It’s a tall order to actually integrate UAS operations into
the airspace system, but I think it’s the right strategy. Some stakeholders would rather see us establish certain routes or restrictions on UAS, but I think that would severely hamper the development of a technology that will be very beneficial to society. But we’ve got to manage the integration through a logical
process. So we’ve tried to use our existing regulatory structure to do that. Te challenge has been to create a pilot program in which we can test certain business opportunities in certain applications so that when we actually do write the rules, we write them in the most beneficial way to be able to continue that development. Right now, it’s hard to say what
things are going to look like five years from now. Every time you think you’ve got a good idea of what the trajectory is going to be, there are new innovations out there and new opportunities. We want to be supportive, and we don’t want to cut off any of that innovation. At the same time, we have to get some things out there first, like remote ID, so we can have a broader scale beyond visual-line-of-sight operations and operations over people. Not everyone agrees on how we’re approaching UAS
integration. We’ve got to make sure we understand their perspectives, but they’ve got to understand that the FAA oversees a system. We can’t favor one part of the country or one constituency over another. Tere will have to be some compromises and some trade-offs. Tere are entities, such as cities, communities, and our
security or law enforcement partners, that have certain interests that we have to account for when we write rules. And we have certain societal considerations, like noise, privacy, and data, that we’ve got to consider when we make rules, even as the safety regulator. Our tremendously diverse and dynamic NAS makes it
more challenging to do that. In some places, there isn’t as much GA activity. But in the United States, we have a diverse, robust GA sector with lots of different types of operations and a large helicopter sector. Tese opportunities create a lot of complexity that has to be managed. But that’s something to be cherished. It makes the US
aviation system much more diverse and complicated than anywhere else in the world. Tat’s one reason I think the FAA is still, by a large margin, the leading aviation authority in the world, because it has to bring together all these dis- parate elements, and that’s exciting. Getting back to the subject of UAS integration, it goes back to fundamental questions, such as who’s responsible
for the US airspace. Well, the answer depends on what you’re talking about. If you’re talking about civil airspace, it’s the FAA. If you’re talking about defense, it’s NORAD [the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a joint US–Canadian organization that conducts aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning in the defense of North America] and USNORTHCOM [the US Northern Command, the US Department of Defense command dedicated to homeland defense].
Te Department of Defense
“It’s a tall order to actually integrate UAS operations into the airspace system, but I think it’s the right strategy.”
is an airspace user as well. Te ADS-B mandate was a good example of that. We had to create some opportunities for the mil- itary to be able to operate in a way that civil aircraft wouldn’t be able to within the system—a
military aircraft doesn’t always want to broadcast its location. We certainly have to take DOD’s needs into consideration when we write rules.
From the FAA’s perspective, how did the ADS-B Out equipage mandate go?
Tanks to a lot of work and a lot of preparation on the part of all segments of the industry, I think it’s been going well. Te compliance has been probably as we expected. Tere have been a few little surprises here and there with some operators, mostly foreign operators, that we’re dealing with. As you get into any situation where you’ve got different
aircraft avionics configurations, there have been some dif- ficulties because there’s not just the ADS-B transponder, there are also multimode receivers and other things that are part of the architecture. Tere were difficulties with some manufacturers that
showed up within the past year that are going to have to be remediated. But it’s a relatively small number of operators who were dealing with that.
Any surprises about the job of being FAA administrator?
Nothing happens as fast as you want it to happen. Tat’s certainly one observation. I’ve been very impressed with the quality of the people whom I have the privilege of working with in the agency, and that’s something that I appreciate every day. I love being part of a team that’s trying every day to make a difference and improve a system that already operates at an extremely high level. Finally, I get to learn more about different segments of
the industry, some of which I was more familiar with than others. It’s been a great experience so far.
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