Internal Issues At FAA Over Drones Says Post

0

The Washington Post is reporting the FAA has fired a lobbyist it hired to help companies speed up approvals for drone operations as its own inspectors raised concerns about drone integration. The Post says the lobbyist was released Thursday after the newspaper raised questions about the arrangement and the agency agreed that it was a conflict of interest. On Sunday, the FAA released the following statement to AVweb in response to a query about the Post story: “Safety is the FAA’s top priority as demonstrated by the rigorous exemption review process. As with any emerging technology there is a very active debate about how to approach integration and the FAA has decided to take a staged approach. The exemption process is transparent, and the safety case for each application is thoroughly analyzed and the rationale for each decision is publicly available. The FAA is working on a plan to streamline the administrative elements of this process to ensure new entrants opportunity to safely gain access to the national airspace.”

The Post quoted an email from FAA safety inspector Lance Nuckolls to his colleagues that seemed to sum up the staff position on the unusual arrangement. “How is this not a conflict of interest?” he said in the email. “I’m now officially numb with total dismay and disgust with our leadership.” The Post used the anecdote to illustrate what it describes as an internal war being waged within the agency on how to handle the integration of unmanned aerial systems into the national airspace system. It quotes unnamed sources as saying external and internal pressure to approve drone operations is potentially compromising safety. “There’s huge political pressure to do quick approvals,” it quoted one former FAA official as saying. “Congress made very clear what they want, and safety is not at the forefront because of pressure from the industry.”

LEAVE A REPLY