The Secret to Success

Air Safety Week, June 15, 2009

In his first speech as FAA administrator, Randy Babbitt laid out his game plan for implementation of the FAA's satellite-based Next Generation (NextGen) air traffic control system.

"The secret to launching NextGen is advice. I learned first hand that the secret to this thing is really no secret at all. The only way we're going to get rotation on this is by making sure the parties are at the table, making sure that their voices are heard. That's the way I intend to keep it. Decisions made in a vacuum will bring the system to its knees. We've seen that before, and I have no desire to see us learn that lesson again, said Babbitt at a recent RTCA event.

"We need constructive input. The FAA should not try to address policies or governing principles in a vacuum if we intend to maximize effectiveness. Policies can promote enhanced benefits, but we've got to craft them appropriately," he emphasized.

"Right now, we are on the edge of the biggest step in the how we navigate -- how we keep planes apart, how we space them -- that the aviation world has ever known. NextGen is going to change how we do business. But we only get one shot at this. We have the technology, and we certainly have the need to upgrade. But we've got to make sure that we collaboratively design what we are building - - all of us -- the users, the manufacturers, the regulators" he added.

He said the U.S. aviation agency will have to demonstrate successes before stakeholders make their equipage investments. "This is about confidence and credibility because the last thing anyone wants to do is invest in equipment that never gets plugged in -- or when it does, it doesn't do what it's supposed to. Congress and our stakeholders are looking for a tangible return on their investment and I intend to see that they get it," said Babbitt.

In December, the FAA will begin to provide ADS-B surveillance in the Gulf of Mexico. In a about a year, the FAA will have 340 of the ADS-B ground stations in place nationwide -- nearly 50 percent of the total.

The FAA is partnered with UPS to demonstrate advanced NextGen applications. The FAA has published an RNP approach into 13 Center at Midway. It will provide procedural separation of aircraft departing 22 Left from O'Hare.

But the former head of the Air Line Pilots Association said "NextGen is just flat out not moving fast enough. We must accelerate NextGen. I want more, and I want more faster.

NextGen is a clear priority. And let me say for the record that I'm interested in delivery. I have absolutely no plans to get involved with the arguments about NextGen or NowGen or ThenGen or WhenGen. I'm not one for labels. When you boil all this down, and all the liquid is gone, the task at hand remains the same. We've got to make the system more efficient, and we've got to make it safer while doing it. Let's face it. We don't have the time to argue about what to call it," stated Babbitt.

[Copyright 2006 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]