The FAA released its latest Flight Plan (PDF) on Tuesday, in which the agency sets out its goals and priorities for the next four years, from 2009 to 2013. Reducing general aviation accidents is one of the agency’s top objectives. According to the report, the last three-year period was the safest ever recorded in the history of GA. Over the next 10 years, the FAA aims to reduce GA fatal accidents to no more than one per 100,000 flight hours. Improved technology and infrastructure will help to achieve that goal, the FAA says. Infrastructure enhancements will include 500 new WAAS approaches to be published by mid-2010. GA pilots also can expect to find more unmanned aircraft systems in the national airspace. About 40 experimental certificates for such operations have already been awarded, and the report says the FAA will continue to develop policies, procedures and approval processes to help meet the demand.
The report says the agency will also work to optimize the use of weather cameras, and will continue to focus on improving the safety of GA and Part 135 operations in Alaska.
