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T. WILSON PROFESSOR OF ROOM 33-303 

AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS 77 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE 

DIRECTOR CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 02139 

 INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AIR TRANSPORTATION (617) 253-2271 FAX (617) 253-4196 

 E-MAIL: rjhans@mit.edu 

June 12, 2007 

The Honorable Marion C. Blakey 

Administrator 

Federal Aviation Administration 

800 Independence Avenue, SW 

Washington, DC 20591 

Dear Administrator Blakey: 

On behalf of the Research, Engineering and Development Advisory Committee (REDAC), I 

wanted to again thank you for your participation in the May 2 meeting. 

Enclosed are the recommendations of the standing REDAC Subcommittees on Airports, 

Environment and Energy, NAS Operations, and Human Factors. 

The Aircraft Safety Subcommittee was unable to meet due scheduling and member health issues. 

Some safety issues were reviewed by the full REDAC which was briefed on the status of the 

Aviation Safety Information and Sharing System (ASIAS). The REDAC feels that ASIAS is an 

important cornerstone of the FAA safety strategy and was encouraged by the collaboration 

between the FAA and NASA in the development of methods of advanced data analysis. The 

Committee also cautions that the expectations for ASIAS will push the state of the art and will 

require significant intellectual capability and effort. 

The REDAC is currently conducting a focused study of Aviation Weather requirements and also 

providing some input to the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) on the NextGen 

R&D plan. 

Thank you again for your interest and participation. I, and the other members of the REDAC, are 

available if you would like to discuss these, or other issues in more detail. 

Sincerely, 

R. John Hansman 

Co-Chair 

FAA Research, Engineering and Development Advisory Committee 

Enclosure
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REDAC Recommendations for FY 09

Subcommittee on Airports

The Airports Subcommittee: 

1. Is pleased with the co-operation that has been exhibited between the FAA Technical 

Center 

and the projects that are being funded by the Airports Cooperative Research Program 

(ACRP). The Subcommittee is particularly pleased with the efforts that are being made 

to eliminate any duplication of effort between FAA research efforts and those of the 

ACRP. 

2. Recommends further staffing increase of 2 positions in the Airport R&D Branch. One 

position for safety projects and one position for pavement research. The positions are 

necessary to support the significant growth of Airport Technology Research from $7.5 

million to over $18 million in the FY 2008 request. 

3. We encourage the support of the Wm. J. Hughes Technical Center in helping AAR410 in 

obtaining permits, etc. to construct the pavement test lab that has been planned and 

funded . 

4. Strongly supports the proposed research tasking in: 

- Airfield pavement friction and roughness studies 

- Fire fighting techniques for 2nd level fires and composite fires 

- Bird detection and wildlife control 

- Airfield pavement behavior and longevity 

- LED and Retro-reflective lighting devices for General Aviation airports 

- Continued research and promotion of EMAS installations 

- Initiation of an environmental research (runoff water quality) task within AAR410 

- Continued testing of low cost Foreign Object Detection (FOD) radars at airports 

5. The Subcommittee is very pleased with the initiation of work in an environmental 

area that 

has been the bane of many airports large and small across the United States in recent 

years - that of the detrimental environmental aspects of the effect on ground water quality 
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due to runoff from airfield pavements. The Subcommittee commends the Airport 

Technology Branch for moving into this critical area, the impact of which can be highly 

beneficial both to the environment and to the airports themselves. The Subcommittee 

supports including $500,000 in the FY 2009 budget request for research on water quality 

issues. This water quality research initiative also has the strong support of the 

Environmental Subcommittee. 

Subcommittee on Environment and Energy

The subcommittee identified the following specific issues as matters to bring to the 

attention of the Administrator. 

Issue 1: Subcommittee maintains that environment is a key – if not the key – constraint 

to NextGen. Subcommittee commends the Administrator for her leadership providing 

resources under the NextGen Finance Reform proposal to address aviation environmental 

issues in FY08 and beyond. All members unanimously supported CLEEN and believe 

the FAA needs to ensure it is ready to execute this important effort. 

Recommendation 1: Immediately convene a task group – under the auspices of the 

REDAC E&E subcommittee to weigh options for establishing the CLEEN consortium 

and recommending how to implement. Need to ensure that all key stakeholders are 

engaged. Secure some seed funding to do a detailed program plan. 

Issue 2: Subcommittee is concerned that the right emphasis be placed on addressing 

airport environmental needs in the short term. Subcommittee commends the 

Administrator for the proposal to expand the ACRP program, dedicating $5 million to 

environmental issues. The subcommittee encourages the FAA to work with Airports and 

other stakeholders to ensure that the ACRP environmental program has a strategic vision 

and avoid any duplication of efforts. 

Recommendation 2: Work with the TRB to add a position on the ACRP Board to be 

filled by FAA’s Office if Environment and Energy. Ensure that FAA’s Office of 

Environment and Energy as well as appropriate Office of Airports staff are fully engaged 

with all ACRP environmental projects through participation in the panels formed to 

oversee the projects. 

Issue 3: Subcommittee believes that clean and quiet operational procedures have the 

potential to provide significant environmental mitigation in the short to mid term, 

complementing the benefits we derive from technologies. The Subcommittee commends 

the Administrator for innovative proposals like the Environmental Mitigation 

Demonstration Pilot Program and the augmentation of RE&D and Capital 1 funding to 

address procedures. The subcommittee expressed concerns that some airports may not be 

able to participate in the pilot program because their regional mitigation funds were 

already committed for several years. 
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Recommendation 3: Ensure that funding made available for the Demonstration program 

is widely available to all airports and not constrained by commitments already in place 

for mitigation. 

Issue 4: Subcommittee was very pleased with the augmentation in RE&D and Capital 1 

budget to support NextGen needs. The subcommittee endorsed the FY09 budget request 

and urged the Administrator, the Department and the Office of Management and Budget 

to support the FY09 budget as presented in the FY08 NARP. Subcommittee members 

felt that this was a good step – but that given the potential benefits of mitigating impacts 

(billions of dollars), that investment decisions may need to be revisited in the future, 

particularly in CLEEN and climate impacts research. Members also suggested some 

minor wording changes to Sect 606 (CLEEN) of the Administration NextGen Finance 

Reform Bill proposal. However, they recognized that the proposed legislation has gone 

to the Hill and FAA was not in a position to make these edits. Individual Members 

indicated they would pursue this through the legislative committees. 

Recommendation 4: For NextGen RE&D a) Consider CLEEN a pilot program. After 

weighing success, consider expansion. b) Continue to work with CCSP to establish a 

robust aviation climate impacts research program with appropriate levels of funding. 

Issue 5: Subcommittee was encouraged by the move to and funding allocated towards 

establishing an Environmental Management System. However, there were concerns that 

this has not fully been scoped. 

Recommendation 5: Direct the Office of Environment and Energy to provide the 

subcommittee a detailed description of the concept of EMS, including how it would be 

used; as well as how RE&D and Capital 1 programs will support its development at the 

next subcommittee. 
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Subcommittee on Human Factors

The subcommittee identified the following issues. 

1. The FAA needs to increase it’s human capital and expertise in the area of human 

factors. There is a general concern regarding the national aviation human factors 

capability. The FAA and others are having difficulty filling current human factors 

openings and the FAA should take a leadership role in rejuvenating the aviation human 

factors field. 

2. Human-Systems integration considerations will be critical for NextGen. Many of the 

key concepts proposed for NextGen have significant human factors issues. The 

subcommittee recommends that the FAA and JPDO assure that human factors lessons 

learned are integrated into NextGen concepts and that Human-System performance 

metrics and risks are considered. Human factors considerations should be included early 

in the development process and extend beyond the operational concept to include humansystem integration, procedures, selection, and training. It will also be necessary to 

develop a strategy to manage human factors considerations in the development process 

with methods such as simulation and in-use human assessment 

3. The research requirements process could be more effective if it included a longer term 

component and had more continuity. The current process is effective at linking research 

and operational units but tends to focus on short term emergent concerns. The committee 

recommended a portfolio approach with some focus on longer-term NextGen issues to 

achieve portfolio balance. 
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NAS Operations Subcommittee

Finding 1: The forecasted increase in demand leads not only to a requirement for the 

NextGen capabilities and paradigms to increase capacity, but also for a reduced 

combined ANSP/user per-operation cost in NextGen to decrease overall system costs. 

Most of the research presented, however, did not provide a potential life-cycle cost 

assessment. 

Recommendation: R&D projects, even at very early stages, should be presented with 

some attention to the life-cycle costs impact on the ATM system and system users, with 

improving fidelity of these estimates being provided as the R&D matures toward the OEP 

Core. 

Finding 2: In several briefings, the connections of the R&D to the requirements of 

instantiating the NextGen system, such as examining the impact on safety or assessing 

stakeholder perceptions, were not made. 

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Recommendation: The capability paradigm which is used by ATO-P for OEP and 

addresses multiple dimensions of technology development and insertion should be 

addressed in each research project. 

Finding 3: The NextGen paradigm implies different roles and responsibilities for the 

humans in the system, both in the air and on the ground, as well as new interactions 

among them. The briefings on Human Factors research relevant to NAS Ops in NextGen 

implied that the research was acting more as an integrator of concepts than in its critical 
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role as an early definer of acceptable con-ops through focused research on human 

performance issues. 

Recommendation: The RED and ATO-Cap HF program funding and organizational 

construct should be examined from the standpoint of NextGen implementation. 

Finding 4: The Subcommittee views with alarm the move of FAA sponsorship of its 

weather R&D out of ATO. NAS OPS Subcommittee has a working group defining the 

important needs for Weather/ATM Integration, and the critical impact of this integration 

on solving the capacity problem. The change in FAA R&D sponsorship may hinder the 

changes needed in the R&D. 

Recommendation: The FAA should evaluate carefully the recommendations of the 

Weather/ATM Integration Working Group that will be presented at this meeting. Some 

improved focus and integration of the weather R&D within the FAA should be 

implemented. 

Finding 5: The routine integration of Unmanned Aircraft into the National Airspace 

System is transformational. Concepts in NextGen (e.g., Trajectory-based operations) may 

facilitate this transformation. Previously the subcommittee had observed that the funding 

level for UAS-related research did not reflect the complexity of the technical and 

operations issues associated with their routine integration into civil airspace. Funding 

appears to have decreased further. The subcommittee is concerned that there does not 

appear to be a direct tie among NextGen transformation activities and UAS R&D 

activities as outlined in the NARP. The subcommittee was not able to discern that the 

necessary research (e.g., economics and other drivers for UAS applications) is being done 

to inform policy decisions. 

Recommendation: The FAA should review the magnitude and implementation of its 

UAS-related research investment to ensure that funded activities can best inform critical 

policy decisions and that the agency is positioned to integrate this transformational 

technology in the evolution towards NextGen.