AIAA Air Transportation Systems TC Meeting Minutes
OUTLINE
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a. Description b. Lessons learned c. Symposium 2001 |
The meeting was officially called to order by the Chairman, Ray Ausrotas, at 7:00 PM.
Members present were:
2. Debrief of the AIAA/GMU NAS Symposium
George Donahue debriefed the TC on the NAS Capacity Symposium held Feb. 25th in Washington, DC. George, Dan Salvano, and Bruno Casala were the driving forces behind the Symposium.
Description:
The goal of the Symposium was to educate Congress -- and particularly members of the House and Senate Appropriations and Authorizations Committees -- on the issues, obstacles and opportunities related to capacity, congestion and delays in our nation's air transportation system.
The half-day symposium featured a panel of subject-matter experts such as Norman Mineta (NCAR Comm. Chair), Brad Parkinson (Stanford), John Hansman (MIT) and Bruce Holmes (NASA). Attendees included representatives of industry, academia and government. Attendance fees for Members of Congress and their staffers were waived.
Planned attendance was 100. Actual attendance was 52, of which only one or two were Congressional staffers. Although comments from those in attendance were favorable, the low turnout among staffers was a disappointment.
Lessons learned:
The Symposium is a good idea and should be part of our plans for 2001. However, we will need to approach staffers with a more compelling pitch to attend.
Reasons to do it again:
1. RTCA, AOPA, ATCA, etc... these organizations are familiar to Congress; AIAA is not. We need to do start promoting ourselves if we want to be among the groups Congress turns to for technical testimony.
2. Congress is appallingly uninformed on issues pertaining to the air transportation system, delays, equipment, etc. Neither they nor their staffs understand the complexity of the system. As a result, the needs of the NAS are not being adequately addressed.
Proposed changes for next year:
1. Recruit one to three key staffers at the outset to help us plan the content and format of the symposium, act as advocates of the symposium, and promote attendance among their peers. Potential candidates mentioned:
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a. Frank Wolfe (House Appropriations Comm., Chair of the Subcommittee on Transportation) b. Jim Oberstar (Ranking Democrat, Aviation Subcomm. of the House Comm. on Transportation & Infrastructure) |
Planning of the 2001 symposium will begin at the May TC meeting. This will allow us to recruit our Subcommittee member(s) over the summer.
Related links:
http://www.house.gov/appropriations/members.htm
http://www.house.gov/transportation/ctisub1.html
3. WAC 2000
Our TC is supporting one session at the WAC 2000, which is being held at the Town & Country Resort in San Diego, Oct. 10-12, 2000. (Ref: http://www.sae.org/calendar/wac00/cfp.htm)
Gano Chatterji is organizing the ATS session, entitled "Advances in ATC." Gano has 5 or 6 abstracts in hand.
Note that 2000 will be the last year for the WAC. (No reflection on our session.)
4. Aviation Week Aerospace Expo
AvWeek is sponsoring the Aerospace Expo the week of November 14th at the Long Beach (CA) Convention Center. Sherry Krause of the Aircraft Operations TC is organizing a session, and she welcomes our participation. However, some considerations were raised:
1. The Aircraft Ops session focuses on Corporate Safety Culture and Aviation Law; there is no clear opportunity for technical topics of interest to our TC.
2. While the NTSB and ATA will be represented, the FAA will not. The question was raised, "What's the point of a safety discussion (our intended topic) without the FAA?"
3. At the prior TC Meeting, AIAA's Don Richardson had made a personal appeal to the TC to organize a session. However, the AIAA's interest in our participation now seems in doubt.
Action Item: Call Don Richardson and ask what the status is.
Our proposed session: Historical perspectives on aviation safety and automation
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- Topic: History, successes and failures of TCAS - Topic: History, successes and failures of GPWS/EGPWS - Topic: History, successes and failures of ADS-B - Topic: History, successes and failures of ASDE - Topic: History, successes and failures of ATIDS
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5. Future Events
Three ideas were proposed for ATS TC involvement in the future:
1. Some presence in conjunction with the Oshkosh (WI) Airshow or the Sun 'n' Fun in Lakeland, FL.
2. We should think about constructive ways in which we could work with the Aircraft Design TC and/or the Aircraft Operations TC. (Incidentally, the Aircraft Design TC is chaired by our own Dimitri Mavris.)
3. If the Symposium becomes a "staffers only" event, then it may be worthwhile to investigate hosting a separate symposium for industry/academia, perhaps targeted at a more technical level.
6. Next TC Meeting
The next TC meeting is tenatively planned for one evening between 10-12 May, 2000, in the Washington, DC metro area.
7. Action Items:
Gano: Contact Don Richardson regarding the Aerospace Expo.
George and Dan: Explore AIAA publication of the ATM2000 papers.
8. Special thanks!...
... to George Donohue, Dan Salvano, and Bruno Casala for conceiving of, organizing and making good on the NAS Capacity Symposium -- an important first step towards opening a dialogue with Congress.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:15 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Todd Farley
March 28, 2000