Making the Sky Safe for Vertical Aviation
VAI is speaking up to safeguard our industry’s future. By James A. Viola
O
NLY ONE ORGANIZATION FIGHTS EVERY day to ensure a bright future for our expanding and diversifying industry: Vertical Aviation International (VAI). It is VAI’s purpose to fuel the growth of the
vertical aviation industry—to see that it not only survives but thrives. Our advocacy efforts on your behalf are one important way we fulfill that purpose. With all the changes occurring in aviation, critical questions
are ahead for us to resolve, questions whose answers will have lasting effects on our industry. Here are some of the ways in which VAI has been representing your interests in front of regu-
lators, legislators, the courts, and other aviation interests: ▪ Who administers the airspace? VAI gained a recent victory when the US District Court in Hawaii agreed with our assertion that, as the federal government’s authorized agent for aviation, the FAA, not the state legislature, should oversee the airspace. The court’s decision overturned a section of a bill that imposed burdensome reporting requirements on that state’s air tour operators.
▪ What will the rules be for remotely piloted opera- tions? The FAA is currently writing rules that would permit unmanned aircraft systems to fly beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) of the remote pilot or observer. VAI will soon release a policy statement on the issue that explains our position in more detail. Briefly, though, VAI maintains that BVLOS operations must be performed within a system of performance-based requirements harmonized across all airspace operators that protect the safety of all.
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JAMES A. VIOLA is VAI’s president and CEO. After a career as a US Army aviator, he joined the FAA, where he served as director of the Office of General Aviation Safety Assurance before joining VAI. James holds ATP ratings in both airplanes and helicop- ters and is a CFII. Contact him at
President@verticalavi.org.
POWER UP SEP 2024
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
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