The FAA ended a difficult year under intense scrutiny in the aftermath of the Boeing 737 Max crashes; and Congress gave notice that pressure was not going to let up headed into the New Year. This is among a number of key issues in Washington expected to capture the attention of the industry in 2020.

“Though 2019 is coming to an end, the [House Transportation and Infrastructure, T&I] Committee’s investigation is far from over,” warned House aviation subcommittee chair Rick Larsen (D-Washington) in December.

That scrutiny extends to the FAA’s delegation activities, approach to pilot training, and international leadership. “It is increasingly clear the process by which the FAA evaluates and certifies aircraft is itself in need of repair,” Larsen said. “Congress must reevaluate and improve the current certification process to ensure the safety of the flying public.”

While the investigation has focused on the activities surrounding Boeing, its overall processes are under pressure. Business and general aviation groups have spent considerable time on Capitol Hill explaining the processes and need for programs such as Organization Delegation Authorization (ODA). In fact, former acting FAA administrator and now deputy administrator Dan Elwell warned lawmakers that without the delegation programs, the FAA would require roughly 10,000 more employees and an additional $1.8 billion to cover the cost of keeping up with emerging technologies and certification demands.

General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) president and CEO Pete Bunce said his board met with the new FAA administrator, Steve Dickson, this past fall and had a “wonderful dialog.” The board saw his commitment to stay on course to continue collaboration with industry.

Bunce said, instead, the FAA is taking a little more time in their review of activities, and international regulators are being more thorough in their own validation reviews. But he added there are things the industry can coalesce around, such as safety management systems (SMS).

Dickson, who stepped into the role this past summer with considerable commercial and military aviation experience, appeared before the T&I committee in December, laying out an overview of what lies ahead for the agency, saying it is focused on moving toward a more holistic versus transactional, item-by-item approach to aircraft certification. This approach must take into account the interaction between all aircraft systems and the crew, he said. Dickson also called for a coordinated and flexible information flow and emphasized a need for SMS at manufacturers, use of analytics or “big data,” and maintaining a "just culture."

Even so, industry leaders agree that they must remain vigilant. “It certainly is a big risk with ODA,” said Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association president and CEO Mark Baker, adding that the approach to sharing has fostered an important safety culture. Should Congress alter that approach, he said, they “need to be careful about what they ask for.”

As it continues works to address the concerns of Congress, the agency was busy putting the final pieces in place for ADS-B at the end of the year—including programs to permit waivers and to secure the privacy of operators.

Industry has made a lot of progress on equipage now, said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen, pointing to what he called “hyper-focus” on the issue. He praised the FAA’s efforts on addressing concerns such as privacy and expressed optimism that the post-transition mandate will go smoothly. “Big projects sometimes present unique and unanticipated challenges. But as of today, we feel like we're working closely with the FAA and the community is responding pretty well.”

Jens Hennig, GAMA v-p of operations and co-chair of the ADS-B Equip 2020 working group's general aviation subcommittee, said he views January 2020 as a beginning for the program and much more lies ahead.

The industry and the FAA are looking to expand ADS-B-related services surrounding weather and situational awareness. Also, the FAA has begun to explore how it is going to move forward with radar divestiture. “The FAA didn’t want to finalize a plan until it had a better understanding of fleet equipage,” Hennig said but added now it can move forward on finalizing such a plan.

Further, he said conversations are ongoing for expanding three-nautical-mile separations, opening up new routes, and improving operational efficiency. And the FAA and industry are exploring how to complement ground-based ADS-B receivers with space-based, in areas where it makes sense, such as oceanic operations and operations in the Caribbean.

While not yet revealing potential legislative mandates regarding the FAA’s certification activities—beyond calls for a number of reviews—lawmakers have been active on a number of other mandates. On the international front, the T&I Committee is giving notice that it expects the FAA to take a strong leadership role. That was a driver behind a bill the committee passed in November calling for unannounced FAA inspections at foreign repair stations, upgraded standards, and a ban on new FAA-certified foreign repair stations until the bill is implemented.

That bill was one of several introduced this past fall that have drawn strong industry opposition. Other poorly received proposals include legislation surrounding a ban on helicopter operations over New York; restrictions on air tours over national parks and other places of interest; and the ability of local governments to impose their own drone restrictions. Industry groups criticized the bills, saying they usurp the FAA’s domain over the national airspace system in favor of local interests.

The fate of the bills is unclear, however. They will carry over into 2020. But whether Congress will take action on them is uncertain. Most Washington insiders and staff members on Capitol Hill believe the number of bills that become adopted will slow as focus shifts to the 2020 elections.

“In election years, we generally have a little less legislation than [during] non-election years,” said Bolen. However, that does not mean those bills will stall. “Every year there is must-pass legislation and different members will look for an opportunity to add their legislative proposals,” he said.

In particular, controversial proposals have a more difficult road, Bolen added. However, not all bills introduced in late 2019 are negative. Bolen strongly supported a bill from Larsen to permit the government to promote aviation jobs. Bills that have strong bipartisan support are more likely to see progress, he said.

The elections themselves bring another dynamic for industry leaders. In addition to monitoring daily activity on Capitol Hill, they must heighten their education campaigns. The good news for business and general aviation, Baker said, is the industry is largely bipartisan—“we have a nonpartisan sky.”

Bolen agreed: “We have found that business aviation, in fact, all of aviation, has not historically been a partisan issue. We have found lots of positives—and some negatives—regardless of which party is in control of the Executive branch or the Legislative branch.”

The approach is to educate officeholders and candidates, and “get them excited about the fact that business aviation is profoundly positive to the U.S., from a jobs standpoint, economic development, competitiveness, humanitarian efforts and increasingly from a sustainability standpoint,” he added. “The truth and the facts are our friends and [we need to] make sure people know what business aviation means to the very existence of so many of our communities across the U.S.”

Another key reason for the education effort, said Paul Feldman, v-p of government affairs for GAMA, is the increase in turnover in Congress. The acceleration began about a decade ago and has continued, Feldman said. “That makes it more challenging and means we need to get out and talk to [members] that much more.”

Bolen agreed, saying given these uncertainties, it is not only beholden on Washington lawmakers, but on everyone in the community, to reach out and get engaged with their lawmakers, the candidates, and other members of government at all levels.

NBAA has added tools on its website to facilitate this process, he added. “We believe it is important is that our members get engaged, that they feel empowered to contact their elected official.” This is whether by tweet, email, or phone, Bolen said. “There are always lots of ways to help make sure [members] are able to express whether they think [a proposal] will be helpful to our industry or harmful, and why.”

“It's always important in an election year, when people think about the power of the vote, they also recognize the opportunity to engage in the process—not just casting a vote, but asking questions, getting answers, sharing, points of view...It’s a tremendous opportunity.”

Helping this process, though, Baker said, has been the strength of the General Aviation Caucuses on Capitol Hill. “Every election we gain some and we lose some [caucus members]." But the groups have become among the largest on Capitol Hill, he said. “Our ability to access Congress is really high,” Baker said.

It is still early days on predicting elections and turnover. Heading into the end of 2019, nearly three-dozen lawmakers had announced plans to retire, and more are likely. Of note from an industry standpoint is the planned retirement of Nita Lowey (D-New York), who chairs the Appropriations Committee.