Findings and Recommendations

March 2019
E&E REDAC Subcommittee

 March 19 – 20, 2019 Meeting

 Approval of FY19 budget that included $191.1M for RE&D funds 

(Thanks House and Senate)

 Overview: Impact of the recent furlough; Review R&D portfolio; 

Noise threat; FAA impact at ICAO CAEP; Importance of 

Alternative Jet Fuels

 Noise possibly biggest threat to growth of U.S, Aviation

 U.S. must maintain its Global Leadership position at ICAO CAEP

 Selected deep dives and special topics

 Increased growth in Subsonic, UAM/UAV; Supersonic and Commercial 

space vehicles

 Importance of Public Private Partnership programs

 Collaboration between FAA and NASA

 Additional environmental research key to establishment of sound policy 

to support new entrants
E&E Findings & Recommendations (1)

 Noise is an ongoing issue and possibly the biggest 

threat to NexGen, Modernization of the NAS and 

constraint to growth of U.S. Aviation industry

 Growth will come from the Subsonic, UAM/UAS, 

Supersonic and Commercial Space vehicles and the 

FAA will need to be able to address the noise, 

emissions and health impacts of these new entrants 

 Recommend FAA aggressively move forward with its 

research efforts as research is the key to establishing 

sound policy.
E&E Findings & Recommendations (2)

 Maintaining the U.S. Global leadership position at 

ICAO CAEP is essential to protecting U.S. aviation 

interests

 The subcommittee recommends the prioritization of 

all research efforts/programs that will allow the FAA 

and the U.S. to maintain its current global leadership 

at ICAO CAEP.
E&E Findings and Recommendations (3)

 A lot of progress has been made in the development of 

alternative fuels and any reduction of funding for the 

Alternative Jet Fuel (AJF) program (including efforts in 

CAAFI, CLEEN and ASCENT) will have a catastrophic 

effect on the maturation of this fledgling industry

 Since the maturation of the Alternative Jet Fuel 

program will be a major environmental benefit for the 

public, will create a new industry within the U.S. and 

will benefit the U.S. aviation industry. We strongly 

support funding for the continuation of research on 

AJF. 
E&E Findings and Recommendations (4)

 Recent challenges in the grant approval process has led 

AEE to solicit new project ideas from a wide range of 

researchers in the ASCENT and CLEEN programs. These 

ideas will lead to new research efforts for ASCENT that 

should result in real-world innovation

 The Subcommittee continues to endorse the robust 

funding Public Private Partnerships like CLEEN, CAAFI 

and ASCENT that leverage scares resources. The 

Subcommittee is pleased with the close collaboration 

between NASA and the FAA. We support the new research 

plan presented by AEE and encourage the FAA to adopt 

this plan and expedite the approval of grants associated 

with these partnerships.
E&E Findings and Recommendations (5)

 Proposed improvements in Aviation Environmental 

Design Tool (AEDT) will enable enhanced usability 

and improved airspace and airport design.

 The subcommittee recommends the FAA continue the 

simultaneous balanced development of usability 

improvements and enhanced features in the near 

term. Work with airports to get additional emissions 

data to support modeling efforts.