FAA

FlightPlan

2009-2013

Celebrating

50Years

of Safety

Preparing

for 50 More

Our continuing mission

is to provide the safest,

most efficient aerospace

system in the world.

This is our strategy to

navigate the next

five years.

Our Vision

We continue to improve the

safety and efficiency of

flight. We are responsive to

our customers and are

accountable to the taxpayer

and the flying public.

Our Values

SAFETY IS OUR PASSION.

We are the world leaders

in aerospace safety.

QUALITY IS OUR TRADEMARK.

We serve our country,

our stakeholders, our

customers, and each other.

INTEGRITY IS OUR CHARACTER.

We do the right thing, even

when no one is looking.

PEOPLE ARE OUR STRENGTH.

We treat people as we

want to be treated.

I

n 1958, the airlines were just coming into their own. In this day and

age, a typical year for the airlines had

15 accidents—about one every three

weeks—and about 260 deaths. It was an

industry in its formative years, learning

to keep pace with the novelty of erasing

several time zones in a single flight.

In 2008, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA) , the novelty has become a way

of life. The total number of commercial

passengers in U.S. airspace is approaching

800 million per year. In fact, since the

last major commercial fatal accident in

the U.S. over two years ago, more than

1.5 billion passengers have flown without a commercial passenger fatality. The

challenge of sustaining this safety record

is formidable, and we remain focused

at keeping it that way.*

Dealing with congestion and delays also

remains a top priority, both in the air and

on the ground. The task of reshaping

airspace in the major metropolitan areas

is a lengthy and, at times, a frustrating

process. Consider New York. One-third

of America’s air traffic flies to and through

this corridor. As a result, we’re constantly

looking for ways to modify and streamline the routes in that region. As New

York goes, so goes the system. A groundstop in New York can ripple coast-to-coast

in less than an hour.

It’s easy to see that this region serves as

a solid example why the agency must

continue full-throttle with plans to launch

“NextGen”, the Next Generation Air

Transportation System that is the overhaul of America’s air traffic control

system. The fact of the matter is that not

only do we need to be able to handle

current traffic levels, but we need to

look to and plan the future.

We’re moving ahead already. Aviation’s

reliance on ground-based technology

is being replaced with state-of-the-art

satellite-based technology. When you

have more passengers flying in more

planes than ever before, minimal changes

won’t be able to accommodate the numbers. That’s why NextGen is designed to

alter the entire landscape of how we fly.

NextGen gives pilots and controllers the

same view of the system. It creates greater

efficiencies and more fuel-efficient,

greener routes to get where you’re going.

We must also continue to enhance

capacity on the ground at the nation’s

busiest airports. Since FY 2000, thirteen

new runways have opened, providing airports with the potential to accommodate

1.6 million more annual operations. The

capacity of our National Airspace System

(NAS), however, continues to be stretched

beyond its means. We are working with

airport owners and operators to plan

for projects that will increase airport

capacity. History will be made this fall

by commissioning new runways at three

major airports, all on the same day.

Runways at Chicago O’Hare, Washington

Dulles, and Seattle Airports will be commissioned in November 2008.

Even as we push forward with NextGen

and airport expansions, we remain

focused on safety. Case in point: our

runways. In 2007, runway incursions

were growing slightly faster than we

projected. The agency launched “A Call

to Action,” bringing together the airlines,

the pilots, the controllers, the dispatchers—anyone whose work in anyway

would touch the airfield. In a series of

face-to-face meetings with chief pilots

and company executives, new training

techniques and operational procedures

were put in place. The result: the number of runway incursions began to drop.

The bottom line: since then, in over 58

million operations, commercial airliners

were involved in less than ten serious

runway incursions.

We put in place state-of-the-art airport

surface detection radar at 12 airports,

including Los Angeles and Newark. We

allowed for the placement of moving

map displays in the cockpit, an application of technology that could change

movement on the airfield the same way

that global positioning systems (GPS)

changed how we drive our cars.

The Flight Plan is the strategic plan for

the agency, the plan to help us prepare

for the future. The majority of FAA’s

responsibilities are our core functions—

our everyday roles and responsibilities—

which are not specifically highlighted in

this document. For any area of the

Flight Plan that you would like more

information or see how it flows into our

business plans, please look on the internet at www.faa.gov under the “Quick

Links” section to the Strategic Flight

Plan. We also post how we are doing at

the end of each quarter on achieving

the targets we set, and you can find

those reports under “How are we doing?”

5

INTRODUCTION

IN CELEBRATION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FAA, we asked our employees to write in and tell

us why they love working at the FAA. Employees from all regions and centers, lines of business, and staff

offices submitted their stories, more than 235 of them in all. These employees represent the full range and

diversity of our workforce: younger and older workers, minorities, men, women, long-time federal workers,

and newcomers, and from virtually every organization within FAA. Each person’s story burst with enthusiasm

and pride as they told us, in their own words, what makes them proud to work for the FAA. We are proud to

use these images to illustrate our pages and share the spirit of today’s FAA.

* The Commercial Air Carrier Fatal Accident Rate performance target is made up of scheduled and unscheduled operations for Part 121 carriers and scheduled

operations for Part 135 carriers.

Photo: Laurie Zaleski
Next Generation Air Transportation System

(Next Gen) Starts Now

NextGen transforms the way the FAA provides air navigation

services to support an expected doubling of airspace demand

from an increasingly diverse U.S. aviation industry. It emphasizes efforts to build upon our safety record and to improve

aviation’s environmental performance through advanced aircraft performance capabilities and alternative fuels.

FAA will transition from air traffic control to air traffic management. In the NextGen system, most communications will

be made through digital data, much of it transferred directly

from computer to computer. Relevant information will be

shared easily among system users through network-enabled

information access. In other words, the right information will

be available to the right people at the right time. Initial

implementations of NextGen capabilities will leverage existing NAS infrastructure. With its aviation community partners,

FAA established an integrated demonstration site in Florida

as shown on the next page.

The FAA has identified five transformational NextGen programs

that will fundamentally change the way we communicate,

navigate, and manage air traffic. Here are the five programs

with a short description of each:

Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B)

ADS-B uses GPS to broadcast the position and intent of the

aircraft. It then automatically transmits this information —

with more precision than radar — to air traffic managers

and pilots. Through more accurate surveillance, ADS-B will

allow for more efficient separation of planes. In the cockpit,

pilots also will have access to information on weather, traffic

and flight restrictions.

System-Wide Information Management (SWIM)

SWIM is an information technology program that identifies

industry standards and commercially available products to

ensure interoperability between NAS systems. This will

improve operational decisions, making it easier to share

data between systems. The program’s first segment will

focus on applications related to flight and flow management,

aeronautical information management, and weather data

dissemination.

NextGen Data Communications

NextGen Data Communications will give controllers and

66
flight crews a way to exchange both operationally critical

(e.g. air traffic clearances and instruction) and routine information (e.g. advisories, and flight crew requests and reports).

Today’s voice-only communications will not support the

NextGen vision of network-enabled information access and

exchange and aircraft trajectory-based operations.

NextGen Network Enabled Weather (NNEW)

NNEW will serve as infrastructure core of the NextGen aviation weather support services and provide access to a common weather picture across the national airspace system.

NNEW will identify, adapt and utilize standards for system

wide weather data formatting and access. Using network

enabled operation capabilities, aviation weather information

from multi-agency sources will be developed which can be

directly and commonly accessed by and integrated into user

decision support tools. The virtual database will consolidate

a vast array of ground-, airborne-, and space-based weather

observations and forecasts, updated as needed in real time,

into a single, national—eventually global—picture of the

atmosphere.

National Airspace System Voice Switch (NVS) 

NVS is a program to replace current voice switches, some

of which are more than 20 years old. Current linkages do

not support sharing of airspace within and across facility

boundaries; reconfiguration capability of controller position

to radio frequency and volume of airspace is inflexible; and

reconfigurations can not be done quickly. The NVS program

will allow the FAA’s air traffic control to achieve a networkbased infrastructure as well as evolve into a more flexible

communications system that supports dynamic re-sectorization, resource reallocation, airspace redesign and the

NextGen vision.

MIA

MCO

DAB

ADS-B/RNAV

East Coast Superhighway

ADS-B Ground Stations

Continuous Descent

Arrivals

Predictive Weather

into Traffic Management

Surface Management

ADS-B Gulf

of Mexico

77

Near- to Mid-Term

NextGen Integrated Test Bed

Goal: Integrated Gate-to-Gate Demonstration of NextGen Operations
Photo: ATO / Jon Ross
INCREASED SAFETY

Our goal is to achieve the lowest possible accident rate

and constantly improve safety.

Our first commitment is to safety.

The proof of our ability to maintain that focus is in the actual

safety record itself. In fiscal years 2007

and 2008, there were no commercial

passenger fatalities on commercial flights

in the U.S. Knowing this, the issue facing

FAA comes in the form of a simple

question with an exceedingly complex

answer: When a system is so safe, how do

you know where to place your focus to

keep it that way? With more passengers

flying than ever, and fuel prices forcing

airlines to look for ways to save money,

the test has never been more daunting.

To address this challenge, we’re moving

away from the anecdotal approach to

safety and instead using data-analysis to

prevent accidents before they happen.

Safety Management Systems (SMS) are

being put in place that allow us to examine the data of what’s actually happening

in the system. With SMS, we examine

that data to isolate the trends that very

well could become the precursors to

accidents themselves. Three of the

agency’s largest lines of business—Air

Traffic, Aviation Safety and Airports—

have these programs under way.

These efforts complement other areas

of focus, such as the “Call to Action” we

placed to industry regarding runway

safety. We used the data that had been

accumulated with our Safety Management System to isolate trends. With that

information, we met with chief pilots,

put new technology in place, and

revamped airport signage to increase

the levels of safety on the runway.

Even though commercial aviation draws

most of the headlines, we remain diligent in our efforts to work with the

pilots who form the backbone of General

Aviation (GA). The FAA continues to

work jointly with the Alaska aviation

community through a number of organizations and safety programs such as:

the Medallion Foundation, Alaska Air

Carriers Association, Alaska Airman’s

Association, FAA Safety Team, and Circle

of Safety. In addition to these training

and education efforts, we’re using new

technology in Alaska, such as the satellite-based Capstone navigation and terrain awareness avionics. We’re also

installing 221 additional weather cameras

throughout the state. These weather

cameras prove that a picture that is

indeed worth a thousand words and are

a real-time depiction of what’s happening throughout the state. The Alaskan

pilot now has go/no go information that

was previously unavailable.

In addition, we’re using ADS-B to solidify the use of satellite surveillance in

Alaska. The breadth of the geography

there makes the use of radar virtually

impossible. Satellites aren’t encumbered

by terrain. The situational awareness

benefits provided by the improved

surveillance, broadcast services, and

improved avionics has proven to be a

great success; preliminary data indicates

a projected 47 percent drop in the fatal

accident rate for aircraft equipped with

ADS-B in Southwest Alaska.

As a result of that success, we are transferring the lessons learned in Alaska to

the Gulf of Mexico, another location in

which radar coverage is limited. We are

increasing our outreach and training to

general aviation pilots to increase their

skills and awareness.

We’re making similar advances to air

traffic control safety. The establishment

of “proximity events” last year was a

recognition that our focus should be on

the more serious operational errors and

not on those that present little or no

safety risk. Training programs and better

automation will help us meet our goal

in FY 2009.

The section that follows identifies the

measures and initiatives we have in place

to improve safety. Because we always

look toward continuous improvement,

we have updated our safety measures

and initiatives. For example, we’ve put

in place a new metric to collect and share

information from multiple programs,

including the Aviation Safety Information

Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) program

and the new Air Traffic Safety Action

Program. We’re spreading safety data as

far and wide as we can. There can be no

secrets in safety, and everyone including

and especially the passenger, benefits

with this approach.

We accelerated the expansion of the Air

Transport Oversight System (ATOS) for

the airlines. We’re blending the oversight

data ATOS is providing with our other

data sources to enhance our ability to

detect nationwide trends and provide

a better perspective on the health and

safety of the aviation system.

It is not a coincidence that we are in the

safest period in the history of aviation.

It took a lot of hard work and dedication from our employees, the aviation

industry and external stakeholders to

get us here. The system is the safest it

has ever been, and we will continue to

work to keep it that way.

9
10

Safety Management System

We live in an era of unprecedented safety in air travel. In the last

ten years, the U.S. commercial aviation accident rate has dropped

by 57 percent and general aviation accidents have significantly

declined. At the same time, the capacity and complexity of the air

transportation system have steadily increased. Air travel forecasts

expect as many as one billion travelers to take to the skies every

year by 2016.

In keeping up with this growth, increasing complexity, and implementing the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) safety

vision, the FAA needs to move beyond our current safety system.

We recognize the need for a more efficient and farther reaching

method of operations. Maintaining and improving safety in this

increasingly complex system requires us to take a proactive

approach and to be innovative. The answer is to institute our SMS

across the FAA, beginning with the Office of Aviation Safety, the

Air Traffic Organization, and the Office of Airports. We know we

can do this while complementing and leveraging the capabilities

of the aviation industry’s product and service providers’ SMS. The

FAA has issued the Safety Management System Guidance Order

which will be used as the framework for the implementation of

SMS within the FAA.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has established

a framework or minimum requirements for an SMS for many system

participants. SMS is becoming the standard for aviation safety

worldwide. In alignment with this strategy, the JPDO Senior Policy

Committee recently approved the JPDO Safety Working Group

developed SMS standard, establishing SMS requirements for the

federal departments involved in NextGen.

In NextGen, FAA will build a comprehensive SMS into each new

system, comprised of complementary and integrated SMS within

FAA Lines of Business. The organizations that the FAA oversees will

also have SMS, and these SMS will be complementary and mutually

supportive. As FAA oversight strategies are refined to leverage the

capabilities of product and service providers’ SMS, the FAA will

work with stakeholders to produce practical, internationally-harmonized regulations that are flexible enough to accommodate effective

industry programs. The benefit of SMS will be increased safety and

more efficient oversight.
11

Reduced Commercial Aviation Fatal Accidents.

In FY 2007. the FAA rolled out a new way to measure airline safety. The new measure, fatalities per

100 million persons onboard, more accurately

reflects risk to the flying public. The FAA’s target is

to reach a 50 percent reduction by 2025 from a

2007 baseline of 8.88 fatalities per 100 million

persons on board. At 0.04, we were well below the

FY 2008 performance target of 8.7 fatalities per

100 million persons on board.

Continued to Reduce Fatal GA Accidents. The success

of collaborative safety initiatives between the FAA

and industry continues to drive the GA fatal accident

rate even lower. This year marked a 3-year period

that was the safest ever recorded in the history of

GA. The FAA will use these years as the baseline for

next year’s new GA safety metric and goal. The aim

is to reduce GA fatal accidents over the next 10

years to no more than one accident per 100,000

flight hours.

Maintained Safety Record for Commercial Space

Launches. The commercial space launch industry

continued its safety record of safe launches with

none resulting in a public fatality or injury. This year

marked an increase from previous years in launches

from land-based and offshore sites. All told, there

have been eleven launches in FY 2008.

Implemented an agency-wide SMS. This year, the

FAA published guidance for implementation of SMS

throughout the agency. This guidance furthers the

practice of managing safety by moving to a more

process-oriented system safety approach. It also

required developing and implementing a plan for functions under the SMS, including the structure of safety

oversight relationships with the segment of industry

for which we hold safety oversight responsibility.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Certifications.

As the demand for these systems expands, our goal

is to protect the safety of all. We established the

procedures for issuing experimental airworthiness

certificates of UAS for purposes of research and

development, market survey, or crew training to UAS.

We’ve issued close to 40 experimental certificates

for unmanned systems so far.

Fatigue Workshop. FAA is actively engaged in addressing issues involving fatigue in flight crewmembers

and air traffic controllers. We have an ongoing project

to address fatigue management for crews on flights

of greater than 16 hours duration. We sponsored the

highly successful industry Fatigue Symposium in

June, 2008 when we brought together all the current

and best science and practice on fatigue and fatigue

management in a public forum that will serve as the

baseline for future FAA and industry actions.

TOP SAFETY ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR FY 2008

Photo: ATO / Jon Ross
12

OBJECTIVE 1

Reduce commercial air carrier fatalities.

Performance Target

● Cut the rate of fatalities per 100 million

persons on board in half by FY 2025.

Strategy

Improve FAA oversight systems and

processes.

Initiative

● Develop and implement a strategic

plan to address the recommendations

received from the Independent Review

Team, the Special Certification Review

Team, the Airworthiness Directive

Review Team and others, including

the OIG, and implement those actions

scheduled for FY 2009.

Strategy

Continue the evolution toward a performance-based NAS by using a satellitebased navigation system and onboard

technologies. These improvements allow

aircraft greater flexibility to navigate

airspace more safely, efficiently, and in

a more environmentally sound way

than the current ground-based navigation system.

Initiatives

● Implement the Roadmap for Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) through

the continued development and

implementation of PBN approach

procedures with the goal of achieving

improved minima and precision-like

approach capability. Through FY 2013,

we will publish at least 300 RNP and

RNP-Special Aircraft and Aircrew

Authorization Required (SAAAR)

approach procedures.

● Provide third parties the ability to

design, flight check, and implement

RNP approach procedures with FAA

providing safety oversight.

● Apply appropriate FAA standards and

criteria in the helicopter RNP/RNAV

departure procedure development

process.

● Develop a plan for ADS-B high altitude performance in specific regions

such as the Gulf of Mexico and off the

East coast.

Strategy

Address safety concerns and issues,

expand cost-effective safety oversight

and surveillance, and continue research

into the causal factors of accidents.

Initiatives

● Send critical safety rules to the Office

of the Secretary of Transportation

within 90 days of the planned date.

● Address the National Transportation

Safety Board’s identified safety issues.
13

● Maintain ISO:9001 registration to

certify that FAA’s Aviation Safety

Organization meets the same standards expected of those we regulate

in the aviation industry.

● Continue research to identify human

factors that may contribute to accidents. Develop and implement strategies, methods, and technologies that

reduce safety risk.

● Modernize Aeronautical Information

Management (AIM) services to deliver

accurate and timely digital aeronautical information, products and services

to customers, including improved

Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) and

improved information on restricted

and regulated airspace.

● Where practical, upgrade Runway

Safety Areas to meet standards.

Strategy

Promote and expand safety information

sharing efforts, including FAA-industry

partnerships and data-driven safety programs that identify, prioritize, and address

risks before they lead to accidents.

Initiatives

● Collect safety data at a national level

and consolidate the data under the

Aviation Safety Information Analysis

and Sharing (ASIAS) program.

● Ensure effective management and

analysis of data-gathering programs

● Improve the safety of transporting

hazardous materials by air.

● Improve safety at Part 139 certificated

airports through airport design standards and inspections.

● Continue implementing Commercial

Aviation Safety Team (CAST)initiatives.

OBJECTIVE 2

Reduce general aviation fatalities.

Performance Targets

● Reduce the fatal accident rate per

100,000 flight hours by 10 percent

over a 10-year period (2009-2018).

● By the end of FY 2009, reduce accidents in Alaska for general aviation

and all Part 135 operations from the

2000-2002 average of 130 accidents

per year to no more than 99 accidents

per year. This measure will be converted from a number to a rate at the

beginning of FY 2010.

Strategy

Improve standard procedures and

guidelines to implement technologies

and systems that will help pilots operate aircraft as safely as possible.

Initiatives

● Continue delivery of dependent surveillance to key sites. To increase situational awareness, provide text and

graphical data through programs such

as Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast/Traffic Information ServiceBroadcast, and Flight Information

Service Broadcast to the cockpit

through flight information services.

● Develop and publish Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) approaches.

In FY 2009, we will publish 500 WAAS

approaches.

● Manage the Automated Flight Service

Station (AFSS) contract to provide

quality flight services to the contiguous

United States, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii.

● Continue research to identify human

factors that may contribute to accidents. Develop and implement strategies, methods, and technologies that

reduce safety risks.

● Develop policies, procedures, and

approval processes to enable operation

of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

● Identify issues, create strategies, and

initiate action plans for Part 135 commuter and on-demand operations.

● Working with the Helicopter Association International (HAI), continue

development and implementation of

the International Helicopter Safety

Team (IHST) recommendations.

● Continue implementing General

Aviation Joint Steering Committee

initiatives.

Strategy

Expand and accelerate implementing

safety and air navigation improvement

programs in Alaska.

Initiatives

● Achieve full operational capability of

WAAS by completing all hardware and

software changes needed to complete

the system.

● Continue to optimize weather camera

benefits and explore alternative technologies.

● Support the Medallion, Circle of

Safety, and Alaska Flight Service Safety

programs.
14

● Improve rural airports to permit 24-

hour Visual Flight Rules (VFR) access.

● Implement an improved statewide

public RNP/RNAV WAAS-enabled route

structure.

● Provide high quality flight services to

our customers in Alaska.

● Working with industry, by FY 2010,

develop and baseline an Alaska accident rate that is closely aligned to the

General Aviation fatal accident rate,

replaces the current measure, and

suitable for consolidation with the GA

fatal accident rate in the future.

OBJECTIVE 3

Reduce the risk of runway incursions.

Performance Targets

● By FY 2010, reduce Category A and B

(most serious) runway incursions to a

rate of no more than 0.45 per million

operations, and maintain or improve

through FY 2013.

● By the end of FY 2013, reduce total

runway incursions by 10 percent from

the FY 2008 baseline.

Strategy

Identify and monitor runway incursion

reduction goals, and implement key runway incursion reduction technologies.

Initiatives

● Publish a National Runway Safety Plan

(NRSP).

● Continue to develop, enhance, and test

runway status lights functionality for

application at a wider array of airports.

● Continue to test and plan implementation of low cost ground surveillance

(LCGS) systems.

● Accelerate the process of evaluating

Electronic Flight Bags, moving map

displays and aural alerting cockpit

technology for the purpose of reducing runway incursions.
15

Strategy

Identify and reduce runway incursion

collision risks.

Initiatives

● Improve training, procedures, evaluation, analysis, testing, and certification

to reduce the risk of runway incursions resulting from errors by pilots,

air traffic controllers, pedestrians,

vehicle operators, tug operators, and

individuals conducting aircraft taxi

operations.

● Design, develop and implement an

improved runway incursion analysis

capability.

Strategy

Modify and improve existing surface

movement infrastructure.

Initiatives

● Install Airport Surface Detection

Equipment-Model X (ASDE-X) and

retrofit ASDE-X equipment capability

into selected Airport Movement

Area Safety System (AMASS) installations, such as Los Angeles and Newark

airports.

● Continue to evaluate and deploy runway status lights at AMASS and ASDEX airports.

OBJECTIVE 4

Ensure the safety of commercial space

launches.

Performance Target

● No fatalities, serious injuries, or

significant property damage to the

uninvolved public during licensed

or permitted space launch and

reentry activities.

Strategy

Continue developing tools, guidance,

and regulations for reducing the safety

risks for commercial space launch and

reentry operations, including those

involving human space flight.

Initiatives

● Ensure that safety oversight keeps

pace with changes in the commercial

space transportation environment.

● Partner with National Aeronautics

and Space Administration (NASA)

and Department of Defense (DOD) to

manage the integration of space transportation operations.

● Work with the Commercial Space

Transportation Advisory Committee

(COMSTAC) and government stakeholders to develop and implement

strategies to enable safe commercial

space flight operations that involve

on-board crew, and other space flight

participants.

OBJECTIVE 5

Enhance the safety of FAA’s air traffic

systems.

Performance Target

● Limit Category A and B (most serious)

operational errors to a rate of

no more than 1.95 per million activities by FY 2012 and maintain through

FY 2013.

Strategy

Identify and reduce factors contributing

to operational errors.

Initiatives

● Modify our processes for evaluations

and safety audits to reduce operational errors.

● Improve measurement and analysis

of safety performance by implementing automated tools (Traffic Analysis

and Review Program) and developing

enhanced safety metrics and more

efficient performance reporting

processes.

● Provide pilots with safe access to the

NAS by analyzing and disseminating

aeronautical and meteorological information to pilots and controllers

through innovative systems.

OBJECTIVE 6

Implement a Safety Management

System (SMS) for the FAA.

Performance Target

● In FY 2010, implement SMS in the Air

Traffic Organization, Office of Aviation

Safety, and Office of Airports. In FY

2012, implement SMS policy in all

appropriate FAA organizations.

Strategy

Design, develop, and implement SMS

for the FAA.

Initiatives

● Develop and implement agency-wide

SMS guidance.

● Design and implement SMS for the

delivery of air traffic services.

● Design and implement SMS for safety

regulation and certification.

● Design and implement SMS for airport regulation and certification.
Photo: Construction of the Seatac 3rd Runway © 2008 Sky-Pix
17

GREATER CAPACITY

Our goal is to work with local governments and airspace users to provide

increased capacity and better operational performance in the United States

airspace system that reduces congestion and meets projected demand in

an environmentally sound manner.

A merica’s airports are the access

point for the Nation to the air

transportation network. We

must preserve and improve our airports—both commercial and general

aviation—in order to prepare for the

future and maintain our leading role.

Over the last several years, we’ve made

significant strides to add capacity to the

aviation system. Since 2000, 13 new

runways have opened and the numbers

tell the story. With just 20 miles of concrete, we’ve added the potential to

accommodate 1.6 million more annual

operations and decrease delay per operation by about five minutes. With roughly

5,000 aircraft in the sky at any given time,

five minutes adds up to quite a bit of

fuel and a considerable amount of time

saved. In November 2008, FAA will commission three new runways at three

major airports, all on the same day, an

event that has never happened before.

Even with these new runways, the

capacity of the system continues to be

stretched beyond its limits at certain airports and regions. The associated delays

are placing a strain on everyone. The

FAA must immediately take extraordinary

steps to reverse this trend at these key

airports in the system.

Although FAA and airports have made

progress adding capacity, there are still

areas where a sense of urgency remains.

Delays affect everyone. Passengers deal

with missed or canceled flights, lost

productivity, not to mention the potential

for sitting on the tarmac instead of sitting

on a beach while vacationing. Beyond

this, airlines incur increased costs for

crews, fuel, and maintenance while

planes sit idling on the airfield surface

or circling in holding patterns. The U.S.

economy suffers both direct and indirect

costs from aviation delay as lodging,

food service, retail, ground transportation, and other industries are impacted.

Additionally, the environmental impacts

continue to mount as aircraft burn more

fuel or have to return to the deicing

pads due to delayed departure times.

A few U.S. airports are experiencing significant levels of congestion that produce delays locally as well as nationally.

Many of these delays result from a persistent mismatch between the demand

for and the availability of capacity. Given

that infrastructure developments such

as new runways can take up to 10 years

to implement, the FAA must develop

processes and systems to speed intervention at critical and chronic delay points.

To meet this challenge, we must enhance

the partnership with the airport operators

and airport users to continue to develop

action plans that provide solutions to

ensure the best fit on local and regional

levels. Each airport, each local community, each local environment, each

geographic region must play into the

solution set, with the specific tool sets

identified and implemented appropriately.

What works at one location may not

work at another for a variety of reasons.

FAA recognizes the need to identify and

prioritize delay issues, and is implementing a team approach to do this for the

chronic delay airports. FAA is creating

congestion action teams to help alleviate

and manage specific capacity issues at

the airports that create the greatest

impact on the system. For the longerterm solutions, FAA prefers an integrated

approach to improve capacity by improving technology, air traffic control procedures and expanding airport and airfield

infrastructure. In circumstances where

operational efficiency and airport capacity

expansion is not feasible or not yet

completed, where demand routinely

exceeds airport capacity, and where

local delays reverberate through the NAS,

a congestion management approach

may be the appropriate choice, including

schedule reduction. But it is important

to recognize that there is no one-sizefits-all in applying strategic mitigation or

congestion management.
18

Adjusted Operational Availability. The FAA achieved

a sustained adjusted operational availability of 99.8

percent for the reportable facilities that support the

35 Operational Evolution Partnership (OEP) airports.

This measure cannot obtain a 100 percent Adjusted

Operational Availability rate because of the requirements to perform formal facility inspections, periodic

maintenance and corrective maintenance on the

operational equipment located at the 35 OEP airports.

Average Daily Airport Capacity. We achieved the target of an average daily airport capacity for the 35

OEP airports of 101,868 arrivals and departures per

day, and an average daily airport capacity for the 7

Metro areas of at least 33,676 arrivals and departures

per day. We are continually working to maximize

available capacity in the NAS to keep up with

demand and better serve the flying public.

Area Navigation (RNAV) Procedures and Routes.

Thus far in FY 2008, we implemented 63 RNAV

Standard Terminal Arrival (STAR) and Standard

Instrument Departure (SID) procedures at 45 airports,

with 15 more procedures scheduled for publication in

September, 2008. RNAV is saving operators millions

of dollars per year by lowering fuel consumption due

to more efficient routes, while simultaneously improving safety, environmental impacts, and user access

to the NAS.

Wake Turbulence Program. The Wake Turbulence

Program had two major accomplishments for FY

2008: the development of a draft National Air Traffic

Rule Change and the Wake Turbulence Mitigation

for Departures (WTMD) decision support tool. The

National Rule change allows the use of a dependent

parallel instrument landing system aircraft approaches

to an airport’s closely spaced parallel runways. The

development of the WTMD air traffic control decision

support tool design and functional requirements were

sufficiently mature to enter into preparation for the

tool’s procurement for up to 10 of the 35 OEP airports.

Air Traffic Management (ATM). In an effort to

reduce delays, ATM, working collaboratively with the

aviation community, has made airspace more available during periods of bad weather by use of the Airspace Flow Program (AFP). We estimate that since

installation in 2006, ATM efforts during periods of

bad weather have saved airlines over $120 million

in fuel and operations costs.

Future Airport Capacity Team (FACT). FAA is teaming with external stakeholders to identify and address

capacity-constrained airports and metropolitan areas.

This team has identified critical high activity airports

in the NAS and performed site visits to the following

airports: Atlanta, Chicago Midway, Fort Lauderdale,

John Wayne, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Oakland,

Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco. The team

developed a toolbox of potential solutions for each

unique location. This toolbox includes technological,

procedural, and infrastructure improvements to be

considered for implementation at airports based on

additional capacity needs in the future.

Airport Studies. Eleven projects are in the planning

or environmental stage at the largest airports including an environmental assessment for a proposed runway extension at Portland, an environmental impact

statement for a proposed runway extension at Ft.

Lauderdale, an environmental impact statement for

a proposed airfield reconfiguration at Philadelphia,

and an environmental impact statement for a new

supplemental commercial service airport for Las

Vegas. In addition, three communities have planning

studies underway to examine how their metropolitan

areas will accommodate future demand for aviation.

They include Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco.

Continuous Descent Arrival (CDA) at Los Angeles

International Airport. The first publicly-charted

arrival procedure with the vertical profile optimized

to permit CDA was implemented at Los Angeles

International Airport on December 20, 2007. Procedures with an Optimized Profile Descent (OPD) allow

use of the CDA technique to provide lower noise and

emissions and increased fuel efficiency. FAA implemented two OPD arrival procedures at Los Angeles.

Use of the CDA technique provides advantages by

reducing ground noise along much of the flight

path, reducing emissions, and saving time and fuel.

TOP GREATER CAPACITY ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR FY 2008
19

OBJECTIVE 1

Increase capacity to meet projected

demand and reduce congestion.

Performance Targets

● Achieve an average daily airport capacity for the 35 OEP airports of 103,068

arrivals and departures per day by FY

2011 and maintain through FY 2013.

● Achieve an average daily airport capacity for the 7 Metro areas of 39,484

arrivals and departures per day by FY

2009, and maintain through FY 2013.

● Commission nine new runway/taxiway

projects, increasing the annual service

volume of the 35 OEP airports by at

least 1 percent annually, measured as

a five-year moving average, through

FY 2013.

● Sustain adjusted operational availability of 99.7 percent for the reportable

facilities that support the 35 OEP airports through FY 2013.

Strategy

Meet the new and growing demands

for air transportation services through

2025 through the interagency effort of

the Joint Planning and Development

Office (JPDO).

Initiatives

● Work with interagency groups to

achieve an agreed upon plan for integrated weather activities.

● Expand FAA’s NextGen Implementation Plan to incorporate critical

path decisions and milestones

necessary to accomplish the Mid-Term

commitments.

● By FY 2010, operationally implement

Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast (ADS-B) for air traffic

services at selected sites and continue

development of surface conflict detection in the cockpit and near-term Airto-Air applications.

● Strategically link funding requests

with the acquisition of research and

development products or services

that support FAA’s transition to

NextGen.
20

● Ensure that the environmental

approach for capacity expansion is

compatible with the road map developed by the Environmental Working

Group (EWG) for NextGen.

● The Airports Working Group will

provide analysis and development

of alternatives and actions plans to

address anticipated capacity constraints

at airports and the impact assessment

of NextGen improvements on airports.

● Identify program milestones to

advance communication, navigation,

and surveillance technology that will

enable implementation of NextGen

concepts related to aircraft participation in more environmentally friendly

arrival, departure, surface movement

and Enroute/oceanic procedures.

● Identify NextGen critical decisions

and supporting research, capital and

implementation activities required to

fulfill FAA NextGen commitments and

meet 90 percent of the commitments

identified in the NextGen Implementation Plan.

● Improve NAS supply chain operations

through modernization of the supply

chain infrastructure.

Strategy

Evaluate existing airport capacity levels

and set investment and infrastructure

priorities and policies that enhance

capacity.

Initiatives

● Work with the aviation community

to establish the most feasible policies

to enhance capacity and manage

congestion.

● Future Airport Capacity Team (FACT)

will continue to work with aviation

stakeholders to develop a strategy for

implementing solutions from the toolbox developed for each airport projected to have an anticipated capacity

shortfall in 2025.

● Establish priorities for infrastructure

investments to maintain existing

capacity in a cost-effective manner.

● Conduct planning studies for capacity

and congestion at Atlanta.

● Ensure that runway capability commitments are established in partnership

with stakeholders.

● Support environmental processing

of airfield improvements at the 35

OEP airports including projects that

support Vision 100 environmental

streamlining.

● Identify airports forecasted to have

chronic delay in the next six months.

● Mitigate forecasted delay with congestion action teams composed of FAA,

airports and operators.

● Track average flight and surface times

within the NAS by including ASDE-X

data in the Performance Data Analysis

and Reporting System data set and

integrating that data with the Terminal

and En-Route data already available to

provide a consolidated gate to gate

measurement and analysis capability.

Strategy

Improve airspace access and modify

separation standards to increase capacity

and allow more efficient use of congested airspace.

Initiatives

● Redesign terminal airspace and change

procedures to increase capacity.

● Evaluate and expand the use of Converging Runway Display Aids at airports

with intersecting runways.

● Implement the roadmap for performance-based navigation by the continued

development and implementation of

Area Navigation (RNAV) routes, Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs),

and Standard Terminal Arrivals (STARs).

In FY 2009 through 2013, we will publish 50 RNAV SIDs and STARs and 12

RNAV routes annually.

● Facilitate and expedite the development and approval of RNAV or RNP

procedures developed by both the

public and the private sector.

● Conduct research to improve safety

and increase throughput using wake

turbulence monitoring, operational

procedures, and controller tools.

● Evaluate the use of the “proximity

event” classification for wake turbulence separation on final approach.

● Using the cross-organizational Airport

Obstructions Standards Committee

(AOSC), develop recommended standards and action plans for runway

procedures, such as end-around taxiways, and establish databases and data

collection tools to improve airport

flight operations, while maintaining an

optimal balance among safety, capacity, and efficiency considerations.

● Enhance NAS performance for the 35

OEP airports through advanced engineering and program support.

Strategy

Improve bad weather departure and

landing capacity with new technologies

and procedures.
21

Initiatives

● Capitalize on Spring/Summer Plan data,

developed in partnership with the airlines and other segments of aviation,

to improve traffic flow in bad weather.

● Develop flexible arrival/departure

corridors.

● Identify and implement procedures

and technology to improve the dissemination of weather information to

pilots and controllers.

● Improve NAS logistics support programs and performance to ensure

operational availability of NAS equipment and systems.

Strategy

Increase aviation capacity and reduce

congestion in the 7 Metro areas and

corridors that most affect total system

delay. For FY 2009, those areas are San

Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas,

Chicago, Charlotte, New York, and

Philadelphia.

Initiatives

● As identified with industry stakeholders,

continue implementing operational

initiatives at the New York Metropolitan airports.

● Increase airport capacity through the

use of Traffic Management Advisor

(TMA).

● Monitor and maintain scheduled

progress for Environmental Impact

Statements at Philadelphia and

Southern Nevada (located within

the 7 Metro areas).

● Implement Traffic Management Advisor/Time Based Metering at New York

Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports.

● Conduct planning studies for capacity

and congestion at San Francisco.

● Direct Airport Improvement Program

funding to reduce capacity constraints

and provide greater access to the 86

regional airports in the 7 Metro areas.

● Update our projections on which metropolitan areas will have the greatest

impact on the total system for delays

over the period of the Flight Plan.

● Redesign the airspace of the 7 Metro

areas including the continued implementation of the New York/New Jersey

Airspace Redesign Project.

● Expand use of time-based metering at

air traffic control centers.

● Track average flight times and surface

times using the System Airport Efficiency Rate (SAER) and Terminal Arrival

Efficiency Rate (TAER) between the 7

Metro airports.

OBJECTIVE 2

Increase reliability and on-time

performance of scheduled carriers.

Performance Target

● Achieve a NAS on-time arrival rate of

88.0 percent at the 35 OEP airports

and maintain through FY 2013.

Strategy

Promote the use of automated systems

that provide more accurate and timely

information for all system users.

Initiatives

● Improve on-time performance and

operator and passenger access to

information by using Traffic Flow Management (TFM), Traffic Management

Advisor (TMA), and Collaborative Air

Traffic Management Technologies

(CATMT), such as Airspace Flow

Programs (AFP).

Photo: Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1000G. Courtesy of Pratt & Whitney Photo: Environmentally friendly GEnx engine for the B787 aircraft. Courtesy of GE Aviation
22

● Enhance Traffic Management Tools,

net-centric information sharing vehicles and processes and procedures to

yield the most effective NAS decisions

through the CDM process.

Strategy

Restructure airspace to ensure efficient

traffic flow between oceanic and domestic airspace.

Initiatives

● Use new equipment and technology

to reduce en-route congestion.

● Implement high-altitude airspace

redesign to reduce congestion.

● Reduce oceanic separation in U.S.

controlled oceanic airspace.

● Implement ocean capacity metrics

and targets, using comprehensive

Advanced Technologies and Oceanic

Procedures (ATOP) data collection

and analysis capability and oceanic

simulation and modeling capability.

● In FY 2009, develop a pair of coupled

performance measures, throughput

and delay, to represent the capacity of

the National Airspace System.

OBJECTIVE 3

Address environmental issues associated with capacity enhancements.

Performance Targets

● Reduce the number of people exposed

to significant noise by 4 percent per

year through FY 2013, as measured by

a three-year moving average, from the

three-year average for calendar years

2000-2002.

● Improve aviation fuel efficiency by

another 1 percent over the FY 2008

level (for a total of 7 percent) through

FY 2009, and 1 percent each subsequent year through FY 2013 to 11 percent, as measured by a three-year

moving average of the fuel burned per

revenue mile flown, from the three-year

average for calendar years 2000-2002.

Strategy

Develop better systems, technologies,

and analytical tools to evaluate aircraft

noise and emissions, and ensure environmental stewardship.

Initiatives

● Conduct research and develop, validate

and apply analytical tools to better

understand the relationship between

noise and emissions and different

types of emissions, and to provide the

cost benefit analysis capability necessary for data-driven decision-making.

● Continue working with the general

aviation community to test, adopt,

and certify a new aviation gasoline

fuel standard.

● Along with stakeholders, increase aircraft noise and emissions mitigation

activities at the environmental Center

of Excellence and Airports Cooperative Research Program to mitigate

environmental impacts.

● Work with several airports (including

Los Angeles, San Diego, Louisville,

Charleston, and Atlanta) to implement

Continuous Descent Arrival (CDA) for

night operations, and initiate research

into CDA applicability to airports with

greater traffic levels, general mixed

fleet, and mixed operations.

● Identify candidate locations to optimize

profile decent/CDA at smaller airports.

● Implement Environmental Management Systems to ensure that FAA

operations protect the environment,

meet statutory and regulatory environmental requirements, and improve

reliability and cost effectiveness.
23

INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Our goal is to increase the safety and capacity of the global civil

aerospace system in an environmentally sound manner.

25

As the number of international

passengers and aviation activities

across the globe increase every

year, it becomes even more important

for the United States to continue to be

the gold standard for aviation safety. To

make this happen, the FAA actively

builds partnerships and shares knowledge to create a safe, seamless, and efficient global aviation system. Our premise

is simple: national boundary lines should

not be impediments to safety. That’s why

we’ve worked with over 130 countries

and regional organizations to provide

technical assistance and training. We’ve

continued to work closely with the

International Civil Aviation Organization

(ICAO) to promote our critical safety

and capacity initiatives with the larger

international audience, with a clear focus

to ensure global harmonization of

NextGen’s performance-based systems

and procedures. We also promote the

important work that ICAO does through

its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program (USOAP). Adherence to international standards is everyone’s

responsibility, and everyone’s gain.

With NextGen technologies and procedures, FAA works to improve aviation

system efficiency and establish seamless

operations beyond our borders while

reducing aviation’s environmental footprint. We continue harmonizing standards

and procedures with our neighbors in

Mexico and Canada. We are comparing

our aviation system with those of Japan

and the European Union to identify

future equipment and procedural needs.

We also are expanding our cooperative

efforts with China to collaborate on

future NextGen air traffic initiatives.

Environmental issues continue to be a

large part of our efforts. The FAA is a

key player in ICAO’s Group on International Aviation and Climate Change as

it develops an international strategy to

address aviation greenhouse gas emissions. We continue our work with European and industry partners through the

Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to

Reduce Emissions (AIRE). To address

environmental issues in the Pacific region,

we established the Asia and South Pacific

Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE)

partnership. We expect that initiatives

like AIRE and ASPIRE will serve as a

framework for similar cooperative efforts

in other parts of the world.

The FAA’s international priorities support

the future needs of the global aviation

system by addressing fundamental

international aviation challenges today.

Through partnerships, innovation, and

collaborative efforts, we work with the

rest of the world to ensure the safety of

air travel, increase the efficiency of the

global aviation system, and contribute

to the well-being of the environment.

Photo: Terminal 3 Beijing Capital Airport
26

AIRE/ASPIRE

Over 2.2 billion people flew on the world’s airlines in

2007, with predictions of 9 billion passengers by

2025. As global aviation continues to grow, concerns

about environmental impacts are also increasing. The

aviation industry is committed to improving its environmental performance and the FAA is collaborating with

our counterparts worldwide to make this a reality.

The FAA is working with air navigation service providers,

governments, airlines, and aviation manufacturing to

accelerate development and implementation of environmentally responsible technologies and procedures. We

have embarked on two major international partnerships:

the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE) and the Asia and South Pacific Initiative

to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE). AIRE employs a “gate

to gate” approach to reduce aviation’s environmental

footprint for all segments of flight, focusing on using

environmentally friendly air traffic standards and procedures. The early results of targeted demonstrations held

in 2008 confirmed that significant fuel burn and emissions reduction savings were achievable while improving efficiency.

After launching AIRE, FAA initiated a counterpart program with our existing working groups in the AsiaPacific region to encourage a stronger focus on

emissions reduction. In February 2008, we created the

ASPIRE partnership with Airservices Australia and Air

New Zealand. We’ll be using Oceanic Tailored Arrivals,

a low power continuous descent approach designed to

reduce fuel burn, noise and emissions while on approach

to coastal airports. Trials have already been conducted

in San Francisco and Sydney with positive results.

Similar to the AIRE partners, this group is working to

reduce aviation’s environmental footprint for all phases

of flight from gate to gate.

NEXTGEN/SESAR

Projected exponential growth in aviation markets around

the world is a serious impending problem. While the

U.S. currently boasts an effective, efficient and safe

aviation system, it is at capacity. Studies show that

today’s system cannot effectively handle the projected

future traffic demands without modernization. As we

forge ahead into NextGen, we are creating strong collaborative ties with the global aviation community.

The U.S. and Europe place a high priority on maintaining a strong cooperative relationship regarding our air

traffic management systems. Through targeted collaboration, we are framing a relationship between NextGen

and the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management

Research (SESAR) program that will closely align the

two systems. FAA is restructuring our existing air traffic

cooperative research projects and action plans with

EUROCONTROL to better focus on NextGen and

SESAR efforts. We are collaborating with Europe on

the AIRE partnership, as several of its initiatives support key NextGen and SESAR concepts, as well as

working with ICAO to coordinate NextGen and SESAR

harmonization with the global aviation community. This

collaborative effort with Europe allows us to coordinate

our systems to maintain safety collectively, accommodate growth, and reduce aviation’s environmental footprint all while meeting increasing demands of airlines,

the flying public, and other airspace users.

Photo: Courtesy of The Boeing Company
27

Aviation Safety Leadership. The hard work and dedication of the multi-agency U.S. government team,

led by the FAA, resulted in a successful audit of the

NAS by the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit

Program (USOAP) office. The audit covered multiple

areas of safety oversight including air navigation

services, air traffic oversight, search and rescue,

airports, shipment of dangerous goods, accident

investigation and environment. The audit results

were issued by ICAO in August 2008. The U.S.

score of 91 far exceeds the global average of 58.

Bilateral Agreements. At the 2008 Singapore Air

Show, the U.S.-Korea Bilateral Aviation Safety

Agreement (BASA) Executive Agreement and Implementation Procedures for Airworthiness (IPA) were

signed. This safety agreement demonstrates the

strong relationship the FAA maintains with the Korean

Civil Aviation Safety Authority and our combined

efforts toward international aviation safety. The IPA

allows for the U.S. acceptance of Korean aviation

equipment that meets U.S. specifications. A revision

to update the U.S./Canada BASA IPA was also

signed in June 2008. During the Transatlantic Issues

Conference in June 2008, the U.S. and the European

Commission signed a safety agreement that broadens

and deepens cooperation between the FAA and its

European counterpart, the European Aviation Safety

Agency. The agreement, once ratified by both parties, will provide for reciprocal acceptance of safety

findings in aircraft design, airworthiness and repair

station facilities.

Environmental Leadership. Our second international

partnership to promote good environmental stewardship, the Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce

Emissions (ASPIRE), was launched in February 2008.

Under ASPIRE, the FAA is partnering with Airservices

Australia and Airways New Zealand to share and

promote wind-based and oceanic technologies that

reduce fuel burn and carbon dioxide emissions while

accommodating air traffic growth in the Asia-Pacific

region. The ASPIRE partnership is a significant representation of the international effort to lessen aviation’s environmental footprint.

NextGen Technologies. In February 2008, the FAA

Air Traffic Organization and the Air Traffic Management Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of

China signed an agreement to cooperate on harmonizing our respective air traffic system modernization

programs. The agreement created the NextGen Air

Traffic Management Steering Group and serves as a

formal building block for the foundation that allows

the two countries to work together to harmonize

their broader NextGen strategies

External Funding. The 2008 Flight Plan target for

External Funding was set at $15 million. Due to hard

work and continual outreach, FAA’s international

team secured funds to surpass the target, including

U.S. Department of State funding for an International

Visitor Leadership Program project for Singapore,

U.S. Trade and Development Agency funds for

developmental projects in India, and two orientation

visits for Brazil’s air traffic organization and civil

aviation agency. The program benefited reconstruction programs by securing funds to ship radars to

Afghanistan and for a technical assistance project

to the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority.

TOP INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR FY 2008
28

OBJECTIVE 1

Promote improved safety and regulatory oversight in cooperation with

bilateral, regional, and multilateral

aviation partners.

Performance Targets

● Work with the Chinese aviation

authorities and industry to adopt 27

proven Commercial Aviation Safety

Team (CAST) safety enhancements by

FY 2011. This supports China’s efforts

to reduce commercial fatal accidents

to a rate of 0.030 fatal accidents per

100,000 departures by FY 2012.

● By FY 2013, arrange commitments for

external funding for at least 35 aviation

development projects (7 per year).

● By FY 2013, work with at least 18

countries or regional organizations to

develop aviation leaders to strengthen

the global aviation infrastructure.

Strategy

Support the continued development

of competent aviation authorities

worldwide.

Initiatives

● Identify and provide technical assistance and training and strengthen

mutually beneficial partnerships with

key civil aviation authorities in Africa,

the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the

Middle East.

● Implement civil aviation safety programs to support the Administration’s

initiatives.

● Create government-industry partnerships to help transfer aeronautical

products, services, and technologies

to key developing regions.

● Identify and provide technical assistance and training to strengthen the

capabilities of at least four regional

aviation organizations to meet international safety and efficiency standards.

● Strengthen civil aviation authorities

and global safety by creating and promoting targeted developmental

opportunities to civil aviation leaders

to enhance management, technical

and organization skills.

Strategy

Work with key international partners to

implement safety enhancements that

will improve worldwide aviation safety

while enabling the transfer of aeronautical products, technologies, and services.

Initiatives

● Establish an effective partnership with

the European Union and the European

Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to

ensure the highest level of cooperation for aviation safety and an efficient
29

exchange of products, services, and

technologies.

● Establish coordinated safety agendas

throughout the world to improve

aviation safety.

● Negotiate and conclude international

agreements with global aviation partners

for safety and capacity enhancement.

● Strategically influence international

aviation safety, capacity, and efficiency

by promoting FAA recommendations

and policies at key international venues.

Strategy

Work with ICAO and other international

organizations on initiatives that will

enhance global interoperability.

Initiatives

● Provide U.S. leadership to facilitate

the modernization of ICAO operations

and guidance to the global aviation

community.

● Prioritize agency efforts to improve

ICAO Standards and Recommended

Practices (SARP) to reflect advances

in U.S. technologies, practices and

procedures, and work with the international community to implement

SARP changes.

● Work at ICAO and with international

partners to foster international environmental standards, recommended

practices, and guidance materials that

are technically feasible, economically

reasonable, provide a measurable benefit and consider interdependencies

between the various emissions and

between emissions and noise.

Strategy

Promote International Aviation Development (IAD) initiatives to address

critical aviation needs.

Initiative

● Work with FAA lines of business to

develop international aviation projects, arrange external funding commitments for these projects, and

conduct outreach activities to transfer

aviation development knowledge.

OBJECTIVE 2

Promote seamless operations around

the globe in cooperation with bilateral,

regional, and multilateral aviation

partners.

Performance Target

● By FY 2013, expand the use of NextGen

performance-based systems and concepts to five priority countries.

Strategy

Collaborate with strategic global partners

to implement Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) performance-based systems and concepts to

ensure harmonization with corresponding international modernization efforts.

Initiatives

● Work with the international civil aviation community to adopt enabling systems, such as the Global Navigation

Satellite System (GNSS) and ADS-B, to

improve safety of flight operations.

● Develop and implement capacity

enhancing applications, such as

Performance-Based Navigation (PBN),

embracing current operational capabilities to the maximum extent possible.

● Work with the international community to support partnerships, such as

AIRE and ASPIRE, that adopt technologies, systems, procedures and

concepts to improve global interoperability and system harmonization, and

support a reduction of aviation’s environmental footprint.

● Manage the international strategy in

support of the NextGen Global Harmonization Working Group and work

with civil aviation and interagency

partners to continually assess and

implement the strategy.

31

ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE

Our goal is to ensure the success of the FAA’s mission through stronger

leadership, a better-trained and safer workforce, enhanced cost-control

measures, and improved decision-making based on reliable data.

Organizational Excellence is our

continuous effort to align current and future services and

programs with established priorities to

enhance aviation safety, provide

increased capacity, both at home and

internationally, in an environmentally

sound manner. In other words, Organizational Excellence is the “how” in

executing all other goals. Every FAA

employee is part of this goal.

We continue to make every effort to

control our operating costs. Accountability for results is systemic throughout

our organization, with 90 percent of our

employees on the pay-for-performance

system, including all executives. Flight

Plan performance targets must be

achieved before annual pay raises are

calculated. Our bottom line is results

for our stakeholders, including the

taxpayer and traveling public.

The Government Accountability Office

(GAO) has stated the Federal Government faces an impending wave of

retirements of highly competent Federal

employees. Succession planning, as well

as managing and maintaining adequate

institutional knowledge, will be crucial

for FAA to carry out its functions during

this period of high workforce turnover.

To prepare for this, a newly created Senior Leadership Development Program

(SLDP) was introduced in FY 2008. The

SLDP is a one-to-two year program to

enhance the pipeline of qualified candidates who can compete for future executive vacancies.

With more than 60 percent of the controller workforce eligible to retire over

the next 10 years, FAA plans to hire more

than 16,000 controllers over that period.

We have implemented Pre-Employment

Processing Centers (PEPCs) to streamline this process. Individuals chosen by

FAA selection panels are invited to the

PEPCs, where they are interviewed and

undergo pre-hire screenings such as

medical examinations, psychological

and drug testing, fingerprinting and

security clearance application processes.

Some recruits now receive final offer

letters from FAA in as little as one month

after their interview.

Photo: ATO / Jon Ross
32

Strategic Management of Human Capital:

● In March, FAA released its updated Air Traffic

Controller Workforce Plan. Over 1800 controllers

were hired in FY 2007, and over 2000 hired in

FY 2008. Improvements in recruitment, hiring

and training will help FAA meet this goal.

● Updated the FAA Human Capital Plan, FY 2008-

2012, ensuring that data were available to understand demographic shifts in our agency workforce,

monitor attrition patterns for our mission critical

workforces, and forecast projected retirements in

key occupations.

● FAA launched four new leadership programs:

(1) Senior Leadership Development Program;

(2) advanced training courses to augment the

curriculum for incumbent managers; (3) Program

for Emerging Leaders; and (4) a national mentoring program to promote employee development.

● FAA created a consolidated National Workers’

Compensation Program resource and all FAA

claims are now managed centrally. This consolidation reduced agency costs for the third year and

estimated one-year cost avoidance for FY 2008

totaled over $18 million.

Improved Financial Performance:

● FAA created a capital investment team to review

financial and performance data. Reviews have

identified $460 million in lifecycle savings.

● The Strategic Sourcing for the Acquisition of Various

Equipment and Supplies initiative is an ambitious

effort begun in FY 2006 to implement best practices from the private sector in the procurement

of administrative supplies, equipment, and IT

hardware. It is expected to achieve $9 million

in savings annually.

● ATO has successfully consolidated administrative

and staff support functions from nine service

areas to three, projected to save an estimated

$360 to $460 million over the next 10 years.

● In April, FAA announced the transition from its

legacy telecommunications network to the new

FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI).

FTI is expected to increase network reliability,

enhance security, and reduce FAA’s operating

costs by $596 million in life cycle savings over

the next decade.

Awards

● The Association of Government Accountants gave

one of its top honors for FAA’s 2007 Performance

and Accountability Report. FAA was awarded a

Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting for the fourth time in five years.

● The Mercatus Center’s Annual Performance

Review Scorecard is given to agencies that excel

at performance plans and reports. In its ninth

year, the Department of Transportation was once

again cited as #1 within the Federal Government.

TOP ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR FY 2008
33

OBJECTIVE 1

Implement human resource management practices to attract and retain a

highly skilled, diverse workforce and

provide employees a safe, positive

work environment.

Performance Targets

● By FY 2010, 80 percent of FAA external

hires will be filled within OPM’s 45-day

standard for government-wide hiring.

● Reduce the total workplace injury and

illness case rate to no more than 2.44

per 100 employees by the end of FY

2011, and maintain through FY 2013.

● Reduce grievance processing time by

30 percent (to an average of 102 days)

by FY 2010 over the FY 2006 baseline

of 146 days, and maintain the reduction

through FY 2013.

● Maintain the air traffic controller

workforce at, or up to 2 percent above,

the projected annual totals in the Air

Traffic Controller Workforce Plan.

● Maintain the aviation safety workforce

within 1 percent of the projected

annual totals in the Aviation Safety

Workforce Plan.

Strategy

Use workforce planning to identify and

fulfill current and future human capital

needs to meet FAA’s mission.

Initiatives

● Sustain and improve agency human

capital planning and measurement

processes.

● Implement the hiring, training, staffing

analysis, and management recommendations of the Air Traffic Controller

Workforce Plan to support FAA’s safety

mission and meet external stake

holder requirements. Update and

report annually on agency progress.

● Track and analyze gains and losses

among safety critical staff and operational support staff to maintain the

appropriate level of staffing within

budget limitations.

Strategy

Make strategic investments in people and

provide a professional, safe and secure

work environment to attract, acquire,

and retain a highly skilled workforce.

Initiatives

● In external recruitment efforts, implement corporate strategies that expand

the applicant pool to ensure equal

opportunity to all applicants and result

in attracting high quality candidates to

the FAA.

● Reduce workplace injuries through

employee safety program evaluations

and OSHA Voluntary Protection Program measures.

● Provide our employees with a secure

environment by identifying measures

to protect our employees, our facilities, and our critical infrastructure.

Strategy

Promote aviation related science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

(STEM) skills in the emerging and future

aviation workforce.

Initiative

● In partnership with other Federal, state

and local agencies, aerospace oriented

consortiums, and other private sector

aviation organizations, enlarge the

pipeline of students who are prepared

to enter college and graduate with an

aerospace oriented degree in science,

technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Strategy

Improve labor management relations

while delivering quality service.

Initiatives

● Monitor labor relations service level

agreements to ensure the requirements of lines of business and staff

offices (LOB/SO) are met.

● Develop and provide labor relations

training for agency supervisors and

managers.

● Using the Grievance Electronic Tracking System (GETS), reduce grievance

processing time compared to the

baseline measure.

OBJECTIVE 2

Make the organization more effective

with stronger leadership, a resultsoriented, high performance workforce,

and a culture of accountability.

Strategy

Build stronger leadership to achieve

strategic goals, manage people and

resources effectively, and drive continuous improvement.

Initiatives

● Ensure compliance with corporate

policies on managerial selection and

requirements for training and evaluating probationary managers.

● Establish corporate managerial

training programs that ensure we

use resources to effectively align with

agency goals, and drive continuous

improvement.

● Establish a corporate, senior leadership development process to build

executive-level competencies.
34

● Each LOB/SO will track and report

quarterly on their compliance with

corporate leadership development

policies and initiatives.

Strategy

Implement corporate systems, policies,

programs, and tools to build a resultsoriented, high performance workforce.

Initiatives

● Undertake a timely and effective corporate approach to conflict management.

● Develop and implement Corporate and

LOB/SO Organizational Excellence

Action Plans that address employee

feedback and engagement, and

improve organizational effectiveness,

accountability and performance.

● Establish corporate employee training

programs to build leadership competence within the FAA workforce, support professional development, and

promote continuous learning.

● Improve communication of strategic

direction, operational challenges,

key programs, and significant accomplishments.

● Each FAA organization will track and

report quarterly on LOB/SO actions to

foster a workplace free of harassment,

reprisal, and retaliation.

● Work with the Administration, Congress, and stakeholders to develop

and implement FAA reauthorization

legislation.

● Each FAA organization will track and

report quarterly on actions taken in

support of the Secretary of Transportation’s fiscal year goal that 3 percent of

all new hires are individuals with targeted (severe) disabilities.

OBJECTIVE 3

Improve financial management while

delivering quality customer service.

Performance Targets

● Organizations throughout the agency

will continue to implement cost efficiency initiatives such as:

– 10-15 percent savings for strategic

sourcing for selected products and

services;

– By the end of FY 2009, reduce

leased space for Automated Flight

Service Stations from approximately

510,000 square feet to approximately

150,000 square feet;

– Annual reduction of $15 million in

Information Technology operating

costs;

– By FY 2010, reduce overhead costs

5-10 percent through automation of

invoice processing.

● Obtain an unqualified opinion on the

agency’s financial statements (Clean

Audit with no material weaknesses)

each fiscal year.
Strategy

Implement an agency-wide cost control

and cost reduction program.

Initiatives

● Each FAA organization will develop,

track, and report quarterly on a comprehensive measure of its operating

efficiency or financial performance.

These measures will include:

– Cost per flight controlled

– Research, Engineering, and Development (RE&D) Management Staff

Efficiency Measure

– Grant Administration Efficiency

Measure

– Direct labor costs of certification of

foreign and domestic repair stations

– Direct labor costs of surveillance of

foreign and domestic repair stations

● Implement line of business-specific

cost efficiency as well as agency-wide

initiatives to reduce costs or improve

productivity.

● Improve the overall management of

cost-reimbursable contracts through

the Defense Contract Audit Agency

(DCAA) audit process.

● Improve management of FAA’s real

property assets by optimizing maintenance costs and disposing of excess

assets.

● Reduce the number of FAA servers

located outside the FAA authorized

datacenters, and optimize the FAA’s

datacenter investments.

● In FY 2009, reduce leased space for

Automated Flight Service Stations from

approximately 510,000 square feet to

approximately 150,000 square feet.

● Achieve an annual reduction of $15

million in Information Technology

operating costs.

Strategy

Improve financial performance.

Initiatives

● Maintain and improve business

processes and systems in order to

provide timely and reliable financial

information to FAA organizations.

● Comply with Office of Management

and Budget (OMB) guidance by performing routine testing of internal

controls to improve the quality of

financial information.

● Reduce both the number of and the

dollar amount of improper payments.

● Improve timeliness and accuracy of

financial transactions by capitalizing

assets in a timely manner.

● Closeout of prior year Audit Findings

during the fiscal year.

● Integrate performance information

into budgetary decision-making and

presentation.

● Closeout prior year information technology Audit Findings not later than

the second quarter of each fiscal year,

and receive no significant deficiencies

related to new IT Notices of Findings

and Recommendations (NFR).

● Ensure appropriate and efficient use

of Airport Improvement Program

funds through grant documentation

compliance.

35
36

OBJECTIVE 4

Make decisions based on reliable data

to improve our overall performance and

customer satisfaction.

Performance Targets

● In FY 2009, 90 percent of Major System

Investments are within 10 percent

variance of current baseline total

budget estimate at completion (BAC).

● In FY 2009, 90 percent of Major System

Investments selected annual milestones

are achieved.

● Maintain the annual average of FAA

surveys on the American Customer

Satisfaction Index at or above the average Federal Regulatory Agency score.

● Achieve zero cyber security events

that disable or significantly degrade

FAA services.

Strategy

Better prepare managers to use cost and

performance data in making decisions.

Initiatives

● Ensure that financial policies and procedures are updated and that management and staff are well trained in the

use of FAA cost data, as derived from

FAA’s acquisition, cost accounting,

accounting, payroll and personnel systems, to make management decisions.

● Monitor and report progress on Flight

Plan targets and initiatives and establish the appropriate linkages and

accountability in each LOB/SO with

annual Business Plans.

Strategy

Address risk areas identified by the

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

High Risk List for Air traffic modernization.

Initiatives

● Develop, document, and use investment criteria to manage major capital

programs.

● Implement and improve program

management processes to remain

within acquisition cost and schedule

baselines.

● Meet all FY 2009 targets set in the

FAA/GAO High Risk List plan.

Strategy

Improve communication and webbased business processes.

Initiatives

● Communicate the goals of the Flight

Plan to the FAA employees and the

aerospace community and gain feedback that helps the FAA meet their

needs. Give employees a clear line of

sight from their jobs to the goals of

the Flight Plan.

● Review customer requirements annually and measure customer satisfaction

more broadly for FAA services.

● Standardize FAA websites making

them more useful for exchanging

information and conducting business.

Strategy

Improve the security of our data and

information.

Initiatives

● Protect FAA’s information infrastructure using advanced cyber defense

strategies.

● Enable enterprise-wide conformance

to information technology enterprise

architecture.

● Protect FAA-sensitive and individual

privacy information from unauthorized disclosure.

OBJECTIVE 5

Enhance our ability to respond to crises

rapidly and effectively, including security-related threats and natural disasters.

Performance Target

● Exceed Federal Emergency Management Agency continuity readiness

levels by 5 percent.

Strategy

Continue to build and improve emergency plans and preparedness tools

that enable us to sustain essential

services and provide for employee

well-being during crisis events.

Initiative

● Develop web-based emergency operation information-sharing tools that

create a common operational picture

and support effective decision-making.

Strategy

Strengthen operational coordination,

communication, and command and

control capabilities needed to prepare

for, respond to, and recover from crises.

Initiatives

● Improve the use and functionality of

operational and corporate crises

response structures such as specialized hurricane coordination cells and

continuity of operations programs.

● Integrate agency-wide emergency

operations and crisis management by

improving information flow among

FAA LOB/SO.
Yesterday... Building on the heritage

of our workforce over the

last 50 years.

Today... Creating the transition between

the worlds of ground-based and

satellite-based systems.

Tomorrow... Taking our Nation into the future

with a new legacy system that

will continue to grow as our

country needs us to.

Photo: ATO / Jon Ross

Acknowledgments

This Flight Plan is the result of the hard work and sustained commitment of everyone involved in the

FAA planning process. We would like to acknowledge and convey our sincere thanks to all of our employees,

Members of Congress and their staff, our industry partners, and stakeholders. We also hold great appreciation

to the hundreds of employees that sent us over 1,000 photos for consideration in this issue of the FAA

Flight Plan. The quality was so high that the decisions were difficult. We hold this new photographic

reference library that can now be used throughout the agency and its publications.

ACRONYMS

ADS-B Automatic Dependent Surveillance

Broadcast

AFP Airspace Flow Program

AIRE Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to

Reduce Emissions

AMASS Airport Movement Area Safety

System

ASDE-X Airport Surface Detection Equipment-Model X

ASIAS Aviation Safety Information Analysis

and Sharing

ASPIRE Asia and South Pacific Initiative

to Reduce Emissions

ATOS Air Traffic Oversight System

ATM Air Traffic Management

BASA Bilateral Aviation Safety

Agreement

CAST Commercial Aviation Safety Team

CDA Continuous Descent Arrival

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

FACT Future Airport Capacity Team

FTI FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure

FY Fiscal Year (not spelled out page 5)

GA General Aviation

GAO Government Accountability Office

GPS Global Positioning System

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization

IPA Implementation Procedures for

Airworthiness

JPDO Joint Planning and Development

Office

LOB/SO Lines of Business and Staff Offices

NAS National Airspace System

NEO Network Enabled Operations

NextGen Next Generation Air

Transportation System

NNEW NextGen Network Enabled Weather

NVS National Airspace System Voice Switch

OEP Operational Evolution Partnership

OPD Optimized Profile Descent

PEPC Pre-Employment Processing Center

RNAV Area Navigation

RNP Required Navigation Performance

SARP Standards and Recommended

Practices

SESAR Single European Sky Air Traffic

Management Research

SID Standard Instrument Departure

SLDP Senior Leadership Development

Program

SMS Safety Management System

STAR Standard Terminal Arrival Route

STEM Science, Technology, Engineering,

and Mathematics

SWIM System-Wide Information

Management

TMA Traffic Management Advisor

UAS Unmanned Aircraft System

USOAP Universal Safety Oversight Audit

Program

WAAS Wide Area Augmentation System

WTMD Wake Turbulence Mitigation for

Departure
800 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20591

www.faa.gov

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Moving America Safely.

Moving America Efficiently.

It’s what we do.

Photo: Courtesy of Bruce Trombecky