredibly bright minds and fast-moving technology and joining that with a regulatory agency that wants innovation, but only if it can be safely brought into an urban environment.

Its why we have come up with the crawl, walk, run analogy.

As I said earlier, the FAA can no longer just say no to a new entrant. We are evolving and quite rapidly for us into a more responsive regulator.

And just like with technology, the pace of our evolution is accelerating.

Back in the 80s when I got into the business, it was not unusual for the FAA to take five or six years to write a rule do you have the patience for that?

It was fine to take 10-12 years to develop and certify a new aircraft type do you have the patience for that??

As you know, today, with the tech eruption that is coming to the aviation world, product cycles can be measured in months.

We dont have the luxury of so much time any more, but we have to ensure that safety is paramount. That cannot change.

So how do we do that?

We become a data-driven oversight organization that prioritizes safety above all else.

To do safety right, you have to start with a safety culture. A good safety culture produces the data you need to figure out whats really happening.

If we know about errors, we can fix the processes that led to those errors.

A safety culture demands that we infuse that safety data into all of our processes from top to bottomin a continuous loop.

When you think about how far aviation has come in a little more than a century, its hard to argue the point.

Weve gone from barnstorming to a safety record that is the envy of all modes of transportation.

We evolve in our rulemaking by transitioning from prescriptive to performance-based rules.

A few years ago, industry helped us modernize Part 23 airworthiness standards for how we certify small aircraft.

Performance-based rules will ultimately form the backbone for how UAM vehicles will be built.

For new entrants, we started with our legacy regulatory framework but have evolved to an operations first approach where we use existing rules where we can, and derive new rules where we need. As usual, safety is the primary concern.

Integrating UAS into the National Airspace System is a good example. Our process is simple: Get the data to assess our risks and then create useful regulations, policies and guidance where needed.

As a point of reference for how fast this industry is moving, the FAA has been registering manned aircraft for 92 years, and after only four years of registering drones, weve got four times as many on the books.

The UAS Integration Pilot Program, through a variety of demonstrations, is helping us capture data. Its also paying dividends on the investment side.

Recently, the FAA granted the first air carrier certification to Wing Aviation, a commercial drone operator.

Wing is doing beyond-visual line-of-sight package deliveries in rural Blacksburg, Virginia, using existing rules.

What happens next is that we gradually implement new rules to expand when and how those operators can conduct their business safely and securely.

Weve just closed the public comment period for proposed new rules that would allow small UAS to operate over people and at night.

On the horizon are rules for beyond visual-line-of-sight operations the Holy Grail of UAS rules.

To manage the traffic, were working with NASA and industry on a highly automated UAS Traffic Management, or UTM, system.

Even though were in the crawling phase of our crawl, walk, run path to full integration, were seeing positive impacts small drones are already changing the landscape of our economy and society.

And here are a few examples:

In San Diego, the Chula Vista police department and CAPE, a private UAS teleoperations company, are using drones as first responders to provide aerial views for officers to document accident or crime scenes, and search for missing persons.

Since October, they have launched drone first responders on more than 500 calls in which 67 arrests were made.

And for half of those calls, the drone was first on the scene with an average on-scene response time of 96 seconds.

Equally important is the 75 times that having the drone there first alleviated the need to send officers at all.

In Kansas, the State Department of Transportation showed us how to use drones for power line inspections and precision agriculture.

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is using them to bait feral hog traps.

In North Carolina, they delivered blood samples to a lab for testing.

Drones delivered automated external defibrillators in Reno, Nevada, and inspected airport ramps and perimeter fencing in Memphis.

I have a strong hunch that the benefits we discover with Urban Air Mobility will be no less extraordinary.

NASA will again be our partner in this area with their UAM Grand Challenge planned for next year.

The Grand Challenge is about bringing the best and brightest minds from government and industry together to begin live testing of carefully designed scenarios to show how a variety of vehicles and airspace management systems will or wont work together.

And most importantly, to gather data.

Thats crawling. Were not ready to walk or run yet.

Walking and running will require that these highly automated or autonomous vehicles and systems meet the FAAs and the publics safety expectations for aviation when they buy a ticket…and as weve discussed, those expectations are very high.

We understand your desire to sprint out of the starting gate, but you have to understand our safety mandate.

Lets begin this integration by working with industry to start crawling, with low-risk operations in remote areas, gathering data and evaluating safety all the while.

When were ready, well systematically graduate to high-density urban areas with semi-autonomous operations the walking phase.

And, eventually, the system will mature to fully autonomous operations in busy urban airspace running.

And thats where given the level of safety that we have in the National Airspace System we cant fail.

Achieving this final state for a radically different new entrant will be an evolutionary process. It wont occur overnight, but it also wont take as long as it would have with yesterdays FAA.

Heres my challenge to you today: Shoot for the stars the commercial aviation safety record.

In the past 10 years, there have been more than 90 million commercial flights in our NAS, carrying more than 7 billion passengers, with one fatality.

Thats a safety record thats hard to get your mind around in any human endeavor, much less one where youre carrying humans in highly advanced aerospace vehicles at 500 mph, 7 miles above the earth.

You are working to become part of an elite club…commercial aviation. Work hard.

To be part of the safest mode of transportation on the planet, your operation must become synonymous with safety.

Thats the only way to fully exploit the energy, creativity and innovation of this exciting new industry.

Thank you all.

Speech – A Rebirth in Innovation

Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell
Washington, D.C.

Thank you, Mike. Thank you all for coming and focusing our attention on what promises to be one of our nations greatest achievements.

Commercial space has triggered, I believe, a rebirth in the interest not just of what lies on the edges of our atmosphere, but of creativity itself. This groupthe people here in this roomare the catalysts for what is very clearly the dawn of a new generation. A new generation for space transportation. A new generation for exploration. A new generation for innovation.

And without question, this industry has given birth to a new generation of commerce. Trade routes started on landmoved to the seathen to the sky. And now, theyre set firmly on the final frontier. Its been 50 years since Apollo 11 set down at Tranquility Base. A lot has happened. A lot continues to happen.

This, of course, comes as absolutely no surprise especially to all of you given whats taken place since the last time we spoke. Since October 2018, the numbers speak volumes: 21 launches and 1 reentry. Dozens of payloads launched.

Virgin Galactic launched in December and February with five commercial astronauts. That included Beth Moses, the first female commercial astronaut in history. Falcon Heavy had its first commercial launch in April. The FAA supported not one, not two, but three commercial launches in less than 72 hours earlier this month. One of them took place half a world awayin New Zealand.

But the most important thing that happened since we last spoke is nothing. No fatalities. No missions delayed because of licensing.

This Administration said that government needed to hold the door open for innovators. I think we have. Vice President Pence and Secretary Chao are enthusiastic about commercial space, but theyre more excited about being a catalyst for innovation. I can see this group is capitalizing on that. Were making the most of it as well. Weve got a new Associate Administrator for Commercial Space TransportationBrigadier General Wayne Monteith. We welcomed him aboard in Januaryright in the middle of the shutdown. Lets just say hes not afraid of uncertainty.

His arrival may have been inauspicious, but Wayne has come at the right time. The proposed streamlined launch and reentry rule was published in draft form in March and posted to the Federal Register in mid-April with the comment period set at 60 days.

Weve received dozens of comments so far. Almost all have asked that the comment period be extended. No exaggeration there: almost every single comment made that point. And let me just say…we heard you.

Administratively, the recent FAA Reauthorization called for us to stand up an Office of Spaceports within the Office of Commercial Space. Im pleased to report its up. The office will act as the central point of contact for all spaceport activities. Congress also mandated that we consult with industry and our government partners and thats well underway.

Additionally, the Spaceports Categorization and the Airspace Access ARCs have made considerable progress. We expect a final report from the Airspace Access ARC any day now. The Spaceports ARC sent us their recommendations and while a specific categorization scheme was not identified, they provided a lot of food for thought. I know that Wayne is actively working through these recommendations with his counterparts throughout the FAA.

As the Secretary announced last month, AST is reorganizing. The licensing workload is increasing substantially. We need to be positioned to meet the expectations of performance based rules. So, weve got to change the way we work to meet that challenge in the most efficient and effective manner.

For your part, COMSTAC has also been busy. I understand youve been out to the FAAs Command Center in Warrenton to learn more about how Collaborative Decision Making works and how it might be applied to the commercial space transportation industry. CDM proved to be a game-changer for commercial aviation. A system that was once plagued with delays and scheduling hijinks now has evolved into a shared responsibility for efficiency. The carriers recognize that theres money to be made for all when everyone is working together. What everyone learnedno surprise to meis that safety and efficiency go hand in hand. You cant have one without the other.

This kind of forward-leaning, proactive attention will help keep the commercial space industry safe now and for years to come.

I also understand that you saw our Space Data Integrator project. Here, too, we are looking at ways in which we can accelerate these kind of innovations. We dont just want to integrate commercial space operations into the NAS more quickly and efficiently: we need to. We dont plan to do this alone. Count on us engaging you in these deliberations.

That said, questions remain.

Last time I was here I suggested your industry look to CDM as a means for increasing safety industry wide. Youve taken the first step. But that begs other questions. Notably whats next? How might CDM work for commercial space? Is it even a fit at all? If not, what other ways can firms in this highly-competitive and innovative industry work together to protect public safety?

Additionally, I know you are all very interested in export control. While this is not technically in our lane, FAA is happy to host these discussions. You have my commitment that the FAA intends to continue to advocate for the U.S. commercial space transportation industry with our colleagues across the globe. As a matter of fact, I am heading to the Paris Air Show in a couple of weeks. Ill be participating in a panel on commercial space transportation with the specific intention to let them know were making great strides. I love that I have such a good story to tell. We look forward to working with all of you and our interagency partners to maintain US competitiveness in this critical industry.

Ill close in the same way I closed my last speech to COMSTAC, and for those whove heard me in other venues, the way I close most remarks.

Safety. It bears repeating. If safety is not the hinge on which your company turns, you will not survive. The safest businessesin the long runare the most profitable. When you cut corners, youre actually cutting profits. It might not catch up with you right away, but make no mistake, it will, and it will do so in spectacular fashion. Theres no way around this. Safety has to be the underpinning for everything you do. This industry can ill afford the barnstorming reputation that beset aviation a hundred years ago.

The flying public wont stand for it, because aviation safety is a given.

Today its a commercial airline flight to Albuquerque. Tomorrow it will be a commercial space flight in low earth orbit either way…passengers will expect the same level of safety. But, I think this industry is up to the task. Yours is not a countdown to liftoff, it is a countdown to safety.

And from where I stand, you are well on the way. Thanks.

Speech – Safety First

Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell
Baltimore, MD

Good morning. Theres a tendency, I think, to get caught up in the winds of technology. To the awe and the wonder and the incredible promise of what technology can do, of the potential it can bringto how we live, how we work, how we think about, literally, the way things are. We felt that way with the lap top, and we felt it again with the smart phone.

And now, looking at a symposium thats got more enthusiasm and excitement than theres room for, well, were having that kind of moment again.

If youre thinking, The age of unmanned aircraft has arrived. I think that, too. Given the year that was, its hard not to agree right down the line. Development has become production, and thats given way to application, and thats now well down the road to operations and integration.

The technology appears to have hit a sweet spot, the place where the right thing is happening the right way at the right time. The applications we hoped for are the operations we have. And those we have not are soon to be.

Now as we accelerate toward integrationseamless integrationlet us remember that to become a full-fledged part of the national airspace system is not the stuff of technology or development or application. It remains all about safety. Safety should remain fundamental to our collective mission.

To the question of whats next: The when, the if, the howtheyre all secondary to the foundation on which all of this stands. And make no mistake, that foundation is safety. If its not safe, its not going to fly. Thats true for absolutely everything thats in the national airspace system, and its absolutely true for drones. We demand that of the airlines. We demand that of commercial space. And we demand that from you.

I get it: This is an audience of innovators driven, fundamentally, by a Fail Fast mentality. After all…isnt that how progress is made? You fail, you learn, you improve.

We can failand we willbut we just cant fail with casualties or collateral damage. It has to be that way. To borrow an overused sports quote, safety isnt everything … its the only thing. But to really reach the full potential this industry has to offer, you must make safety your thing as well. Together, we will solve the most difficult technical and policy challenges. We have achieved an unparalleled record for safety, and the seamless integration of drones has tremendous potential to be part of that performance. But it can only happen if safety is our collective focus.

All things considered, the steady development and expansion of drones is proving to be transformational for aviation as a whole. The volume of UAS operations is fast outpacing manned aircraft. Drones outnumber traditional, registered manned aircraft by four to one. This is a fast-moving industry, and were doing our level best to keep up. Weve redoubled our outreach to drone operators and the public to educate current and prospective drone users about their safety responsibilities. We signed an agreement with AUVSI and AMA strengthening our partnership for the Know before You Fly educational campaign. That encourages UAS operators and the general public to understand the rules and responsibilities for flying an aircraft in the NAS. Lets face it, the national airspace system is the deep end of the pool. Its not for the faint-hearted or the careless. 900 million passengers were in it last year. Collectively, our education and outreach efforts are yielding results. The annual rate of increase of pilot reports about drones in places they shouldnt be is dropping by 50 percent each yearwhile the number of UAS operating in the airspace is increasing.

Raising awareness makes a difference. Im proud to announce National Drone Safety Awareness Week. I think its a creative way to connect the drone community with the general public.

The event will be held later this year. We want it to be an annual thinga weeklong series of drone-related events that will put the spotlight on drone safety. For communities, for stakeholdersin all 50 states. Its aimed at being a public-private partnership that will draw upon the collective resources of the drone community with guidance and support from the FAA and DOT.

Together, well develop an on-line playbook with suggestions to make this fly. We want everyone in on the conversation-manufacturers, operators, policy makers, public safety officials, state and local legislators, educators, the Test Sites, the Integration Pilot Program Lead Participants, the UAS Center of excellence, FAA regional resources and staff, model aircraft field operators, retailers, the research community. We have a lot of people to reach. Later this week, we will be discussing this topic with our Drone Advisory Committee. Were going to post additional details on how you can be a part of this conversation as quickly as possible.

Were thinking outside the box. We want to be more than the rule maker.

When it comes to policy making, we want to be the enabler for bright minds to come up with things that quite frankly we hadnt thought of. We recently moved forward with a number of enabling regulatory initiatives. On February 13, we published a proposed new rule on the operation of small UAS over people. Easily said, much harder to do. The trick is to mitigate safety risks without putting the cuffs on technological and operational advances.

We also put out an ANPRM asking for your thoughts on the best ways to identify drone safety and security issues. What risks do drones create in communities and around critical infrastructure and sensitive security sites, and whats the best way to reduce them? We want broad thinking here: the risks to aircraft, the risks to people on the ground, the risks to national security. 9/11 taught us a lot as an industry and as a nation. We want to use this advance notice to make sure we dont have to learn any of those lessons twice. Security and public safety questions are just about the most important questions we can be asking, and we need to be asking them at every turn.

Thats why we put out an interim final rule in February on external marking requirements for small UAS. Registration numbers are aviations license plate: everybodys got to have one. Youve got to display your unique identifier on an external surface. Thats how we do it in traditional aviation, and that registration number has served us well. As you know, we assign those identifiers upon completion of the registration process. And, yes, NCC-1701 is taken. Because of this rule, first responders can address the incident at handinstead of having to open the battery compartment.

This brings us to remote ID. Congress called for this in 2016. That laid the foundation for FAAs work with operators and our security partners. Everyone gets this. Maybe better put, everyone needs to get this. While we can think of registration markings as a drones physical license plate, we can view remote ID as the electronic counterpart. Weve got to establish the importance of remote identification, and weve got to reach a consensus on how to do it as quickly as feasible. Last year, Congress gave even more authority to the FAA to move ahead with work on universal registration and remote identification. I must emphasize here: this isnt a paperwork exercise. Weve got to work together. Safe operations and safe integration both demand that we get this right. If we dont, well have a patchwork system that you cant use and we cant manage. Without that, UAS integration is not going to progress much further.

Remote identification is the gateway to beyond visual line-of-sight operations and operations over people. Its the backbone for UAS Traffic Management. Remote ID is the enabler for package delivery, for operations in congested areas, for the continued safe operation of all aircraft in shared airspace. In the future, its what makes Urban Air Mobility possible. Its going to make automated cargo-carrying air transportation a reality. From a security perspective, universal remote identification will enable the FAA and our national security partners to identify friend from foe, thus enabling effective security response, investigation, education, and, when necessary, enforcement. This topic is so important, well be talking more about it with the Drone Advisory Committee later this week.

Security is an issue for all of us. As you all know, the unauthorized use of UAS poses a real problem around airports. At Gatwick, Heathrow, Dubaiand right here near Newarkweve seen how the presence of unauthorized UAS can disrupt air travel and cause safety concerns. Because there are existing laws on the use of counter UAS technologies, the FAA recently published guidance on our website for airport operators on the deployment of counter UAS solutions.

This checklist for airports to follow, helps further facilitate coordination with the FAA on the deployment of UAS detection systems. And we are also working with our federal security partners and airport stakeholders to develop a federal response plan for countering persistent UAS disruptions at major U.S. airportstaking lessons learned from our foreign partners, like the U.K. Theres no magic formula here: dont fly your drone without authorization near an airport. We arent shy about pursuing enforcement action. This coordination allows the FAA to identify and assess potential safety hazards as well as develop coordinated operational response protocols that will help prevent undesirable safety and efficiency impacts.

Just one bad incident, intentional or unintentional, can have a lasting negative impact on this emerging industry. We are focusing our educational efforts on the clueless and the careless and our enforcement activities on the criminal. This is a top priority, and as well it should be. Thats why FAA is committed to establishing remote identification requirements as quickly as possible.

In short, were committed to making this UAS integration a reality. Eighteen months ago, we launched the UAS Integration Pilot Program. Nine different communities across the country are pushing the envelope to identify ways to balance local and national interests. The IPP is a case study in communications, security, privacy and data collection.

This is about global leadership. Secretary Chao was right when she said that we must lead the way. The experience gained and the data collected from the IPP will help ensure the United States remains the global leader in safe UAS integration and fully realizes the economic and societal benefits of this technology.

Its already paying off. We recently granted the first air carrier certification to a commercial drone operator for package deliveries in rural Blacksburg, Virginia.

The Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability most people call LAANC is live at 500 airports and weve processed 100,000 LAANC authorizations. We worked with DOJ and FBI to quickly enable the safe use of Counter UAS systems to protect the Super Bowl. We held an urban air mobility roundtable. We held a series of webinars on how to fill out waiver applications to speed processing times. Were in the midst of a second webinar series on airspace requirements and restrictions. We partnered with Kitty Hawk to re-imagine and re-develop B4UFLY. New members were appointed to the Drone Advisory Committee. And we announced the exceptions for limited recreational operations of unmanned aircraft.

But thats not everything. In response to a Congressional requirement, later today, well release a Broad Agency Announcement on the FAAs contracting opportunities website. Were going to partner with qualified commercial entities that will match our $6 million dollar budget to perform UAS-integration related work at the Test Sites. Through these contracts, the FAA intends to bridge the gap between industry and the Test Sites. These partnerships will help us tackle some of the most pressing technical and operational challenges.

In short, were focused and were gaining ground. We want to integrate, not segregate. Were setting a global standard. And were showing that success quite clearly is not the exception to the rule. The future for drones is as unlimited as your creativity, drive, and technical brilliance. And I think the future for full integration is even more boundless. For our part, we seek to enable not to impede.

We believe safety, innovation, and progress can coexistin that order. Together, we can make this happen. Together, we are making history in real time. Im glad youre with us for the next few days. Thank you.

Speech – Rising to Meet the Challenge

Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell
Asheville, NC

Remarks as Delivered

Good morning, Paul, and thanks for that kind introduction. Its good to be here in Ashevillealthough I suppose its good to be anywhere thats not D.C.

I joke about that, but its actually true, and not just because D.C. is a fishbowl. Its good to get outside the beltway because its important to meet with the folks on the front lines. Ive always believed that safety is not the product of a PowerPoint or a report. Safety is what happens when the people in the fieldall of us togethermake it the basis for what we say and do, how we act.

Normally I wouldnt do this, but heres todays takeawaywhich will come as no surprise to many of you: safety is a shared responsibility. Each one of us has a role. Its not only the pilot or the mechanic or the inspectorits all of us. If were not pulling in the same direction, safety is at a standstill. And theres little disagreement amongst all of us: safety has got to be at the top of the list, the top priority in everything we do.

The recent groundings of the 737 and the Cirrus have brought safety to the forefront. As I speak to you today, the Boeing 737 Max remains grounded as the investigations continue.

But we are still left with an unspeakable tragedy, and with it, a push to do something. As is often the case with human suffering, theres a real pull to take immediate action. But as we know, thats not always the best way to address the actual cause of the problem. With respect to the 737 Max, the FAA waited until we had data that linked the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines accidents before we grounded the U.S. fleet. And when we had the data, we acted within a few hours.

The facts are these: It took five years to certify the 737 Max. Boeing applied for certification in January 2012. The certification was completed in March 2017. During those five years, FAA safety engineers and test pilots put in 110,000 hours of work, and they flew or supported 297 test flights.

That said, the 737 Max wont fly in the U.S. again until our safety analysis says its safe to do so.

Turning to the Cirrus 50, when we issued the emergency Airworthiness Directive, it was prompted by reports of a systemic problem with AOA sensors. Accidents didnt trigger the decision to ground the Cirrus 50, data did thats how the system is supposed to work. Cirrus has developed an FAA-approved corrective action. It also revised emergency procedures in the flight manual.

These arent the same AOA sensors used on the 737, and the situations are unrelated, but I note that this isnt about taking action, its about taking correct action at the appropriate time. We have one agenda and one agenda only: safety.

I joked before about getting out of D.C. to see whats happening in the field. At the FAA, I get to see quite a bit of the National Airspace System like general aviation operations.

General aviation aircraft comprise a majority of the U.S. civil aviation fleet. And as important as the commercial and military sectors are, the GA community also performs a variety of critical functions. Personal transportation, flight instruction, law enforcement, agricultural operations, humanitarian reliefthe list is extensive. Its an impressive resume, and the data tell us GA safety is on the upswing. Working with the GA community, we set the goal of reducing the fatal accident rate to no more than 1.0 fatal accident per 100,000 flight hours by FY 2018.

When we need somebody to step up, GA always does. The preliminary data show weyouexceeded that goal. The actual FY 2018 result may be closer 0.84.

I know the Insurance industry knows this fact quite well, so I know you recognize thats a huge success. To accomplish our safety improvement goals, the FAA and industry work collaboratively through the General Aviation Joint Steering Committeethe GAJSC.

The GAJSC will analyze data from accidents and incidents to identify risks and develop safety enhancements to mitigate those risks. The GAJSC was formed in the likeness of the CAST.As most of you would no doubt surmise, the GAJSC identified loss of control in-flight as the leading cause in fatal GA accidents.

The group has also analyzed and developed mitigations for non-fuel related engine failures. The GAJSC will soon finish its Controlled Flight into Terrain analysis. Theres actually good news here: CFIT accidents have declined. Youll hear a lot more from Pete about technology driven innovations in cockpit displays in a moment, but they have played a vital role helping to reduce CFIT. The team is evaluating additional steps we can take to further reduce this risk because we all know CFIT events have a low survivability rate.

The GAJSC partnership works.It really works. Since 2012, the GAJSCs three working groups have identified root causes associated with both loss of control and engine failure accidents. From this work, 40 safety enhancements have been adopted, aimed at addressing these causal factors. Another 10 CFIT related safety enhancements will begin to be decided on by the GAJSC this month.

Id like to give credit where credits due. The insurance community has had representatives on the GAJSC, the Safety Analysis Team of the GAJSC and its working groups. Im hoping that Jim Anderson, the senior VP at Starr Aviation, is here.Are you here, Jim? Thanks for serving as a representative.

GAs involvement goes well beyond the GAJSC. This audience is no stranger to the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing programASIAS. The ASIAS team consists of aviation industry and the FAA working together to collect and analyze data, actively searching for systemic risks.

The ASIAS team includes 88 business/corporate members. There are 12 flight training universities and institutions as well as additional light GA operators who participate in ASIAS. These groups have contributed more than 1 million flight hours of digital flight data to ASIAS.

Thats what partnership does. I truly believe that data sharing is the way forward to advance safety. You are all off to a very good start. We need to build on your success by expanding participation.

Youve been right there with the commercial and military sectors in helping us to put a safety culture in place. he safety culture has literally transformed what this audience would have labeled uninsurable and made it insurable. The safety culture has a ripple effectthrough aviation, through society. Safety spurs efficiencyand efficiency bolsters the bottom line.

It stands to reason: whats more efficient is more profitable, more affordable. And with affordability comes the potential for expansion: more aircraft, more routes, more destinations. That strengthens the economy. Safety is the domino that sets a lot of things in motion, and theyre all the right things. Thats why safety needs to be the first step.

As you know, the safety culture demands that safety be infused into all of our processes from top to bottomin a continuous loop. When you think about where aviation has gone in a little more than a century, its hard to argue the point. Weve gone from barnstorming to a safety record that is the envy of all modes of transportation. The automotive industry has asked us for insights.

Even the energy and health care industries have come to us to ask the question, How did you achieve this level of safety?Ill tell you this much: we didnt do it alone.I think the answer is that government doesnt have all the answers. Thats what the Part 23 rewrite was all about. We set the desired performance standardwe, the regulators, ensure the standard is met and kept. But we leave the business of how that standard is met (and, quite often, exceeded), up to the operators, manufacturers, and maintainers. We removed the prescriptive requirements that had been at the heart of Part 23and we replaced them with end-state criteria.

My colleague Dr. Mike Romanowski will talk about part 23 in more depth after me, but, for far too long, aviation moseyed along with very little change in basic design. But thanks to the innovators that are among us, that changed, and it changed for the better. The question for FAA quickly became, How can we keep up with this and maintain safety?

Performance based regulations are the answer.

And I think wed be naive not to consider that performance-based safety regulations are capable of leading to safety levels beyond what FAA requires.The onus is on the manufacturer to demonstrate compliance with FAA design standards. The manufacturer does the testing and collects the data.

This is the heart of performance-based regulation. The company decides how to comply with the performance standards. The government does not enter the picture with a specific fix in mind.And because of that, theres always the possibility that the designers performance solution raises the bar even higher than what Uncle Sam had in mind. By exceeding government requirements, the performance based regulations might very well be changing how we consider risk in the aviation industry itself.

Id like to come full circle now in a way that youre probably not expecting. None of this will matter much if we dont have workforce in place to make it happen. This isnt complex science: how do we attract new talent? How do we make sure we select the right people for the job? Those questions are by no means new, and theyre certainly not exclusive to our industry.

The numbers tell quite a story. Four decades after deregulation, were closing in on a billion passengers, domestic and international. IATA says that passengers will double by 2036. One forecast says we will need 117,000 more pilotsin North America alone. Its also said well need three-quarters of a million new technicians over the next 20 years.

At the same time, the number of private pilots holding active airmen certificates has decreased by about a third in the last decade. Looking through the same lens, commercial pilots decreased 21 percent. The military isnt the source it used to be, because it doesnt turn out as many pilots as it used to. College programs dont have enough instructorsbecause theyre taking jobs with the airlines. The scenario for mechanics and technicians is no better.

The suggestions about how to solve this run the gamut. There were recommendations to increase pay and improve working conditions to attract more people to the profession. Other experts suggest subsidizing and overseeing pilot training in ab initio programs.

For its part, industry is addressing funding options and improvements to make loans more accessible for pilot training. And a number of carriers are actively engaging their local communities so that the next generation is aware of and interested in aviation as a profession.

At the FAA, overcoming this challenge and bringing new, well trained, people into the aviation system is a high priority for me. We are working internally to double down on our STEM outreach efforts. Were increasing our partnerships with industry, academia and other government agencies.

We must ensure that we are able to fill critical aviation jobs in the future with people who have the right skills to keep our system operating at the highest levels of safety.

Wherever you stand on this, one thing is for sure. Unless and until each one of us takes an active and personal stand on getting kids interested in STEM, we will find the pipeline can and will run dry. Were in a battle with Silicon Valley for talent, and were losing. Smart kids arent sitting around waiting for us to intrigue them.

This is not the time for this industry to sit on its hands. This is a timethe timefor each of us to engage kids and schools at all levels. Start with primary grades. Thats where it started with me. Success or failure sits squarely on our own shoulders. We need to make the workforce of tomorrow a priority, and we need to do it today.

Thank you.

Speech – Aero Club of Washington Luncheon

Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell
Washington, DC

Thank you, Margaret.

Ive attended many Aero Club luncheons over the years. So, its a bit surreal to be looking at all of you from this side of the podium.

Ive had a lot of those moments this year. Being back at the agency its humbling. It hit me when I was at Udvar Hazy a few weeks ago. Aviation has such an amazing legacy.

I saw the Blackbird 1960s technology with analog dials and Mach 4 capability.

I saw the Concorde, and the Space Shuttle. And the iconic Boeing 707. Theyre just a few of aviations monuments.

A few of those birds were the brainchild of Kelly Johnson, and there are more than a handful of others who owed a debt of gratitude to the founder of Skunk Works.

He used to have a saying Be quick, be quiet, and be on time. Sounds like an airline mission statement, but Im pretty sure he was talking to his engineers.

And, I think we can all agree. We are right on time for something big.

We find ourselves on the cusp of the third great era of aviation: the age of autonomous and unmanned aircraft.

The jet age was just as consequential. But in many ways, it was simpler. The skies werent as crowded as they are today.

Now, were looking at a future where thousands of airliners still crisscross the globe. But theyre joined by huge commercial rockets and a million drones.

Im not sure we appreciate how much of a seismic change its going to be for all of us.

Government and industry have spent the last few decades honing the system. We carved out our roles, and figured out how to work together.

But for aviation to continueto thrive the system we have today must get better.

We dont want to becaught flat-footed this time around. We want to be ready for the next era of aviation.Especiallysince we almost missed the boatwith the first.

This is what guys like me arent supposed to talk about.The original sin government committed against this industry.

The Wrightsmay have been bicycle repairmen, but they were no strangers to the pen. They wrote letter after letter after letterall sent to an address not far from where were sitting right now.

They told Washington what they had. They explained that theyd conquered the impossible. And Uncle Sam shrugged.

Thank you for your interest, Mr. Wright, but we at the War Department have already invested in our own flight experimentwith Samuel Langley.

That was a solid planright up until the moment Mr. Langleys project crashed into the Potomac.

Conclusion? If the government couldnt solve this problem then it couldnt be solved. Until, of course, it was.

That was an early and important lesson that still applies today: Innovation fuels aviation, and innovation rarely comes from the federal government.

And theres an important corollary to that lesson: Bureaucrats shouldnt tell innovators what they cant do. See? Its right there…page 27, section 3, paragraph 1, subpart b in the footnote.

Weve had too many of those exchanges in the past. But, thats changing. And thats thanks, in part, to a lot of whats in a 400 page piece of legislation.

Weve got a new five-year authorization the longest the FAA has had in more than 35 years. It doesnt have everything we asked for. No bill ever does. But its full of a lot of good things.

We have a mandate to accelerate our momentum on unmanned aircraft. It clears the way to remote identification standards. It supports us moving forward on long-awaited rules for drone operations over people and at night.

And we will be coordinating closely with our federal law enforcement partners in the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice who have new authority to counter the malicious use of UAS.

Congress didnt stop there. The new law authorizes an increase in commercial space funding to the tune of 236 percent over the next five years. Well also be creating an Office of Spaceports.

It even sets us up for the return of supersonic aircraft. Thats something most of us thought wed never see again. And those aircraft advancements will be aided by a reformed certification system that helps manufacturers press ideas into metal faster.

Theres plenty more where that comes from. In fact, theres so much more…were using a 30-page spreadsheet to track hundreds of deliverables were responsible for over the next five years.

But we still want more legislatively. We need more. We need funding reform.

This isnt about more money. We collect plenty to keep the system running. What we need is stability and predictability. It would also be nice to have the flexibility to spend that money how and where and when we need to.

That may be asking a lot, but something has to give. Were in our 47th continuing resolution in the last 11 years.

The FAA hasnt started a fiscal year with a full appropriation since 1997. Think about that for a second. We support two-thirds of the worlds airspace nearly a billion passengers and 5 percent of the GDP.

Thats your bottom line. Thats Americas bottom line. And its just no way to run the largest, most complex air navigation system in the world.

President Trump gets that. Hes a businessman. And hes bringing those same principles to this Administration. He told us to get rid of rules that have outlived their usefulness.

You dont have to tell us twice. Under Secretary Chaos leadership, DOT leads the federal government in cutting outdated, burdensome and unnecessary regulations. And the FAA has been the largest contributor to the Departments success in this area.

Were answering the Presidents call to cut two regulations for every new one. At the same time, were busy creating a new and improved regulatory framework for drones and commercial space transportation.

This year alone, weve taken deregulatory actions that should save $65 million annually.

But this isnt just about saving dollars. Its about saving time. About making it easier for people to operate in our system.

These are our commercial space launch and reentry licensing regs today.

Soon, theyll look like this.

Weve got momentum on this, and believe me when I tell you, were just getting started.

These streamlining efforts go well beyond rulemaking. Were using technology to clear out many of the pain points in our system. The delays the inefficiencies the bottlenecks.

The Northeast Corridor brings the system to its knees. Its a petri dish for delays due to weather, construction and volume. About a third of all delays in the system originate in the Northeast Corridor.

So I want you to know we know how important this artery is to our nation and what happens when its clogged. Thats why were adding Performance Based Navigation procedures, and prioritizing initial trajectory-based operations that will reduce congestion in the region.

But were not just about this side of the country. Were rolling out technologies and procedures all across the NAS with more on the way.

Were standing up Data Comm En Route Services in Memphis, Indianapolis and Kansas City that should be operational before the end of this year.

The ADS-B mandate is about fourteen months from taking effect. We dont want you to find yourself on the wrong side of that, stuck in the hangar on New Years. We re-launched the incentive program, and more of you are getting equipped every day.

Were also gearing up for the Terminal Flight Data Manager, which will improve controllers situational awareness. Well begin rolling out those capabilities in 2020.

Of course, individual programs have deadlines, but overall system improvement doesnt. We dont have a hard stop on safety or efficiency.

Thats what these things are doing in the cockpit and on the ground and in the tower. The systems not slowing down, so we have to do our best to keep up.

The fact is, if the FAA is going to achieve its mission, safety and innovation cant be at odds. I truly believe that innovation is the future of safety.

Government shouldnt be a stop signal for great ideas. It should be a springboard. Moving map displays. Remote towers. Artificial intelligence. Theyre game-changers. And we need to support them.

When Secretary Chao launched the UAS Integration Pilot Program, she was all in. She was talking about drones, but that attitude applies to everything were doing.

The President, the Vice President, and the Secretary have given us the green light to think outside the box. The stars dont always line up like that. And we need to take advantage. I think we already are but we can do more.

I want to create an innovation incubator inside the FAA. Itll separate out early innovation from real-time operations, so that good ideas dont die on the vine.

Well give people the freedom to tackle tough questions, and the time to figure out how a new technology can be incorporated into the NAS.

If it works, were off to the races. If not, we havent wasted much time.

Well measure success by our ability to disrupt the status quo and break down obstacles so that new ideas can be transformed into concrete actions without disturbing current operations.

And let me just say this isnt just about being a better service provider and regulator. Its about maintaining our position as a global leader.

I think we take this for granted sometimes. In the international community, we used to say, Speak softly and carry a big market share.

We cant do that anymore, because times have changed. The rest of the world is catching up.

Complacency will kill us. Especially if you consider the sheer volume of innovative ideas coming at our agency on an almost daily basis.

Next year, go to InterDrone or the Consumer Electronics Show. Ill be there. I dont just want to see what theyre doingI need to see it. Because theyre figuring out solutions to challenges we havent even thought of yet.

We need to support these innovatorslet them know theyve got a seat at our table. We can’t afford to alienate them.

Because, the fact is were staring down a workforce crisis. I know theres been some debate about this. But, while we discuss the why, the what is moving right along. If you look at the facts look at the numbers they paint a clear picture.

The number of pilots holding active airmen certificates has decreased by nearly 30% since the 80s. Maintenance isnt exempt, either. Our technical workforce is aging at the same time our pipeline is running dry.

Were competing with Silicon Valley for talent. And were losing. If we dont turn this around, and I mean soon, were going to have empty flight decks. Not unmanned empty.

Thats why Secretary Chao, Air Force Secretary Wilson and I held an aviation workforce summit a few months ago.

We brought together stakeholders from government, industry, and academia to start talking about the pipelines, pathways, and partnerships we need to get young people excited about careers in aviation again.

Because thats gotta be part of the solution. We all have to roll up our sleeves if this is going to work. Each of us must take a personal and direct role in spreading the aviation bug. I caught it in elementary school.

Its a little ironic that aviation has a mojo crisis right now. I mean what kid wouldnt want to pilot a drone, or a space craft or your own jet pack?

This workforce dilemma were going to solve it. Like we do everything else with collaboration, calls to action, or just plain elbow grease.

But mark my words: there is a solution, and we will find it. Because thats what we do. Look at our monuments.

When Im at Udvar Hazy…I love going to Udvar-Hazy…I see our past. But I also think about our future.

Where are the next Wright Brothers? Would we even recognize them if they knocked on our door? Or worse…if they knocked, would we know to answer? The War Department didnt.

Wheres our next Kelly Johnson? We cant presume hes in this room having lunch with us. He, or she, might be working a booth at ComicCon. Or tooling away in a garage with the next Steve Wozniak.

Weve got to stop and think and ask the question, what are the monuments this next generation is going to build?

I dont know. But Im excited to find out.

Be quick: Respond to innovation.

Be quiet: Keep your head down and do the work, unhindered by unnecessary rules.

Be on time: Recognize this moment were in and what it requires of us.

This is a new and exciting erafor new entrants, for innovation, for aviation. Lets make it memorable.

Thank you.