Good morning, and thank you, George [Nield]. For those of you who were with us last year, you might remember that this conference came at the apex of Snowmageddon, about 22 inches as I recall. I was the opening speaker but I ended up delivering last year’s speech over the phone while sitting at my kitchen table. George said I never looked better.

Commercial space is looking up. At the State of the Union, the President told us to dream big and build big. And here we are. I see a direct connection to what he said last April and what brings us here today, and I quote: “Our goal is the capacity for people to work and learn, and operate and live safely beyond the Earth for extended periods of time, ultimately in ways that are more sustainable and even indefinite. And in fulfilling this task, we will not only extend humanity’s reach in space – we will strengthen America’s leadership here on Earth.”

The successes of 2010 have that exhortation well in hand. Last year, there were four licensed launches, bringing the overall total to 200-plus, without any fatalities, serious injuries or property damage to the public. We issued a launch site operator license to Cecil Field in Jacksonville giving America its eighth spaceport. And we issued spaceport grants for the first time to the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, Jacksonville Aviation Authority and the East Kern Airport District. It seems like just yesterday, well, April 12, 2007, to be exact, that someone named Bigelow was telling the Washington Post that he had plans to send a series of inflatable space stations into orbit over the next decade.

If you’ve come to this conference looking for an endorsement from the Federal Aviation Administration, you’ve got the right address. I am 100 percent behind our commercial space endeavor. I think that as aviation moves toward NextGen, commercial space is part of that future vision. There is a market for the upper crust of the atmosphere, and there is a lot of evidence that suggests business can thrive there.

With that said, recognize that commercial aviation has set the bar very, very high. The expectation of the flying public is that the safety record must remain unfailingly consistent and extraordinarily strong. If you follow the numbers at all, you know that commercial aviation safety requires 99 point and a string of nines of error free performance. That’s where commercial space should want to live and stay.

If your project doesn’t have the word safety at the top of its list, I can tell you from my experience in the commercial aviation sector, you won’t be successful and you’re not going to be in business very long. But I am confident that safety has a permanent seat at commercial space’s table.
My hope for all of us is that we are able to make the difficult become routine. The commercial space launches that we have now are intricate interplays that require a lot of people with intricate moves expected from the commercial aviation world, from air traffic, from the military. In short, everything stops to accommodate a commercial space launch. As this industry emerges from these early steps, you should be aiming for something as common as the New York shuttles that leave every 30 minutes from 6:30 in the morning to 9:30 at night all day long, everyday.
Now that’s a ways down the road, but it’s doable. The brainpower and the perseverance that have become the foundation for this industry are proof that where there’s an idea, there’s someone who can make it happen.

Our approach at the FAA is to create regulations that promote safety without becoming a hurdle between you and what this industry can and will become. The retirement of the Shuttle will require that commercial space takeover the responsibility for a long queue of customers with fairly large packages to deliver. The FAA is solidifying its relationships with the Air Force and with NASA to ensure this happens seamlessly. Charlie Bolden and I are absolutely in lock step when it comes to how we see the potential for commercial space.

The standard we have set for George Nield and the Office of Commercial Space – for all of the FAA lines of business you deal with – is that we be fair, that we be reasonable, and that we listen. And that’s important. When it comes to licensing, regulation, inspection and the availability of air space, we want to be enablers, the people who help you make it happen, and help you make it happen safely.

Our aviation system has a track record for safety that’s become an international model. We want our commercial space activities to develop an identical reputation. In aviation, the airlines and the pilots and the mechanics and the inspectors and the technicians and the controllers all have seen the benefits of working together, pushing in tandem for success. We intend to use precisely the same approach with commercial space. All I’m asking for you to remember is that for us, the predicate for success must be safety. I have all the confidence in the world, even 62 miles up, that you agree. Thank you.

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Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the need to pass comprehensive reauthorization legislation for the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) programs. Before I begin my statement, I would like to acknowledge the many changes that have occurred to this Committee and Subcommittee since I last appeared before you. The Committee has many new Members whom I look forward to getting to know. Since I am a frequent guest of this Committee, I am sure I will get to know those of you who are new to the process and I look forward to working with all of you.

FAA’s mission is to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world. We make sure the planes are safe. We make sure runways are safe. We make sure that aircraft in the National Airspace System (NAS) operate safely and efficiently. While this sounds simple, I can assure you it is not. Approximately 50,000 flights are operated on any given day. We move approximately 750 million people through the system on an annual basis. Yet, even as the number of passengers and flights increase, the accident rate continues to decrease. In calendar year 2010, there were zero commercial passenger fatalities in the United States. In the past four years, we have had only one fatal passenger accident. During that time, 42 million passenger flights were operated safely. Every fatality is a failure and we continue to strive to make those failures even rarer than they are today, but we are proud of the strides we’ve made.

As the sheer volume of the traffic indicates, aviation is critical to the way we live our lives and run our businesses. The aviation industry alone directly employs 1.1 million people and supports more than 11 million jobs in related industries and through spending by direct aviation employees. Altogether, this represents 6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Consequently, long term authorization of FAA’s programs is extremely important.
For some of you who may not know the long history of the reauthorization effort, there have been 17 extensions of FAA’s programs since the last comprehensive legislation expired in 2007. There are many reasons why we are at this point, but the bottom line is that the failure to enact long term, comprehensive aviation legislation has had troubling impacts. While there has not been a gap in the authorization of FAA’s programs, there is always uncertainty about the passage of the next extension. Many of the extensions have been for relatively short periods of time, which has made managing our programs, particularly our airport grant program, extremely difficult. In addition, there are many legislative provisions that direct the agency’s action in certain areas. Some of these provisions would require the FAA to redirect resources or modify strategic decisions. Passage of long term legislation would provide needed clarity. Uncertainty about how Congress may act in certain areas makes moving forward in those areas more complicated. If we make a strategic decision that the legislation requires us to change, it could be costly and inefficient. We can no longer afford to operate in a continued state of uncertainty.

The program that has sustained the most profound effects of the short term extensions is the Airport Improvement Program (AIP). Airports and their contractors have been forced to divide construction projects into smaller components so that they can be funded by the money made available by a particular extension. Airport sponsors cannot risk embarking on a project for which the funds are not available in their entirety because of lack of a long term authorization. Some airports have chosen to delay important safety and capacity projects until a more certain funding source is in place. This has caused a major increase in the amount of entitlement funding being carried over each year. For several years before the expiration of our authorization, the average amount of funding carried over each year was approximately $400 million. Due to the serial extensions, the average amount carried over each year has consistently stayed in the $500-$600 million range, an indicator that the available funding is not being used in the best or most efficient way.

Administrative and project costs have increased due to the need for multiple grants to be issued for a single project. The number of AIP grants issued in 2008 through 2010 increased 35% over the three year period prior to the expiration of the last reauthorization in 2007. Such cost increases and project inefficiencies cannot be justified.

During my tenure as Administrator, I have not had the luxury of guiding the agency under a comprehensive, long term authorization. But I want to assure the Subcommittee that the agency has not been idle while awaiting passage of comprehensive authorization. This is a dynamic time in an extremely dynamic industry. NextGen will transform the way we fly and do business. It will move us from radar to satellite, from radio to data communications, from traditional airways to streamlined routes. Knowing what the future holds, it is imperative that we transform our national aviation system and the FAA over the next 15 years. Our goal is to work closely with industry to implement new technologies and procedures that are sustainable and to work with our international partners to establish uniform standards around the globe.

Last year, we asked an outside group to help us evaluate how we could effect change to better support the upcoming challenges. Representatives spent five months talking with employees and other stakeholders and surveying opinions. The review team talked with more than 100 executives, former FAA employees, and representatives from the Department of Transportation. Twenty-five hundred managers were surveyed, across the agency. The results showed that FAA’s culture is highly operational, tactical and safety-oriented. FAA employees are committed to and proud of our safety mission. However, the findings also indicated that, as an organization, we need to take a hard look at how we operate. We need to make sure we are structured to effectively implement the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or “NextGen,” deliver shared services and reach out and engage our stakeholders.

Based on the information obtained and evaluated, we are implementing recommendations for change in a variety of areas that will help us reach our long term goals and increase our effectiveness. One such recommendation is to avoid duplication of effort and streamline similar functions as much as possible. In addition, we need to improve our capabilities in areas such as hiring, promoting and retaining employees, so that we have the world class workforce necessary to support NextGen. This will require a more holistic approach with better collaboration across different parts of the organization. The agency is creating shared goals and metrics that all employees can work toward. Achieving these improvements will require strong leadership across the agency which can only happen if we improve the way we select and develop executives. Changes and streamlining in the agency will better position us to improve our flexibility and effectiveness, make the most of our resources, and meet the challenges presented by this dynamic period in aviation.

As it happens, this dynamic period in aviation coincides with a time of great economic challenges. That is why I feel very passionately that the FAA must demonstrate the strong business case for our major initiatives, and there is no greater example than NextGen. We need to demonstrate the operational and fiscal benefits to encourage widespread participation.

For example, we are moving forward with nationwide deployment of the satellite based surveillance system, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). In the Gulf of Mexico, we’ve installed ADS-B radio stations on oil platforms as part of an agreement with Helicopter Association International, oil and natural gas companies and helicopter operators. ADS-B equipped aircraft will receive air traffic services direct to the platform, giving the users far greater flexibility than the restrictive grid system that was in place. We’ve opened up about a quarter of a million square miles of new, positively controlled airspace. In addition to the Gulf, ADS-B is up and running in Louisville, Philadelphia, and Alaska, all with very positive results. Just last week, we announced a partnership with JetBlue to demonstrate the benefits of ADS-B on flights between the Northeast and Florida.

NextGen is also helping us to improve efficiency and provide benefits through the deployment of Performance-based Navigation (PBN) procedures that save fuel and emissions of greenhouse gasses and other air pollutants. We are working in collaboration with Alaska Air Group on a program called “Greener Skies Over Seattle” to deliver reduced emissions and fuel burn through optimized descents and Required Navigation Performance approaches. Technical working groups are determining what FAA can do to make flights as environmentally friendly as possible. In the longer term, the FAA will explore the further leveraging of RNP to achieve even greater reductions in emissions and increases in efficiencies.

To date, we’ve published more than 900 Performance-based Navigation procedures, also known as Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) for precision arrival and departure routes and procedures. Again, making the business case, PBN pays for itself, having already saved millions of dollars in fuel at major U.S. airports. Southwest Airlines is a prime example. It is estimated that for every single minute of time saved on each flight, their annual savings quickly add up to 156,000 metric tons in emissions per year, which translates into a savings of $25 million in fuel costs. When commercial aircraft burn thousands of pounds of fuel per hour, seconds do count.

Surface management is another area where NextGen is making a difference. Airports need to manage, not only aircraft, but the many other types of vehicles that service the aircraft and airport, which can be challenging. We’ve deployed airport surface detection radar, ASDE-X, at 27 airports, with another eight scheduled to receive it by 2013. Initiatives at JFK and Memphis demonstrate that the technologies and procedures put in place reduced taxi times by about two to four minutes. Again, seconds count. But most importantly, ASDE-X provides another layer of safety by improving situational awareness for both operators and controllers.

Our NextGen goals include environmental and energy sustainability. As we implement NextGen operational capabilities, we will apply environmental management systems to improve environmental performance and streamline environmental reviews. We are also working to accelerate improvements in engine and airframe technologies to reduce noise, air pollution, and fuel burn through efforts such as FAA’s Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions, and Noise (CLEEN) technology partnership with industry. Our Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) achieved a landmark in 2009 with the approval of a fuel specification that allows alternative fuels to be deployed as jet fuels. We seek to strengthen efforts to achieve affordable commercial scale production of sustainable alternative aviation fuels.

One final point of pride that I would like to share with you is the results of our Navigation (NAV) Procedures Project or NAV Lean. NAV Lean is a good example of how FAA listens to our stakeholders and works to address their concerns. Airlines that invested in equipping their aircraft with technology to take advantage of PBN are dependent upon the FAA to approve, certify, and publish RNAV and RNP arrival and departure procedures. The existing procedure development process accomplishes the desired production goals with the highest level of safety. However, the question was, could we do our work more efficiently? To answer this, we set up NAV Lean team to evaluate our current processes for developing all Instrument Flight Procedures, both performance-based and conventional, to determine where streamlining could occur. Our goal was to maximize customer value, while minimizing waste. The group worked to identify areas containing unnecessary redundancies, inefficiencies or delays, know as the “Lean Process.” Obviously, the overarching goal is to ensure the safety and integrity of the process, procedures and training, but to do it in a smarter way.

The group worked for almost nine months. I am pleased to announce today that their report was recently issued. It contains 21 recommendations for streamlining the procedure development process which will result in up to a 40% reduction of the time it takes to develop and approve a requested procedure. A team is now working on our plan to implement the recommendations. We expect to complete our implementation plan for these recommendations by June 1. Not only will this mean users of the system will see the benefits of their navigation technology investments sooner, but the FAA will improve the efficiency and utilization of the airspace and demonstrate our commitment to NextGen.

In conclusion, although FAA has continued to work to improve safety and efficiency in the absence of a long-term authorization, I strongly urge the Committee to act to pass this much needed legislation. We need the certainty and clarity such legislation would provide. We need to understand the direction in which Congress wants us to move in order to act in an efficient and effective manner. We need to be able to rely on stable funding for the agency. And we need for programmatic efficiencies to be restored.

I think we all understand that the challenges of implementing NextGen and improving the safety and efficiency of aviation come at a time when tough investment choices need to be made. I plan to continue to make the case that investment in aviation is important, not only to airlines, passengers and pilots, but to the strength of the overall economy and businesses around the country. In an industry like aviation, standing still or moving backward is not an option. This Committee, in particular, demands a lot of the FAA, and rightly so. But meeting these demands requires investment. I think our case is compelling and the return on investment is not one we can or should ignore.

I look forward to continuing to work with those of you I know and getting to know those of you I don’t. We all have our work cut out for us.

This concludes my statement. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.

The post Statement of J. Randolph Babbitt, Administrator Before the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Aviation, on Reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration Programs first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

Good evening, and thank you, Lisa [Piccione]. I’ve got to tell you … I had to resist the go-to move to, in the interest of safety, to spend some time talking about why doing “Indiana Jones” style stunts in an airplane would be a really, reallybad idea.

But that’s not what tonight is all about. We’re honoring a pilot, a man who in spite of being a very well known celebrity has used his passion to serve as a springboard for aviation. Even in this room, Harrison Ford’s passion for aviation stands out. When he and I met and talked at a fundraiser at Oshkosh a few years ago, I learned pretty quickly that this is somebody who just loves aviation. Here’s a guy who is on Hollywood’s speed dial, and he wants to talk about hisidea of fun… which is actually a two-parter: flying, or talking about flying.

In my book, he’s very clearly a student of the craft. Our system is as good as it isbecauseof him and people like him. There’s no special setting for pedigree on the yoke. You have to know your aircraft, and youhave to make sure that you’re both current and qualified when it comes to flying it.

The good news here is that is exactly what we find in Harrison Ford. I’ve been flying now for almost five decades myself, and after a while you learn that you really can separate the ones that have it from the ones that don’t… Well, trust me, he’s got it.

There’s a hangar in Santa Monica that shows he’s got it bad for things that fly. Fixed wing and rotorcraft rated. Walk in that hangar, you’ll find a Bell, a Beaver, a Husky, a Bonanza and a Caravan. He’s a one-man air show. That’s the inventory of someone who is a student of aviation.

But I must tell you, that list of aircraft takes a back seat to what he has given toour industry. As chairman of the Young Eagles, he has been instrumental in giving our youth their first taste of aviation … their first flight. In his case, the word “chairman” was not a ceremonial title. You might expect that as chairman, he might have flow a fewyoungsters by himself. But you know what? He’s actually flown 306 … to be exact. That’s right kids; Han Solo is the pilot in command. Except you can bet those kids didn’t want to be Han Solo. They wanted to be Harrison Ford, the pilot.

We’re always looking to ways to boost aviation… to inspire the next generation into aviation, especially to the youth of America. Here’s a guy who does it. We’re all about getting more science, more math, more engineering into our school curriculums. With aviation, you can do all three in with just a barrel roll or two. Wall Street can have Michael Douglas. We got Harrison Ford. Score one for aviation.

Harrison has also been an outspoken advocate for aviation safety. He’s spoken up about runway incursions and airborne turbulence. His ticket shows me enough ratings to know that he’s not casual about aviation … he’spassionate. And when I talk about professionalism, I’m talking about the man we’re honoring here tonight.

He has given much to aviation, but his legacy will be as a pilot… as an advocate… as a man whose passion is to enjoy the cockpit view of the horizon … and to give others a chance to do the same. And thatis a very fine legacy and certainly worthy of the honor he’s receiving tonight. Thank you.

The post Harrison Ford first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

Thank you, David [Whitestone], and thank you to the Washington Airports Task Force for giving me the opportunity to participate in this celebration.

Make no mistake about this: Gary Kelly and Southwest Airlines are serious. Over the last year and a half, I’ve been making a steady drumbeat for NextGen. Southwest Airlines was in gear for NextGen long before I got here. I can say without hesitation that Southwest Airlines is a leader when it comes to NextGen.

You can see it in their business operation. They aren’t content with the status quo. They recognize that NextGen is the front door to opportunity; that it’s the key to operating successfully and profitably in a system that doesn’t look like the one from 10 or 20 years ago.

Gary Kelly and Southwest Airlines and several airlines are saying, “This is not your father’s NAS,” and they’re 100 percent right. NextGen transitions us from an air traffic control focus to a more holistic approach – a system focus that makes full use of all of the technology that’s out there today and will provide benefits from technology that’s yet to come.

And this didn’t “just happen.” Back in 2008, Southwest committed to NextGen full-bore. This business decision was driven by a difficult economic environment, the high price of gas and competition. When you cut your fuel costs, you boost the bottom line. That’s not high level math, that’s street-smart maneuvering. Southwest committed to upgrade its 737 fleet with required navigational performance capabilities – RNP. They committed to train their aircrews for the performance based navigation operations made possible by NextGen.

This wasn’t a decision for the faint of heart. They’ve equipped all of their aircraft to be performance based navigation capable. That was $175 million. They’ve trained 6,000 pilots to fly the approaches. In about a month, pilot training should be complete and their pilots will be approved to conduct RNP routes and approaches that require authorization. As part of its internal training plan leading toward operational approval for RNP use, Southwest has a self-imposed requirement to log approximately 3,200 RNAV GPS approaches.

Southwest Airlines actively supports the FAA in the development and implementation of RNP procedures across the nation, either in the role as lead carrier or as a participant with other operators. Last year, 59 RNP procedures that required special authorization for participating aircrafts and aircrews were published for 15 airports, including 10 served by Southwest. Eventually, these types of procedures will be developed and implemented through a continued collaborative effort, at airports across the country.

So that’s a mouthful of numbers and acronyms, but what it means is that Southwest Airlines and Gary Kelly understands that the system of tomorrow is hinged on the equipment, and they have no intention of waiting until tomorrow comes to get the new stuff into their cockpits. When they hear “best equipped, best served,” they don’t want to be in that line, they want to be at the front of it.

None of this is free, and I’ll be the first to admit that if you look back, the FAA has been slow on our promise to deliver the goods. But with NextGen, we are, and let me say without equivocation that Southwest and Gary Kelly are putting their airline in the optimum position to cash in on it and providing incentive for others to match them.

With both leadership and vision, not only did Southwest commit to this effort financially, but they also did so from a company culture standpoint. From the start, Gary Kelly and Southwest took great pains to educate and motivate their entire work force on the wide-ranging benefits to be gained from becoming a performance-based navigation airline; benefits not only to the company, but to the country as a whole. I’m talking about reduced airspace congestion, more efficient air travel, reduced emissions and a reduced dependency on oil.

The savings adds up to real money. Performance based navigation means shorter, more direct routes. Southwest figures that for a single minute of time saved on each flight, the annual savings quickly add up to 156,000 metric tons in emissions per year. And $25 million in fuel savings per year. Seconds count.

At the end of all this, Southwest Airlines will have transformed itself from an airline navigating solely by fixed ground-based navigation aids to one flying satellite-based precise, optimally designed routes that will allow for reduced flight times and contribute to a more efficient national airspace system benefiting the entire U.S. population.

I’ve been flying in this system for going on five decades now, and I appreciate what Southwest has done. They, and several of their competitors, have shown real leadership in pushing for new technology and the efficiencies that it brings. That’s forward thinking.

And this kind of approach doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It only happens when an airline like Southwest says, “This is where we need to go, and this is how we’re going to get there.” And then they do it. Congratulations.

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I want to share with you some very good news about runway safety in the United States.

This year we have cut the number of serious runway incursions in half. It’s the second year in a row we’ve cut the number by 50 percent.

A serious runway incursion is when a collision is narrowly avoided.

We are down to six serious incursions in the entire country. And that is down from 67 ten years ago.

This marked increase in safety would not have been possible without the concerted efforts and partnership of the aviation industry.

The FAA made a call to action in 2007 to ask the entire industry to focus on reducing runway incursions.

And the entire industry really came together—airlines, pilots, air traffic controllers, airport vehicle operators, associations, management, labor and the FAA. We all worked together to reduce these occurrences. We have maintained the focus and we have cut the number.

Our goal is to get the number down to zero.

That brings me to some great safety innovations we are rolling out in Boston.

We just finished 90 days of testing a new warning system at Logan International that will keep our runways safe. Boston is among the first airports in the country to get this new safety technology.

This runway safety system consists of three types of safety lights that give pilots direct warnings about possible dangers on the runway.

In a simplified explanation, the new safety lights work much like a traffic light. They warn a pilot if it’s not safe to cross, enter or proceed down a runway.

Boston is the first and only airport in the country to install these lights at intersecting runways.

A series of red lights embedded in the pavement at Logan will provide 3,000 feet of warning leading up to the runway intersection.

If there is a potential safety problem, the red lights come on and stay on as long as the collision potential exists. You stop what you’re doing and stay where you are.

Boston has added two more types of safety lights. It now joins Dallas/Fort Worth, San Diego and Los Angeles airports with these safety features.

Boston added safety lights for planes leaving a taxiway and entering a runway. The lights turn red if it’s not safe to enter or cross the runway.

The third type of safety lights are called takeoff hold lights. These lights turn red if it’s unsafe to begin or continue to takeoff on a runway.

These three types of runway status lights are going to give us an additional layer of safety. They will help us improve the exceptional work we are already doing with runway safety in this country.

By working together we have markedly reduced the serious incursions and we’re making progress on all of them.

We want to get at the root cause of an incursion, no matter how serious or minor, in order to improve our procedures and training.

Why do incursions happen, you may ask?

Why can’t a pilot tell if a danger exists on a runway?

Ideally the air traffic controller will tell the pilot where to taxi and the correct runway to use. And ideally the pilot will hear it correctly and follow through.

But we are all human. And with larger airports there is a lot more to keep track of, including vehicles and people.

These lights will make it very plain that a pilot should stop and avoid the runway intersection.

If you see a red light, the typical human reaction is to stop. That’s the whole idea.

We plan to add runways status lights to an additional 19 of our busiest airports in the country over the next five years.

These lights provide a direct and immediate indication to pilots and vehicle drivers that a potentially unsafe condition is developing and they should avoid it.

They will help us to continually improve safety.

I’m happy that you will have the chance to board a plane today and see how they work.

Thank you for your time.

Next I’d like to introduce Congressman Michael Capuano who represents Massachusetts’ 8^th District, including Logan International Airport. We have worked closely together on many issues and I’m pleased he could be here today.

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