Considering we just endured the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and the current geopolitical situation, National security threats, and the loss of credibility over airspace sovereignty for the World's only superpower, suggests immediate action is warranted. It was warranted in 2000, but I don’t want to get into the blame game or insinuate that the FAA dropped the ball on the tip-off of Middle Easterners who only want to learn how to fly airliners but not so much on the landing part.
After reading the Administrator's response to the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Aviation and attending the NASA ADA Teams, I have made the following observations about the decades-long airspace integration effort.
First, for the record, the assumption is that everyone is following FAA regulations and policy. That assumption is ludicrous and one reason we are having this conversation.
Does the administrator have any back-of-the-napkin good-faith timeline and budget for implementation? How will he assure the flying American public that the National Airspace System they depend on for commerce is safe, since the FAA cannot say with any certainty what unauthorized users are doing, or when?
Past NASA efforts including the pork laden Bauer-doggle –
UAS in the NAS: a precursor to the UTM budget was proposed at $110 million to develop a plan to integrate all classes of drones into the NAS within five years, as I recall. I was the only civilian on that call, and I went on record saying it was not enough money to complete the task.
How much does the administrator figure the FAA can afford to spend on a new effort?
Follow-up question: What is the estimated time frame for completion? NASA should have a good idea of what it will cost and how long it will take, since it has ACCESS 5 data going back to 2004. That was the original 5-year plan, with a $100 million investment, and it was canceled in 2006.
Then we had UAS in the NAS in 2014 with a proposed budget of $110 million, as I recall, and I don't know what happened, as I was relegated to the Interplanetary Poo-List. UTM 2015 kicked off with an initial budget of $15.6 million and was handed off officially to the FAA in 2026.
As a historical side note, your humble author was at that meeting. The FAA representative believed it was up to the community to figure it all out, with absolutely no direction written or implied from the regulator. It was all predicated on “political numbers” for the number of UAS, where, and when, way out in the future, for fun-ding purposes. How can you say the numbers were bogus? Easy, I was one of the people the FAA got them from. My assertion was that it would be impossible to come up with any credible estimates beyond telephone numbers for volume of traffic without knowing what was in the proposed regulation. (Part 107)
The UTM task was given to a room full of people who knew very little about aviation, rulemaking, or systems engineering. Someone from NASA tried to pull me over and say, " The FAA is here to help. I said, "Not in my estimation," as they were offering nothing of value in the way of direction, or what would be required for implementation, and the kicker was that the rep was retiring the following week. That is not a serious effort by a regulator concerned about the safety of the NAS. That is throwing out a boat anchor.
Total UTM spend: unknown. What is the FAA doing with the UTM program package?
Where does the Administrator propose to get the money for implmentation- couch cushions over at DoT?
For context on the macro-costs of building such frameworks, the European Union's equivalent UTM program (U-space) is projected to cost roughly €4.095 billion to roll out fully through 2035.
Who knows about U-Space light, but the junkets are nice.
I recommend the same suggestion I gave the Obama White House: have the Administrator revisit the job description.
- Is responsible for the complex national system for aviation safety, airspace, and air traffic control and management.
In my view, Administrator Bedford's reply letter reflects a laissez-faire attitude toward a growing threat during a period of global conflict. Not an if, but a when, something will happen that changes our lives again.