Oversight Hearing – Federal Aviation Administration

The uh subcommittee will come to order. Colleagues, today we welcome testimony from Brian Bedford, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. Administrator Bedford. As always, thank you for joining us today. Great to have you. We want a genuine partnership with you as you undertake the enormous task of modernizing our air traffic control system. I appreciate your leadership in deploying the resources this Congress has provided. The twelve and a half billion dollar infusion from the budget reconciliation package last year, combined with the resources this subcommittee has provided, has kick-started something historic, a generational rebuild of the national airspace system that has been deferred for far too long. We know this job is not easy. We are here to be a partner in the effort, even as we exercise our oversight responsibility, tracking progress against milestones as this multi-year effort unfolds. Our eye is on a common goal that benefits not just the traveling public, but the economy as a whole. If we all row in the same direction, we will build a truly modern, efficient, world-class system. Any major multi-billion dollar effort carries a certain amount of risk. Even if we encounter the occasional setback in executing something this transformative, I know we can work together to right the ship. Next-gen fell short. As we all know, this effort cannot fail. I'm pleased that our fiscal twenty-seven bill continues to provide the FAA with resources to modernize the system. The facilities and equipment funding in our bill, coupled with the reconciliation dollars, is giving the agency a strong down payment to make our aviation system the gold standard of the world. None of this works, though, without people. Hiring and retaining air traffic controllers remains one of our greatest challenges as a nation. I know your workforce plan sets real targets, twenty-two hundred new controllers this fiscal year, climbing to twenty-four hundred by fiscal twenty-eight. I'm pleased that you met your hiring targets last year, exceeding two thousand new hires, but we cannot underestimate the challenge ahead in finding the best possible controller candidates and getting them into the facilities where they are most needed. Because of this, this committee has included resources in our bill to meet your fiscal twenty-seven hiring goals, and hope that fully staffed air traffic control facilities are an attainable goal in the not too distant future. Uh, controllers are only part of the equation. The technicians, the engineers, and the specialists who install, maintain and operate this new equipment are just as essential. And I'd like to know how the FAA is building that technical workforce alongside the controller core. Air traffic control is not the only piece of this puzzle. Airport infrastructure, runways, taxiways, and the ground systems that keep aircraft moving safely is just as high a priority for members of this subcommittee than as uh for the flying public. A modernized airspace system only delivers on its promise if the airports it serves can keep pace. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the infrastructure needs along with the technology upgrades already underway. Again, I wanna thank you, uh, Administrator Bedford, for being here and for the work you do and the work your team does every day to keep the traveling public safe. This is a big undertaking. I'm confident that with good faith and hard work on both sides, we'll get this right for the American people. That concludes my, uh, formal remarks. I now recognize the ranking member, Mr. Clyburn. for his opening comments.

Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and welcome, Administrator Bedford. I want to thank you for joining us today to examine how the FAA is advancing aviation safety. I appreciate your recent visit with me and our discussion on some of the technologies that can increase safety and efficiency in the national airspace system. Earlier this year, we discussed some of the administration's proposals to modernize the air traffic control system with secretary duffer and while modernization is a priority for both side to the aisle i'm personally concerned that staffing retention and air traffic controller pay continues to play out in the public while your focus seems to be primarily on technology upgrades system upgrades are certainly needed however modern technology cannot and my dad should not replace the faa workers needed to safely operate within the modernization environment i understand the faa is frozen ahead with twelve point five billion dollars provided in the so-called big beautiful bill but the administration has not yet laid out a detailed plan or submitted a funding request to explain how you will sustain let alone finish the effort. I expect to learn more from you today about how the FAA is is managing its resources and uh to discuss more in detail uh its plan. The committee provided ninety six million dollars in the fiscal year twenty twenty six uh bill to support the FAA's request to hire up to two thousand five hundred new air traffic controllers. You have now reduced the twenty twenty seven s target to hire only two thousand three hundred ATC's and a new ATC workforce plan changes hours and expectations for controllers. I remain concerned that these targets do not take into account challenges with uh uh uh uh academy success rates burnouts and retention issues and early retirements among our existing controller workforce. These challenges are not new but decisions on how to solve them cannot be made without the air traffic controllers workforce and their union. The FAA's twenty twenty seven budget request to fully fund uh facilities and equipment at its authorized level for FAA's Asian facilities and technologies, which I support. But we still do not have clarity on what on which systems are potentially being replaced uh with the modernization effort or how the FAA workforce will be trained on new technologies. Meanwhile, American businesses, including manufacturers, and suppliers face uncertainty and increased costs as they are left in the dark. With the constant ships and tariffs, America is losing the confidence of our partners to deliver and improve air traffic control system and cost-effective aviation manufacturing. Tens of thousands of jobs across a high-skilled manufacturing and engineering fields depend on the ability of US aircraft, manufacturers and suppliers to access global markets on fair and reliable terms. This is especially true for manufacturing in my own district and home state of South Carolina. Our aviation supply chain system requires certainty from our global partners and the trust that we can deliver state of the art transportation at our airports. This includes the modernization work already underway. Supply chain issues cannot continue to impede the on reaching our safety goals and global uh competitiveness. Mr. Chairman, It is our duty on this subcommittee to continue to help the FAA keep our skies safe. I look forward to working together to support robust investments in FAA technologies and just as importantly in its staff and the workforce pipeline. I look forward to learning more about how we can all work together to support the advancement of FAA and thank you uh, for being here today, uh, Mister Bedford. I look forward to hearing your testimony.

Thank you, Mister Clyburn. Chair now recognizes the full committee chairman, gentleman from Oklahoma, Mister Cole.

Uh, thank you very much, Chairman Womack, and thank you, Ranking Member Clyburn. Welcome, Administrator Bedford. It is genuinely a delight, uh, to see you again. And, uh, we appreciate you being here and are grateful, uh, for your continued leadership at the FAA. Um, this uh, is a genuinely excellent committee. I don't think we have any bad sub-committees quite frankly on uh, on the Appropriations Committee, but there's no question under Chairman Wolnack and Ranking Member uh, uh Clyburn this uh, and just look at the members here. I mean these are really serious members quite frankly. Uh, and they do a good job and at the end of the day they generally find a bipartisan way to get things done. So, you're gonna find a committee that's engaged and wants to be helpful to you. while uh obviously advancing the priorities of congress. Whether at the gate or on the flight deck, uh in the skies above, or just landed, your mission uh is clear, mister administrator, safety, security and efficiency. Congress is here to reinforce those key pillars and provide the investment and oversight necessary to ensure the FAA has the resources, workforce and capabilities to carry them out. When we discussed safeguarding our national supporting us aviation manufacturing overseeing drones and advancing emerging technologies i'm proud to say that this subcommittee does more than just talk about these priorities we fund them we oversee them and we work to ensure america continues to lead the world in aviation earlier this summer the house appropriations committee completed its work on the fiscal year twenty twenty seven transportation housing and urban development related agencies appropriations bill A strong measure led by Subcommittee Chairman Womack makes critical investments in the infrastructure workforce and innovation that keep Americans and our aviation system moving. I was proud to support its advancement and the work done to insure all twelve of our FY twenty-seven appropriations bills were reported out of committee. Unfortunately, we're still waiting on the Senate to move their bills so we can go to conference and finish the job and I have no doubt that uh that'll be a negotiated product coming out of that committee and i think it'll be stronger uh for the fact that we reach at some point a bipartisan agreement but we do need our friends in the senate to actually do their work so we can go to conference and begin that negotiation the men and women uh who depend on a safe modern aviation system should not be delayed because a partisan delay on the other side of the rotunda administrator bedford i don't need to tell you how important aviation is to oklahoma We're home of Tinker Air Force Base, Vance Air Force Base, and Altus Air Force Base, anchoring military uh aviation in our state. Notably, uh Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City is home to the largest military depot in the world. And just up the road in Tulsa, the American Airlines base maintenance facility represents the largest civil air depot in America. The presence and footprint of these major installations reinforces our strong commercial aviation. and thriving general aviation community. And obviously under your supervision, Mike Monroney is one of the premier facilities in the federal government for ensuring aviation safety, for training our air traffic controllers, and frankly for doing groundbreaking research on the future of aviation. We're increasingly a hub for innovation that will define the next generation of flight, including unmanned aircraft flight. I was glad to see uh FFA and DOT break ground on the vertical takeoff and landing range this summer at Mike Monroney Aeronautical Air Center. Um, this dedicated vertiport will let the FAA and industry partners test and develop procedures for advanced air mobility aircraft. I also wanna recognize FAA's continued partnership with the Choctaw Nation. Their work under FAA's unmanned uh aircraft systems pilot programs has made Oklahoma national leader and safely integrating drones into our airspace. I believe Oklahoma is well positioned to help land on advanced air mobility uh as that industry mature, lead excuse me, on advanced air mobility as that uh industry matures. As this subcommittee continues to push for full year funding for the FAA and the rest of the Department of Transportation, safety remains our number one priority. Every decision we make uh on this bill is measured against that standard. So I look forward to to your testimony today, Mister Administrator, and I look forward to working with you and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, to get a final bill across to finish fine before the end of the calendar year. Thank you Mister Chairman, and I yield back.

Thanks, the gentleman from Oklahoma, the uh full committee Chairman. Uh, Administrator Bedford, uh, the floor is yours. We um know that you have some prepared remarks. Your full written testimony will be included as part of the record. And I'm gonna yield the floor to you for five minutes, so you can summarize for the benefit of our subcommittee. You're recognized.

Well, thank you, Chairman Wilmack. And good morning, Ranking uh, uh, Ranking Member Clyburn and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the administration's twenty two point four billion dollar fiscal twenty twenty seven budget request for the Federal Aviation Administration. But first, I'd just like to take a moment, I realize the families from flight fifty three forty two are gathering later this morning. I just wanna make sure that They understand that that's why we're here. We're here to make sure that we're doing the hard work that's necessary to prevent an accident like that from ever happening again. So I just want to remember those that were lost and let them know that they're in our thoughts and our prayers. The core mission, as you point out, Mister Chairman, uh, is to provide the safest and most efficient aerospace system in the world. That was the standard from the beginning, it remains the standard today. To meet today's demands and prepare the skies for tomorrow, on executing a rapid modernization of the national aerospace system hiring and training the best people and embedding predictive safety analytics into everything that we do demand on our airspace is skyrocketing commercial flight volumes are forecast conservatively to grow by more than forty percent through twenty twenty twenty forty six and alongside that we'll see rapid expansions in commercial space launches drone operations, and electric aircraft mobility. Yet our system today has remained reliant on obsolescent, decade-old technology, causing otherwise unavoidable delays and cancellations. Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, Secretary Duffy, and this Congress, you passed a historic twelve point five billion down payment through the Working Families Tax Cut Act. And with that, we are executing on the most ambitious modernization and delivering it in record time. Over the past year, we've replaced over sixty four percent of our legacy copper telecommunications network. We've converted over four hundred and two radio sites. Transitioned twenty two of our air traffic control towers from paper flight strips to electronic data stations. We've advanced surface movement radars at five major airports. We've deployed over one hundred surface awareness i want to recognize and thank our air modernization office for their amazing progress and continue to encourage their steady focus as we prepare for even greater deployments in fiscal twenty twenty seven our fiscal twenty twenty seven requests supplements that initial twelve and a half billion down payment with an additional one point five billion from our annual f and e budget for vital safety improvements to air traffic control infrastructure These funds will allow us to address important programs like our data communication modernization efforts, as well as funding, start, uh, to start the critical work of upgrading our automation systems, which will revolutionize how we can safely manage the growing air traffic demands for our country. The brand new air traffic control system is one of the most ambitious and critical infrastructure projects of our time. But updating obsolete and unsustainable infrastructure is only part of the mon- modernization initiative. To ensure a resilient, efficient, scalable and future-ready national airspace system, we also must modernize the traffic flow management systems, strategic planning tools, and deploy common automations with cyber-secure networks that tie it all together. We will accomplish this with four major foundational upgrades that will revolutionize how we provide air traffic services in the future. We will deploy commercially available technologies, customized for the complex requirements of the largest and most challenging aviation ecosystem in the world. These upgrades will build upon one another to reduce and minimize delays and cancellations, importantly, reduce controller workloads, and more importantly, get the flying public to their final destinations safely and reliably. Our people are our greatest asset. Air traffic controllers, technicians, safety inspectors. They're on the front lines every day, working together to ensure that tens of thousands of flights, that we manage arrive safely to their destinations. Rest assured we are addressing long-standing controller and other safety critical workforce shortages. Currently we have, over eleven thousand fully certified controllers. Deployed in our three hundred and thirteen federal facilities, with another four thousand developmental controllers. in the facility training pipeline, including nine hundred controllers who were already fully certified, but are now recertifying in the facility that they've relocated to. After meeting our fiscal twenty twenty-five hiring target of two thousand, we have also exceeded our twenty twenty-six hiring goal of twenty-two hundred additional trainees. And as you point out, our fiscal twenty-seven budget request includes an additional ninety-five million dollars to hire and train twenty-three hundred additional controllers. Hiring is critical, but it's also important that we develop and deploy modern, automated scheduling tools to improve our staffing efficiencies, and reduce the needs for chronic overtime usage. Increased staffing, lower overtime requirements, and providing our controllers with better work-life schedules. Oh, and also importantly, investing in the quality of their equipment and the facilities that we require them to work in. These are the factors that will significantly improve our controller's quality of life. Earlier this year, the FAA completed an agency-wide realignment to break down silos, enhance operational excellence, and increase transparency and accountability. Central to this strategy was the creation of an office of aviation safety management. This ma office unifies safety oversight intelligence and risk analysis that were previously spread across many separate FAA business units. We are coordinating holistic risk management strategy at the agency level now, eliminating those data silos and ensuring real-time access to agency-wide safety information and risk planning. This strengthens the agency's ability to proactively identify emerging safety trends and implement data-driven solutions. What used to take the FAA analysts months, now can be done in near real-time with significantly greater accuracy. However, there's still much to be accomplished. The administration's fiscal twenty twenty-seven budget request continues to bolster our ability to use comprehensive data integration strategies, to manage skies safely. In closing, I want to thank the forty-four thousand dedicated public servants at the FAA, for their continued hard work, and to Congress and the subcommittee for its continued bipartisan support. That initial twelve and a half billion investment, yes it's allowing us to build a solid foundation the twenty twenty seven budget request now allows us to begin necessary follow-on funding to finish phase one but let me be clear if we halt the momentum now and and don't accomplish the task associated with phase two of modernization once again we will see the system slip into higher delays higher cancellations in a less resilient airspace so i implore you let's work together to finish building the modern air

Thank you, Administrator Bedford. Um, we will now begin our question and answer period. We will stick to the five minute rule. So I would remind all of our members, uh, to confine your uh, your time w- within that five minute period. Um, we'll recognize in the order of seniority based on who was seated at the time that the subcommittee was gaveled in, and I will recognize myself to begin this period. Administrator Bedford, last year's budget reconciliation package, as we have all uh understood, had twelve and a half billion dollars, a down payment as we call it, for air traffic control modernization, funding two of its major efforts that are now underway, telecommunications upgrades and the radar replacement program. Now as of late August, our information says that sixty-three percent of the targeted legacy copper connections have been replaced with fiber five G low earth orbit connectivity and then on the radar side procurement early deployment work is now underway and and I recognize this represents real progress and wanna make sure we're getting full value for the taxpayer dollars already obligated so when do you expect the copper to fiber and wireless transition to be fully complete and when do you expect the copper to fiber and And is that timeline still on track?

Uh, yes, Mister Chairman, that timeline is not only on track, it's actually coming in to the left a little bit on our schedule. Uh, the original plan was to complete that work by December of twenty twenty seven. Uh, the line of sight that we have through our integrated master schedule now looks at, more September of twenty twenty seven.

OK. Uh, turning to radar, three billion of that twelve and a half was going to replacing up to six hundred and twelve radars by June of twenty eight. Can you give us a Quick update on where that stands. Are we having any supply chain uh, problems along the way, and uh, are we still on pace for the twenty eight deadline?

Well, I'm I'm uh, there is a little bit of bad news there, there are supply chain issues that we are wrestling with, uh, and import issues and tariffs, quite frankly. So, there are issues there that have slowed us down. We would have actually been a little faster in our progress reporting in this quarter, except we've had two units damaged in transit. Uh, so that's slowing us down. If i'm being perfectly honest with you, i think we should assume that the schedule will slip from june to september of twenty twenty eight. Um, i hope we can recover that and bring it back in, but we are encountering some challenges there.

How are you sequencing the uh prioritized work of this modernization program?

So, uh, i don't know if you guys had a chance to parse through the GAO report. It's actually it's a a wonderful document, uh, everybody on the committee to thoroughly read it um we have a couple of issues we don't necessarily concur with but we do have a advanced integrated master schedule that actually is now being run through paratons agentic ai systems and so as we now can actually look at how we might change things around to see whether or not uh in real time that will pull the schedule closer or farther away so we can it's kind of like going to your optometrist you know we can keep flipping the switches and see whether or not we get a better or a worse So, again, uh, with the advent of the agentic AI systems that we're using now, this is why I can come and tell you some of the slipping that we're seeing on radars, looks like it may put pressure, uh, on delivering that schedule. But we're talking, weeks or months, not years. Uh, and yes, we will continue to look for ways to supplement, uh, our deployment to bring that back on time.

We'll talk money for just a minute. If, if Congress does not enact another reconciliation package or supplemental for the modernization program we're talking about. It will be up to the facilities and equipment account to carry uh both the ongoing system modernization and legacy sustainment, which is is going to be essential. We can't have a gap, as it were. Uh, now we provided four billion as requested by the president for F and E in this bill. I think we had a kind of a standard of about three billion over time, but you know we've ratcheted that amount up. Um, that may be woefully insufficient to meet the resource needs uh to complete the program. So, give me your thoughts on the resourcing requirements and um whether or not FNE can handle it.

Uh, let me be clear, it can't. I mean uh the so I think one of the more underappreciated elements the modernization project is we have to build a brand new system right next to the existing obsolete system because with over eighteen million flight trajectories a year nearly a billion americans traveling every year we can't allow the current system to have any downtime so we literally have to build the brand new air traffic control system right next to the other and then synthetically shift over from old to new and i can certainly walk you through that but We're sitting here today with the knowledge that if we stop now, just building the infrastructure project itself, and fixing the people even, two of the three pillars of modernization. Gotta get the people right, gotta get the foundation of the infrastructure right, but the third issue is bringing in the technologies that will revolutionize how we can move traffic and grow capacity in this country. That's another ten billion dollar investment.

You know, I'm I'm I'm about out of time, I just wanna ask you real quickly.

Uh, of that four billion in F and E, assuming we get a bill passed, uh, Mister Chairman, um.

I've done my part.

I know you, I know you have. Um, of that four billion, ha, i- is, can you give me a percentage of what is going to legacy versus what's going to modernization? Uh, out of the four billion dollars, w- we are earmarking one point five billion to go to modernization. which will allow us to continue doing the work right now on both the the federal enterprise network system that's the new data architecture that we need to ultimately get into the cloud cyber secure uh data capacity that we need to manage the now so one and a half billion for that and to move the common automation platform forward

ok thank you mister claiborne

thank you mr. chairman i wanna change focus here little bit you close on uh mentioning safety so i'm gonna uh open my question in there uh uh in response to the uh uh tragic collision of uh american deagle flight fifty three forty two and the military aircraft of dca uh i believe the senate commerce committee in may uh uh you told them that um uh you'd implemented nineteen of the thirty three recommendations directed to faa there were fifty overall thirty three to faa now the ntsb has now reviewed uh your responses uh and as of yesterday deemed eleven uh of your uh actions uh to be unacceptable uh which uh maybe all the not that unusual however is my understanding that you sent a letter to ntsb on yesterday stating that you believe the faa has effectively addressed uh several of the recommendations including five uh that were deemed unacceptable And uh, do you intend to still work with NTSB? Uh, to incorporate their safety recommendations? The into your actions?

Uh, well, let me just clarify, of the thirty-five, they actually last night said ten of them were unacceptable. So, I don't want to undersell it. So we have ten items still out of the thirty-five recommendations that we are not eye to eye on. And yes, we will continue to work with the NTSB to find a resolution to those ten issues.

Are you saying rather than five, you have ten?

i'm saying that the ntsb had thirty five unique findings that they asked the faa to address

right

as we see there today we've addressed to their reasonable satisfaction twenty five of the thirty five and we have ten that we have not

but do you still work on those ten

we're well i think clearly we got a letter from them on the ten and now we need to dig deeper and find out what exactly about our solution they didn't like and how are we going to bridge that gap yes so we will continue to have engagement with the ntsb

well i appreciate modernization but i think all of us appreciate more uh safety issues when it comes to this

we'll have to do both

so now uh the gao reported uh yes issued a report on yesterday uh that my um problems with uh or issues i shouldn't say problems with issues with modernization according this report uh the faa has not developed a detailed plan with complete cost estimates to finish this ambitious effort and the estimates uh the faa has provided do not include government release costs or any post implementation operations and maintenance costs Uh, I do not question modernization. I'm all uh for being modern. But at this point, will the FAA develop a complete plan and present this committee uh with a fulsome look uh at the true cost of doing this job correctly?

Well, first, just to correct the record. I wanna thank the GAO. We asked them to come in and start this process. So we want transparency, we want accountability. So I am grateful. that they came in early on this process and started this effort again there is tremendously useful information in their report on just the magnitude of the problems the challenges that we face in modernization and again i think it's instructive reading for every member on the subcommittee to go through this report i've gone through it in great detail and while i do not concur with the two findings that they made we do have life cycle cost estimates for the entirety of the project and then we do have a highly integrated master work schedule which i referenced earlier so uh perhaps we need to get them back in and go through this one more time but focusing on the stuff in terms of the dollars uh you'll remember i think i wasn't here so i'm going by what i've been told when we first brought phase one of modernization we were asking for fifteen or sixteen billion dollars and that got cut back to twelve and a half billion in the working family tax cut act guess what it's costing sixteen billion dollars to do phase one and we're funding that gap out of f and e so i actually think the original cost estimates that we brought congress were pretty darn accurate we just didn't get the funding that requested and so yes the both are true we are gonna overspend the twelve and a half billion to get phase one of modernization done it's not true that we didn't have a uh correct estimate of what we thought that initial cost would be do you does that make sense

A little bit.

Well, again, I'm new to this too. So, um, but we do have a fantastic plan, we're gonna run over eleven thousand modern modernization undertakings over the next two and a half years. So, uh, the agency is working its tail off to get this done, and get it done right. The other thing that this, this report shows in great detail, is the FAA has been at this since nineteen ninety five, for over thirty years, and we spent over, uh, the report says thirty six billion dollars. unfailed modernization efforts. So, Chairman Wilmette, you're right, we've got to get this right. And I think we can do that with strong bipartisan effort. And I welcome each of you, your staff, your teams over to the FAA to the modernization office and you can see in real time what we're doing. So, open book.

Thank you. Mister Cole.

Thank you, Mister Chairman. Uh, Mister Stater-Betford, uh, your controller hiring targets are climbing toward twenty three hundred and beyond and every one of those tradees as you know has to pass through the academy in oklahoma city it's the gateway and we wanna make sure it's not a constraint on you reaching the uh targets that uh you've laid out in terms of staffing so is the minroni center appropriately resourced that is classrooms space instructors equipment uh so that we don't hit a choke point surging uh uh training for both controllers and technicians

Uh, well thank you for the question, uh, uh, Chairman Cole. Um, first, the Mike Moroney Center is a fabulous asset for the FAA, as you mentioned in your testimony, or your opening comments. So, we do more there than just train controllers. It is our logistics hub. Um, and while sometimes I can be critical, you know, there's a lot of things I look at that we do at the FAA that we don't do particularly well, that we can do better. Uh, but what I, one of the shining stars is our logistics team at the Mike Moroney Center. they've been doing theory of constraints for over a decade and and it explains something to me i think it's important for the committee to understand because it affects our budget that four billion dollars for sustainment it's actually also to replace legacy infrastructure but we haven't been able to afford to do that because the cost of the old legacy system is so extreme we're spending the majority of our budget keeping the lights turned on that technology is so obsolete i don't even know how we how we do it but the guys at the logistics center mike moroney has figured it out so those guys are fantastic classroom wise uh we're full you know so we can't put any more controllers into training than what we have now however through secretary duffy's leadership the faa has um created thirteen new uh certified training programs with local universities and colleges and those are creating new feeder streams for controllers that we can feed into our local facilities

uh again you you sort of touched on this but everyone asked it it may little bit different way but are you comfortable you have the resources to actually modernize the training center itself as you said it's old it's got lots of problems they do a great job running what they've got but at some point it it needs to change and again i know we've put a lot on your plate but uh having some idea in terms of long-term infrastructure what you need would be very helpful and how are we measuring up and helping you in that regard

well i'd i do think there is a lot of opportunity for improvement uh if i'm being fully transparent we have not looked at the curriculum for how we train a controller in over thirty years and so while we're bringing in new technologies unfortunately we're training them to do an old way of business and some of the things that we train them on for example we spend nine curriculum days training controllers how to do math to separate traffic when radar goes out But the procedure is when the radar goes out, we simply move the traffic elsewhere, you know, so there is no control, active controlling going on using math and controllers and slide rules.

Mm-hmm.

So there's nine days of wasted curriculum in my mind. So there's a awful lot of opportunity, I think, to improve uh, the delivery of training and the curriculum enrichment that we're providing our control is to make them more field-ready to go out and do the,

Mm-hmm.

or on-job training in their facilities.

i mean as as you know there's uh considerable controversy sometimes around not only how we train controllers but should we focus so much in one place i mean obviously i'm parochial local and we think that's the right way to do it so there's a common experience amongst the controllers themselves a common set of instructors curricula what have you uh what is your thinking on that uh and are you comfortable with that approach generating again ultimately the number of controllers that you need

well so in in my prior life uh you may have heard we've had pilot shortages uh so in the pilot shortage world we stopped relying on traditional uh feeder systems for us which were colleges and universities and we created our own vertical we created the largest privately owned pilot university in the country um because we wanted to be self-sufficient so i think mike maroney is similar to that but we don't rely just on one training facility. So we we we build a core that we keep busy, cuz it's highly efficient, and then we supplement with uh feeder streams from other uh these collegiate uh training programs so I think Mike Moroney is critical to have an efficient training facility but it shouldn't be the only training facility. We should continue to supplement with resources.

Uh there's a big difference between supplementing and duplicating. Uh you know and I think that's the core of the issue from standpoint here i'm just being candid with you if we're stretched to have the dollars to do what we're doing now and we are uh i don't think you know duplicating that facility someplace else and we hear that idea in the senate quite a bit uh makes much sense and can and terms of the resources we have so uh again i'm sort of out of time and running over we can have that discussion another time but uh again that's a important consideration for us So, uh, with that, Mr. Chairman, I'll yield back, but thank you again and thanks again for coming out and spending the amount of time that you spent there. It meant a lot to our delegation. I know Representative Weiss was there and, uh, just having somebody, uh, your administrative team on the ground was a huge asset to us and a big morale boost, quite frankly, to the people at the facility. So thank you.

Well, it was enlightening for me too, sir. So thank you for inviting me.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, if it pleases the subcommittee, I'd like to modify the order of appearance here on the Q and A to recognize Mister Strong, who's got another commitment uh during this hour. And I told him that I thought we could uh recognize him a little bit sooner. So Mike, if you don't mind just holding fire for just a minute. So without objection

As long as you give me ten minutes, it's okay.

Yeah.

Thank you.

So without objection, Mister Strong, you're recognized for five minutes.

Thank you for the committee, I appreciate your consideration. Thank you Chairman Womack, Ranking Member Clyburn for convening this hearing today. Administrator Bedford, thank you for being here. My district in North Alabama is home to the Port of Huntsville, a unique multimodal complex that includes Huntsville International Airport. Uh, the Huntsville Airport integrates air, cargo, rail, highway connectivity to support critical supply chain for our national security and economic growth, and is the only FAA licensed commercial space entry site in the United States. Administrator Bedford, multimodal port strengthen our domestic supply chain and provide more reliable and efficient movement of critical goods and materials across our country. When the FAA evaluates infrastructure needs at an airport like Huntsville International, how does it account for its broader role as a part of a multimodal freight network, uh, supporting our defense industrial base and critical domestic supply chains?

Uh, thank you for the question, sir. The the It it's a actually a fairly laborious process. We're looking for airspace complexity, we're looking for the amount of demand uh that's on the system. We're looking for other ancillary effects uh, you know, to determine whether the infrastructure is appropriately sized for the the market requirements.

Thank you. Building on that, Huntsville International Airport has consistently been recognized as one of the top small airports in the country, serving a fast-growing region with over one point four seven million passengers annually. and has the second longest runway in the southeast united states. Administrator Bedford, how is the FAA ensuring small and mid-sized airports have the resources they need to keep pace with rapid growth and increasing demand?

Uh, well, again, through the the uh AIP programs and AIG programs, we have a essentially through the budgeting process a pot of money that we are allocating to small and medium size otherwise larger airports frankly would just crowd them out in terms of So, I think there's a very, um, considerate look to make sure that we're supporting our small and medium sized airports, uh, in keeping them healthy.

Mm-hmm.

Um, of course you can do more with more. Uh, so there's a, there's a lot of demand on those infrastructure dollars and not enough of them to go around.

Thank you. Does the FAA current uh, does its current funding criteria adequately account for growth when determining where resources are allocated?

i'm i'm not gonna say we can't do a better job cause i think there are you know we should always be striving to look for better ways to use data uh we do have very good uh information in terms of current demand and one year out demand we don't have great insight into demand much farther down the road

thank you airports need certainty in the federal approval process to plan and deliver major uh capital improvements but i've heard concerns that federal reviews can sometimes take longer than the construction itself. What is the FAA doing to improve its review and approval process, and eliminate unnecessary delays in airport infrastructure products or projects?

Yeah, so uh, of course, NEPA and other environmental reviews are a popular topic. Um, we're concerned about them as well. We're concerned about the time that it takes to to do anything in the national aviation system. No matter where we fly, there's somebody beneath those airplanes and that that those airplanes unfortunately even though they create less noise today than they did ten years ago twenty years ago thirty years ago they're not noise free and so as we try to increase capacity and drive more efficiency meaning the meaning the constraint is the runway

yeah

it shouldn't be the airspace we can create greater efficiency but as we do that we're moving noise around and that obviously creates challenges for us in terms of the timeline that it takes to effect those changes.

Thank you. The Department of Transportation said it expects FAA licensed launches and re-entries to reach ten thousand annually by twenty thirty five. Uh, I commend the administration's focus on strengthening American's uh leadership in commercial space and ensuring our regulatory and transportation infrastructure keeps pace with the in- industry's rapid growth. The FY twenty twenty seven third appropriations bill provides additional funding and hiring authority to accommodate increased commercial space operations. Given the increased uh support and engagement from both Congress and the President, can you speak to the current average time to process a launch or re-entry license, and how the new DOT Space Task Force will play a role in breaking down regulatory and operational barriers facing facing the commercial space industry?

Well, if I'm being perfectly honest, sir, we're behind. uh we should have been hiring five years ago in order to fill these positions to manage the the tempo and cadence of the launch request that we're seeing today uh so i would say while it's moving at about two x the speed it was moving two years ago it's still probably too slow for spacex and blue origin and companies like that i don't know that we'll ever be unless we get same day service i don't know that we'll ever be as fast as they want us to be but the overarching issue is maintaining safety I mean, we need to understand where these missions are going and how they're coming back, uh, and keep American public safe.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, I yield back, thank you for your patience.

You bet. Thank you. Mr. Quigley.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, Minister Ritter, thank you for being here. Uh, as the, uh, Co-chair of Quiet Skies Caucus and the fact that O'Hare is in my district, uh, well aware that aircraft noise isn't just a nuisance, uh, as you know, uh study after study is now showing that it actually has uh physiological harm to people particularly senior citizens one of the reasons when we did faa reauthorization twenty twenty four we created the aircraft noise advisory committee

mmm

uh we are almost two years since we did that two years past the deadline which we were supposed to stand that up uh so my recent letter to you there was a response but it still didn't have a timeline so we're we're other than we're getting to it so uh