FAA Responses to E&E Subcommittee Recommendations for Environmental Advancements

E&E Subcommittee Recommendations & FAA Responses Federal Aviation Administration To: REDAC E&E Subcommittee By: Dr. Jim Hileman Chief Scientific & Technical Advisor for Environment and Energy Office of Environment and Energy Date: March 17, 2015

Outline Recommendation from August 2014 Action Item Status Federal Aviation Administration 2

Response to 2014-08 REDAC Recommendation - 1 RECOMMENDATION FINDING The FAA should work to restore necessary F&E funding for the development and implementation of operational procedures that promises near- and mid-term environmental benefits. In addition the agency should make a concerted effort to leverage funding with renewed outreach to other agencies that may be able to assist in this effort. The large reduction in F&E funding in FY15 FY16 will result in a drastic effect on the development and implementation of improvements to ATM and operational procedures via NextGen. As a result, Air Traffic improvements with potentially large environmental benefits in the near- and mid- terms will be delayed or eliminated. Federal Aviation Administration 3

Response to 2014-08 REDAC Recommendation - 2 RECOMMENDATION FINDING The subcommittee recommends that the FAA create a main webpage at faa.gov/environment with links to significant environmental activities like CLEEN, alternative fuels, noise / emissions roadmaps, operations research, and analytical tool development. Significant progress has been made in all areas of Environment and Energy activities. However, these successes are not always communicated adequately to the decision makers and the public at large. Specifically this information cannot be easily found on the FAA website. The subcommittee is pleased to see that the FAA is now compiling and posting the Continuous Low Emissions Energy and Noise (CLEEN) Program Fact Sheets that highlight the accomplishments and environmental advances of various CLEEN projects. Federal Aviation Administration 4

Response to 2014-08 REDAC Recommendation - 3 RECOMMENDATION FINDING The subcommittee recommends that the FAA not announce publicly the names of the airports where the noise surveys will be conducted. The Airport Managers should be informed ahead of time so they are prepared to respond to questions from their communities where the surveys are conducted. The community noise surveys around 20 airports, which will provide an update to the noise exposure vs annoyance relationship, is a near term cornerstone of the Noise Research Roadmap. Good progress is being made in the development of the survey and getting all the pre-survey approvals. But the subcommittee is concerned that announcing the plans for the surveys at specified airports prior to the survey being done would bias the survey results. This opens the FAA to the risk that the stakeholders may refute the results of the research. Federal Aviation Administration 5

Response to 2014-08 REDAC Recommendation - 4 RECOMMENDATION FINDING The subcommittee urges the FAA, NASA and other agencies to update the National Aeronautics Research Plan. The NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) Strategic Research Plan as briefed by the NASA representative on this subcommittee suggested an opportunity for NASA, FAA and other agencies to work together and update the National Aeronautics Research Plan. Federal Aviation Administration 6

Actions Completed/Underway from Previous Meetings Invite ATO and ANG to brief at next REDAC Subcommittee meeting. Consider adding a subcommittee member that provides FAA ATO/ANG perspective (NAS-Ops REDAC member perhaps) as well as NATCA. DONE Provide a briefing at the next meeting on the research that has been dramatically curtailed and cut due to reduction in FY15 budget levels. DONE Revise Noise Roadmap based on input from meeting. DONE Capture optimistic, realistic, and pessimistic cases within the goals analysis as opposed to a single scenario for the future. DONE For goals analysis, provide historical perspective to future projections as possible. DONE Develop a means of showing the life cycle CO2 emissions that are attributable to aviation versus upstream sources (extraction, refining and product transport) and include it in the CO2 time history. DONE Use consistent metrics across the board to evaluate improvement in fuel burn. DONE Provide additional briefing on metrics as the work evolves. DONE Federal Aviation Administration 7

Actions Completed/Underway from Previous Meetings Change name of steering committee such that folks understand what these funds are going toward. DONE Provide a briefing on the National Jet Fuel Combustion Program at next REDAC meeting. DONE Create ASCENT fact sheet for sharing with community. ONGOING Improve search criteria for AEE websites. ONGOING Pursue environment.faa.gov and faa.gov/environment as potential aliases for FAA environment research. ONGOING Provide Subcommittee with more specifics on the Emissions Roadmap at Summer 2016 meeting. ONGOING Invite EPA to come to the meeting to give a briefing on their efforts that are relevant to international standard setting. ONGOING Leverage the roadmapping efforts at NASA and FAA to update the White House National R&D Plan. ONGOING Federal Aviation Administration 8