Air Traffic Control Association
No. 7, 2016
ATCA’S Conversation with
BRIAN WYNNE, AUVSI President and CEO
IN THIS ISSUE: »» Voice of the Member »» FAA’s Tech Center Tackles Cybersecurity Challenges »» A Moment in Aviation History
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAG E
No. 7, 2016 Published for
By Peter F. Dumont, President & CEO, Air Traffic Control Association
Getting the Knack of the NAC
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or the past few months, I have proudly served on FAA’s NextGen Advisory Committee (NAC). The NAC was established to provide the FAA an open dialogue with key stakeholders and to jointly establish NextGen priorities. The NAC meetings are announced in advance and are open to the public. Even though I have only been on the NAC for a few months, I believe it’s long enough to brag about the success and focus the NAC has brought to the FAA’s NextGen investments and the priority placed on metrics. Thanks to the NAC working groups, there are now agreed-upon metrics to properly measure the success in implementing the NAC priorities, including the metroplex programs, wake re-categorization, and the performance based navigation (PBN) efforts such as Established on Required Navigation Performance (RNPe). We heard updates on these programs and others at the last NAC meeting, and it made me think about the mark left by this leadership team and what changes the next NAC will bring. Our last meeting was chaired by Richard Anderson, whose term will expire at the next meeting, and Michael Whitaker, who has now departed FAA. The next few months will
bring some significant leadership changes that will affect both FAA and the NAC. I don’t need to tell many of you that the current NAC Chair, Richard Anderson, is a direct person. During his Aero Club Speech this past April, which was just few days before his retirement as CEO of Delta Airlines, Anderson said he didn’t allow finger pointing in his boardroom. He didn’t allow his top managers to blame FAA for flight delays if, in fact, the airline played a part. He quoted government statistics on delays caused by airlines and proudly explained his philosophy of not canceling flights. During his speech, he leaned over the podium and looked the audience in the eye to speak about the future of the aviation industry, the responsibility of various companies to step up to the plate and perform, and the family philosophy he loved and cultivated at Delta. As with all intense leaders, his style didn’t always mesh with everyone. As the chair of the NAC, Anderson has also leaned in and reached outside the box to establish metrics that hold the FAA and other stakeholders accountable. Anderson’s leadership was a big part of that. Over the next six to eight months, the NAC will see a new designated federal
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ATCA Bulletin | No. 7, 2016
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The NAC was established to provide the FAA an open dialogue with key stakeholders and to jointly establish NextGen priorities will be available ahead of schedule, but what we need to discuss are the tangible benefits delivered to users. Data Comm should be celebrating individual end-user successes, such as its ability to deliver a system ahead of schedule that in turn motivated JetBlue to equip faster. After the successful Data Comm trials in Newark, JetBlue Executive Vice President for Operations Jeff Martin said, “The dollar will follow the benefit ... I went to the boardroom and said, ‘Okay, it’s now time to invest because I believe the benefit is firm.’”
The NAC realizes that NextGen’s next phase is not just about FAA meeting milestones, but also about equipage of the airlines, which is definitely no small ticket item. The NAC will play a key role in the honest reporting of progress for both equipment and policy adoption. In the past, some airlines have energetically invested in equipment to take advantage of upcoming air traffic advancements, only to have the government investment significantly delayed or operationally deliver fewer benefits than initially promised. After Boeing’s presentation on available aircraft equipage at the last NAC, Anderson asked that future NAC meetings include equipage discussions from airframe manufacturers as well as airlines so that we can get an idea of the status of airline fleet equipage. Through the NAC, we are all realizing and articulating that the aviation system is really a system of systems. We will not see significant and continuous NextGen benefits until all of the systems – air traffic control equipment, procedures, aircraft, and airports – are ready for each change. I’m not dismissing incremental improvements, but we have seen that efforts to implement PBN approaches, for instance, have not produced long-standing benefits because perhaps the airports are not properly engaged. In the case of Data Comm, it’s ahead of schedule but not all airlines are equipped to use it. Or, as is the case in Seattle RNPe, it was implemented and then halted when over two years of runway construction and
closures stymied its use. We always knew that the aviation system consists of interconnected pieces of technology, policies, equipment, and people, but it seems we have only recently realized the importance of communicating NextGen progress in this system of systems environment. And just as the aviation system is interconnected, it also interfaces with other issues not directly stemming from the aviation system, like cybersecurity. I have said it before, and I will say it again: I believe the NAC needs to focus on a comprehensive effort to harden the aviation system from the threat of cyber attacks. The FAA has an impressive cybersecurity system (read about the FAA’s take on cybersecurity challenges on page 9), but it has a long way to go. Stakeholders need to share best practices to continue safeguarding the system from these new threats. As I continue participating on the NAC, I am pleased that the focus on agreed-upon metrics is coming to fruition. I am also pleased that the NAC understands that the aviation system is a collection of pieces that must be coordinated and intertwined to deliver lasting benefits. As the next group of NAC leaders are chosen and look to establish their legacies, I think the NAC needs to focus on cybersecurity, as well as setting goals connected to the recently identified metrics. But, as a recently appointed member, I get to say these things from outside as well as inside the tent. ATCA Bulletin | No. 7, 2016
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officer (or maybe two), a new chair, a new Secretary of Transportation, a new POTUS, and probably changes in Congress. While the wheels of the NAC are turning in the direction set by our past and current members, what will these leadership changes bring? First off, not everyone thinks NextGen is a success. Sure, NextGen has seen some great successes, and it remains off of the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) “High Risk List.” However, the DOT Office of Inspector General (IG) is still highlighting past NextGen implementation delays and cost overruns, calling FAA’s current phase delivery approach as leading to “unclear and inconsistent reporting on overall program costs, schedule, and benefits,” and stating that, “FAA’s reforms have not slowed cost growth or improved operational productivity.” I know that FAA has many facts and figures to debate the IG’s interpretation, but as ATCA Chairman Neil Planzer said at World ATM Congress 2016, “It’s not that we are doing it wrong, but are we doing it right enough?” So how can the NAC help the FAA and aviation stakeholders make sure we “do it right enough?” Part of that is to continue focusing on NextGen benefits. Celebrating implementation milestones is no longer enough. It is impressive that Data Comm
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BRIAN WYNNE’S
Got Four Goals for AUVSI, But Slowing Down Ain’t One By Kristen Knott, ATCA Writer and Editor
Brian Wynne
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he FAA’s June release of Part 107, the new rules for non-hobbyist small, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations, was this year’s professional highlight for Brian Wynne, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). The new rule provides the first uniform regulations for commercial operation of small UAS weighing less than 55 pounds. “UAS regulation is vital – AUVSI has been working very hard to get that frame-
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ATCA Bulletin | No. 7, 2016
work in place,” said Wynne. “[UAS] regulation is different than for manned aircraft with technology advancing a lot faster, but Part 107 is reflective of this.” For Wynne, who took the helm in January 2015, Part 107’s release was the culmination of a lot of hard work and collaboration between the FAA, industry, and of course, AUVSI. That all started with the FAA’s UAS registration workshop in December 2015, of which Wynne took part. “That was the beginning of a real shift
“[The establishment of UTM] requires a lot of technology, collaboration, testing, and science – ATCA and AUVSI bring those communities together.” – Brian Wynne, Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) President and CEO
in cadence and pace,” said Wynne. “It was a very good example of industry collaboration with government and vice versa.” However, the small UAS rule is just one piece of AUVSI’s puzzle. Wynne has four major goals for the organization as a whole: Advocacy “For UAS Traffic Management (UTM), regulation, resources, etc.” Education “It’s the key to everything.” Market Growth “To promote our growth, it requires that we start communicating with customers. We’re in the process of growing this market.” Member Service “It ties all of them together.” A key to accomplishing these goals is partnerships. One example is the collaboration between AUVSI and ATCA on UTM Convention 2016: an event bringing together UAS Traffic Management experts to forecast the state of UTM (see below for more information).
“We need partnerships to get UTM into existence,” said Wynne. “I’m very excited to work with folks that support the existing traffic management system. As a pilot [Wynne flies a Socata Trinidad], I’m a big fan of air traffic control.” “[The establishment of UTM] requires a lot of technology, collaboration, testing, and science – ATCA and AUVSI bring those communities together,” said Wynne. An increase in partnerships is another indicator of how far UAS regulation and UTM have come in 2016. “It’s all about jobs and economic opportunities,” continued Wynne. “A lot of good jobs will be enabled, starting with Part 107.” “UAS integration will create $83 billion in economic activity over its first 10 years,” he said. “This is an extremely important moment in time – we have to get this right.” Want more? Look for a deep dive on the topic at the 61st ATCA Annual Conference and Exposition – October 16-19 at National Harbor, Md. Discussions will include airspace solutions and shifts in responsibility and demands for users with representatives from Google, Amazon, NASA, and more!
Want to be part of the next era of aviation? Join us at UTM Convention 2016 November 8-10 – Syracuse, N.Y.
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here’s a lot of talk going on these days about UAS. The uses for UAS are only limited by our creativity, ingenuity, and our ability to work together to create plans for safe integration. That’s why ATCA is bringing together leading UAS Traffic Management (UTM) experts to talk about the state of UTM today and in the near future. Leveraging the success of last year’s inaugural event hosted by NASA at the Ames Research Center, UTM Convention 2016 will be held Nov. 8 - 10 at the Oncenter in Syracuse, N.Y., and Griffiss International Airport in Rome, N.Y., one of the FAA’s designated test ranges. This one of a kind Convention will include expert panelists and keynote briefings from NASA on technical capability level (TCL) demonstration 2, in which industry collaborators will participate this October. You’ll learn how UTM leaders from the FAA, NASA, industry, and international ANSPs are collaborating to rework the global airspace. For more information and to register for the event, visit www.utm2016.com. ATCA Bulletin | No. 7, 2016
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IT’S TIME FOR A NEW APPROACH TO ATM
With the ever-growing amount of traffic in the sky, air traffic management (ATM) is a critical priority that requires continuous progress. Working together with industry and government organizations, Boeing is committed to an ATM transformation that improves safety, efficiency and the environment for all. At the core of Boeing’s ATM solutions are secure network-centric operations that will incorporate the capabilities of modern airplanes, as well as ensure global interoperability and real-time access to critical information. The time is now, and Boeing is ready to help.
boeing.com/commercial
Voice of the Member The Future Begins to Take Shape for UAS
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nmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) – often referred to as “UAVs,” “remotely piloted aircraft systems,” or the ever-popular “drones” – are coming. The business cases underlying their development and evolution are beginning to separate themselves into some distinct use and user categories. It’s becoming increasingly clear that an affordable aerial perspective on the world is of value to all sorts of businesses. Providing that point of view is becoming its own business as well. The rapid expansion of small (less than 55 lbs.) UAS operations through
the FAA “Section 333” exemption and authorization program is meeting interim demand for sector growth. Forthcoming rulemaking will greatly improve opportunities for a routine path to commercial use of small UAS where they can be kept safely away from existing manned aircraft operations. Still, many challenges remain for both the regulators and the public to gain confidence that the NAS is ready for widespread unmanned aircraft operations. For the most part, these tend to relate to three basic issues:
• The inability of a UAS pilot in command (PIC) to directly see and avoid conflicting aircraft and obstructions (which is addressed in the small UAS rule by requiring users/pilots to keep their UAS within sight). • The stability, reliability, and security of the command and control links associated with unmanned aircraft operations (which is greatly aided by the same limited operating distance requirement). • The difficulty many manned aircraft pilots might experience in fulfilling their own “see and avoid” responsibilities
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By Thomas A. Farrier, JMA Solutions, LLC
B:11.125”
T:10.875”
S:10.125”
Many challenges remain for both the regulators and the public to gain confidence that the NAS is ready for widespread unmanned aircraft operations.
ATCA Bulletin | No. 7, 2016
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Two other considerations associated with the widespread usage of drones remain to be at least partially unexplored as well: 1) the safety of persons on the ground in the immediate vicinity of UAS operations, and 2) the potential for UAS operations to adversely affect the public’s personal privacy. Successfully addressing these considerations will likely play a significant role in promoting overall public acceptance of UAS commercial activities. So, what do these issues suggest in terms of the direction of future UAS designs and FAA certification of such designs? First, the “see and avoid” challenge is a serious one. Both Congress and the FAA have defined UAS as “aircraft” meaning their pilots are just as responsible for following the “rules of the road” as their manned aircraft counterparts. Current government/industry efforts to define a form of “detect and avoid” systems for UAS are moving forward, but are likely
to be complex, heavy, and expensive – the properties that are at odds with the simple, cheap avenue for users flying small UAS. Secondly, the whole issue of securing the connection between drones and their pilots is garnering similar focus and attention by the FAA and industry. However, radio control of aircraft is a domain where the FAA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) overlap and the framework for cooperatively addressing emerging operational issues is still evolving. Finally, the manned aircraft pilot’s side of the “see and avoid” requirement is becoming increasingly difficult to carry out thanks to the size and speed of many of the newest and most popular drones. Currently, there is no good solution to this challenge yet, but some approaches are being considered to make drones more visible, such as the use of high-intensity lights and equipment on unmanned aircraft that allows compatible equipment aboard manned aircraft to “see” the UAS. The FAA’s legislation, 49 U.S.C. 40101, commands the Secretary of Transportation to prevent “deterioration in
established safety procedures, recognizing the clear intent, encouragement, and dedication of Congress to further the highest degree of safety in air transportation and air commerce, and to maintain the safety vigilance that has evolved in air transportation and air commerce and has come to be expected by the traveling and shipping public.” At the same time, Section 40103 states that the FAA Administrator “shall develop plans and policy for the use of the navigable airspace and assign by regulation or order the use of the airspace necessary to ensure the safety of aircraft and the efficient use of airspace.” Clearly, the FAA and industry need to chart a middle path that respects both the need of the unmanned aviation sector to achieve its full economic potential and the safety of manned aircraft pilots, passengers, and the general public. The views expressed in this paper are the author’s and do not reflect official positions of JMA Solutions, LLC or its clients, or of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI).
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with respect to unmanned aircraft, especially those at the smaller end of the size spectrum.
A Moment in Aviation History
The Clinton Administration announced that air traffic controllers fired for participation in the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike of 1981 could apply for reemployment. (Since Dec. 1981, the fired controllers could apply for any federal position except for jobs in the FAA and certain related positions in the Defense and Treasury Departments.) At the time of the announcement, FAA had already imposed a hiring freeze because of budget restrictions. The agency estimated that once the freeze ended it would hire fewer than 200 new controllers per year over the next few years. In Jan. 1995, a rehired group of 26 former strikers began training, and about 14 others were rehired during that year. – FAA Historical Chronology 8
ATCA Bulletin | No. 7, 2016
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On August 12, 1993
FAA’s Tech Center Tackles
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s a vital part of the U.S. economy and the country’s critical infrastructure, the National Airspace System (NAS) is a natural target for cybersecurity attacks. That’s why the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has made cybersecurity a priority through its new Cybersecurity Test Facility (CyTF). The FAA and industry partners are well aware that sophisticated attacks by nation-state threat actors, well-funded operatives, and highly motivated adversaries are becoming all too common around the world. Last year’s cyber intrusion involving
millions of federal employees’ background investigation records showed just how serious and costly a single breach can be. Given the high stakes involved in protecting the NAS in an ever-changing cybersecurity environment, the FAA’s NextGen organization moved its small, limited-capability cyber lab at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J., to a more spacious location on the Tech Center campus better suited to housing the lab’s improved capabilities and backup power supplies. As the FAA continues its proactive protection work to safe-
guard the NAS, the new CyTF can handle large-scale simulations that weren’t possible in the old lab. “Considering the rising importance of cybersecurity for the entire aviation community, it is appropriate to have this laboratory located at the Tech Center, which maintains one example of every automation system working in the NAS today,” says Shelley Yak, the Tech Center’s director. “By having the systems we are trying to protect located on the premises, it is easy to make the network connections needed to test out attack and defense scenarios.” ATCA Bulletin | No. 7, 2016
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CYBERSECURITY CHALLENGES
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ATCA Bulletin | No. 7, 2016
bers of the red team act as attackers who use offensive tools to try to penetrate a system, while the blue team defends against the intrusion. These interactive scenarios are far more advanced than earlier exercises that involved passing a piece of paper between teams or evaluating an individual system’s vulnerabilities against a specific attack. “We have the same network tools that incident responders use when defending against cyber attacks,” says Ruben Bigio, the CyTF program lead. “We can do exercises for very intrusive attacks without problems because the compromised system can be reinstalled in the virtual environment.” Bigio says CyTF has multiple uses, from training FAA cybersecurity specialists on the latest tools to having information security engineers beta test new products that can better protect the NAS from emerging threats. “We just finished an evaluation of the Department of Homeland Security continuous monitoring mitigation program security products, and the next step is to evaluate the products for NAS applicability,” he says. “National Security Council officials were very impressed during their visit with what we’ve accomplished with our evaluation.” CyTF also enables the FAA and its partners to test security across shared networks. Such testing will help prevent incidents like the January 2014 security breach of Target Corp.’s network, in which a trusted partner was compromised and data for about 40 million customer debit and credit cards was stolen. The CyTF will help identify and mitigate vulnerabilities that emerge when trusted partners share information that is required for today’s efficient, integrated, and automated aviation operations. The FAA is
– John Chung, Information Security Branch Manager, Office of NAS Systems Engineering
conducting exercises with the Department of Defense and other aviation domain partners, including industry, universities, and research centers, says Jim Daum, NextGen enterprise safety and information security manager. “In the past, we looked at systems individually,” he says. “Never in the past have we looked into how these systems are working together. Now we can do interoperability testing to make sure security is consistent and meets all of our requirements.” “It’s a team effort,” Daum says. “It’s not just NextGen, but also the Office of Information and Technology, the Air Traffic Organization, and our external aviation partners working together. And that cooperation is needed to build the CyTF and make it successful.”
Photos courtesy of the FAA
CyTF’s mission is to provide enterprise security evaluation and research services to strengthen the FAA’s information security in a research and development environment, says John Chung, Information Security Branch manager in the Office of NAS Systems Engineering and Integration. To meet this mission, the CyTF is being developed to support FAA evaluations of cybersecurity capabilities and enhancements, he says. “The CyTF combines management support, expert engineers, well-defined testing procedures, and appropriate technologies in the development and operation of a cost-effective, state-of-the-art cyber test facility,” Chung says. By partnering with the FAA’s chief information security officer and the agency’s cyber community, the CyTF team tests and evaluates initiatives like the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program – established by the Department of Homeland Security in 2013 – which mandates continuous monitoring for federal information technology systems. The FAA was among the first agencies in the program’s initial phase aimed at protecting technical infrastructure. The new CyTF also provides a realistic, virtual simulation environment representative of the FAA information technology domains: mission support, NAS operations, and research and development. The simulations enable cybersecurity professionals to train for how best to counter cyber attacks that might target the FAA and its partners’ systems in an environment that does not interfere with continuous NAS operations. The virtual scenarios in development will help protect the entire agency. In one targeted attack scenario, mem-
“The CyTF combines management support, expert engineers, well-defined testing procedures, and appropriate technologies in the development and operation of a costeffective, state-of-theart cyber test facility.”
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Officers and Board of Directors Chairman, Neil Planzer Chairman-Elect, Charles Keegan President & CEO, Peter F. Dumont Treasurer, Rachel Jackson East Area Director, Susan Chodakewitz Pacific Area, Asia, Australia Director, Peter Fiegehen South Central Area Director, William Cotton Northeast Area Director, Mike Ball Southeast Area Director, Jack McAuley North Central Area Director, Bill Ellis West Area Director and Secretary, Chip Meserole Canada, Caribbean, Central and South America, Mexico Area Director, Rudy Kellar Europe, Africa, Middle East Area Director, Jonathan Astill Director at Large, Rick Day Director at Large, Vinny Capezzuto Director at Large, Michael Headley
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