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Transformation in the Air A Review of the FAA's Certification Research Plan (2015) / Chapter Skim
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1 A Review of the FAA Research Plan
Pages 6-12

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From page 6...
... True confidence requires ownership by the various stakeholders in the application and usage of NextGen capabilities. (Chapter 3 of this report addresses examples of successful projects that have helped stakeholders gain confidence in NextGen implementation.)
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From page 7...
... The plan would be a high-level description of the FAA research planning process that includes the following elements: • A description of the strategic and prescriptive value of a research plan; • A description of the value of the expected content of such a plan; and • An explanation of the expected outcomes from executing the plan. The following goals would be addressed in a comprehensive research plan: • Enhancing timeliness, • Improving confidence, • Adopting a total system perspective, • Acknowledging user adoption/operational transition, • Addressing overall approval as well as certification, • Increasing integrated accountability by researching critical dependencies and defining a clear and achievable outcome, and • Integrating emerging technologies upfront.
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From page 8...
... Flight Inspection TESTING Commercial Instruction Book TRAINING SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL EVALUATION FIGURE 1.1  National Airspace System ground-system approval process overview. SOURCE: Federal Aviation Administration, Research Plan: Methods and Procedures to Improve Confidence in and Timeliness of Certification of New Technologies Into the National Airspace System, Final, Office of NextGen, Washington, D.C., February 2014.
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From page 9...
... • The plan does not reference other agency reports, plans, and resources that inform and frame research to improve confidence in and timeliness of certification of new technologies. These include the NextGen Implementation Plan,2 which sets the context and goals for delivery of NextGen capabilities; the National Aviation Research Plan,3 which details investment of FAA's research budget, some current elements of which are relevant to timeliness and confidence of certification; the National Airspace System Enterprise Architecture,4 the comprehensive blueprint being used to build NextGen; the NextGen Priorities Joint Implementation Plan,5 which lays out priorities for implementation through 2018, developed jointly with the NextGen Advisory Committee; and the Navigation Procedures Initial Implementation Plan (NAV Lean)
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From page 10...
... Including an integrated perspective and presenting the targeted impact or improvements to the user would instill confidence that many well-executed disparate program components are manageable as an integrated program and truly improve the baseline. Adopt a Total System Perspective A plan focusing on research aimed at all aspects of approval, including accelerating operational transition, cross-organizational collaboration, and user adoption, would give a total system view that includes integrated testing, validation activities, and cybersecurity in operationally representative environments.
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From page 11...
... The FAA's initiative focusing on streamlining the implementation of procedures in the National Airspace System with its NAV Lean project, for example, followed the AMS process for implementation as described in the report Navigation Procedures Initial Implementation Plan (NAV Lean) .7 Acknowledge User Adoption/Operational Transition Operational transition and user adoption were identified as challenges that drive gaps between the FAA's documented descriptions of NextGen and what is being accomplished in a recent comprehensive and independent assessment of NextGen by MITRE.8 These gaps, which contribute to the different perceptions within the community about the amount of progress the FAA has made on NextGen, need to be addressed.
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From page 12...
... Future FAA research plans, when properly executed, can play a valuable role in guiding the FAA and stake holders and explaining progress in certifying new technologies into the National Airspace System. FINDING: Without goals and operational performance-based metrics such as fuel burn, capacity, delays, cancellations, carbon emissions, and other relevant factors, a research plan by itself cannot control the pace of implementation of capabilities or the realization of stakeholder operational benefits.
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Key Terms

  • national airspace
  • faa research
  • implementation plan
  • nav lean
  • faa modernization

  • initial implementation
  • nextgen capabilities
  • procedures initial
  • reform act
  • user adoption

  • increase integrated
  • approval process
  • operational transition
  • navigation procedures
  • integrated accountability

  • improve confidence
  • research planning
  • aviation research
  • proposed research
  • research plans

  • faa efforts
  • ongoing faa
  • nextgen implementation
  • nextgen priorities
  • process elements

  • management guidance
  • priorities joint
  • systemic approach
  • air traffic
  • integrating emerging


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