Even though the FAA is providing funding for several airlines to purchase ADS-B equipment, the agency likely will not be able to mandate ADS-B in technology by 2020, as it is required to do by the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Transportation Department inspector general Calvin Scovel III told Congress yesterday.
That legislation provided the FAA with a stable four-year authorization that included policy direction and guidance for the agency to operate the National Airspace System safely and better manage its Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and other modernization efforts, including integrating new technologies such as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). It also focuses on the FAA’s progress and challenges in effectively using two safety workforces–controllers and inspectors.
The DOT IG said the FAA does not have an effective model for determining the number of inspectors it needs and where to place them. Further, the agency has not developed metrics to determine whether its new duty scheduling policies will reduce controller fatigue.
Meanwhile, the Government Accountability Office’s Gerald Dillingham testified that the FAA must continue to deliver performance-based navigation (PBN) procedures and begin to demonstrate a return on operators’ investments.
