Symposium Highlights
The RTCA 2008 Symposium Collaborating to Implement Change… NOW was held on May 13-14 in Chantilly, Virginia. More than 150 attendees from across the international aviation community gained valuable insight into the current thinking of FAA and aviation industry leaders directly involved in operating and modernizing the global aviation system.
In opening the symposium, RTCA Chairman and President of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Phil Boyer called RTCA a catalyst for collaboration between government and industry leaders.
In his keynote address, FAA Air Traffic Organization (ATO) Chief Operating Officer (COO) Hank Krakowski emphasized that NextGen is NOW and outlined how FAA is organizing to implement the planned operational improvements starting now, continuing through the mid-term, and leading to NextGen. He announced the establishment of a new position-Senior VP of NextGen & Operations Planning- that will focus on near-term implementation (5-10 years), continue to utilize effective Operational Evolution Partnership process, and incorporate Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) long-term planning (> 10 years) and cross-agency coordination efforts to deliver operational improvements faster.
JPDO Director Charlie Leader presented the current status of NextGen planning in the United States and Patrick Ky, Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking provided timely update on how collaboration in Europe is leading to implementation of needed operational improvements there.
Newly appointed Senior VP of NextGen & Operational Planning Vicki Cox highlighted the key initiatives and programs that the FAA is pursuing to implement NextGen. She noted that FAA was in the process of establishing a NextGen integrated test bed in Florida to allow integrated gate-to-gate (NOTE: THIS IS ON HER CHART) demonstrations of NextGen operations. Shelley Yak complemented Vicki's presentation with an update on how the Operational Evolution Partnership is improving operational capabilities leading to NextGen.
The focus then shifted to near-term operational improvement initiatives, in particular in the airspace around New York. In her presentation Nancy Kalinowski, VP, System Operations Services, FAA ATO, noted that one-third of the nation's (and one-sixth of the world's) air traffic takes off, lands, or transits New York airspace. She emphasized that the challenges of the New York/Philadelphia metropolitan areas require multi-faceted solutions. Twelve items from the "New York 77" list of operational improvements are already completed with an additional 15 items expected to be completed by this fall.
FAA Associate Administrator Nick Sabatini discussed the Role of the Regulator and said that the aviation community is on the threshold of reaching the next level in aviation safety by using safety data to drive the next series of breakthroughs. Mr. Sabatini stated, "In order to reduce the accident rate …the challenge now - and increasingly in the future - is to take preemptive action and prevent accidents. To do this, we need critical safety data... This important work cannot be done in isolation. But it can be done together. And that is exactly what we are doing - today."
The day concluded with a panel discussion "The Way Forward… Issues and Perspectives" moderated by Amr ElSawy, CEO of Noblis, Inc. Panel participants Nancy Graham, Director of the Air Navigation Bureau at ICAO; Steve Brown, Senior Vice President, National Business Aviation Association; Kevin Brown, Vice President Air Traffic Management, The Boeing Company; Captain Joe Burns, Director of Operations, United Airlines; Vicki Cox; Patrick Ky all agreed that leadership and collaboration-within government, across industry, between government and industry, and between nations and regions of the world-is critical to implementing real change in aviation. The need to better communicate with the general public and elected officials demonstrating importance of aviation to the national and global economy and the imperative to make real operational improvements now and in the mid-term leading to NextGen was also emphasized by the panelists.
On the second day, attendees heard timely updates on the implementation and benefits of RNAV/RNP, ADS-B, ERAM, and Data Comm. Jeff Williams, FAA described the continued progress that the FAA and airspace users are making in implementing RNAV/RNP and moving toward achieving the "RNAV everywhere we fly" goal stated by Captain Burns during the panel discussion. John Trolan of NetJets highlighted how RNAV/RNP is already providing real operational benefits. ICAO's Nancy Graham called RNAV/RNP implementation a model for effective aviation community collaboration to achieve operational benefits and urged the community to emulate the RNAV/RNP process when implementing other changes.
Next the symposium attendees focused their attention on ADS-B implementation-one of the NextGen transformational initiatives highlighted by Vicki Cox on Tuesday. In his program update, FAA's Vinny Capezzutto underscored the role of the RTCA ATMAC ADS-B Work Group and Special Committee-186 in continuing to move toward implementing this important new operational capability. The real operational benefits that are being achieved using ADS-B in Canada's Hudson Bay airspace were described by Jeff Cochrane of NavCanada. Bruce DeCleene of FAA concluded this segment with a clear summary of the certification considerations associated with implementing potential ADS-B applications onboard aircraft.
The 2008 Symposium concluded with an updates on the FAA's En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) and Data Communications programs, a review of the FAA's management approach for NextGen integration and implementation, and a presentation by EUROCAE Director General Gilbert Amato on European standardization efforts.
During the Symposium Roger Wall of FedEx received the RTCA Achievement Award, RTCA's highest honor, and Dr. Sanjeev Gunawardena of Ohio University received the William E. Jackson Award. RTCA Certificates of Appreciation and Citations were awarded to 31 volunteers who went the "extra mile" in the development of aviation community consensus resulting in RTCA documents and recommendations.
Registered attendees at the RTCA 2008 Symposium may download the presentations by clicking here.
