Garret Graves

We have seen some pretty challenging times in the aviation sector over the past several years with COVID...

There's no question that we're at a crossroads in civil aviation.

This means that disruptions, lack of capacity, higher prices, delays, and cancellations will continue if we're unable to get ahead of the projected demand for air travel.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's (AOPA) perspective on 'Examining the Current and Future Challenges Facing the Aerospace Workforce.'

This hearing is focused on exploring how the upcoming Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill could address these workforce shortages--an absolutely critical issue.

I respectfully urge you to include the text of H.R. 2558 in the 2023 FAA Reauthorization bill.

Thankfully, the amendment described by the ranking member is not the amendment that we are offering today. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Carl), a member of the Natural Resources Committee.

If you look right on the western end, or the western side, they actually have the Wright brothers' plane up there depicted because of its transformative role in United States history.

This is a fundamentally safer technology. You have the authority to make a physics-based declaration of what it means to be certified.

What we need to do is, we need to maintain that leadership position by continuing to be innovative.

We want a safe, reliable, and repeatably produced aircraft, right?

I love the technology, I love the future that you are helping to create.

I want to thank the witnesses, and I want to apologize to each of you for being out of pocket here for a little while.

The permitting process right now is slightly convoluted-- actually, it is more than slightly convoluted.

We are grateful to Chairman Garrett Graves, Congresswoman Sharice Davids, and members of the Committee for introducing and passing the 'Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Coordination and Leadership Act.'

We appreciate Chairman Graves (R-LA) and Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA) for their work on the Advanced Aviation Infrastructure Modernization (AAIM) Act.

The last thing we need is the FAA's lack of leadership and its unwillingness to accept new ideas to drive the next great age of aviation out of America.

These people have overcome obstacles their entire lives, and all that's going to happen is that we are going to cede our leadership in aviation technology to other countries.

We cannot allow the opportunities these technologies provide to our constituents to be stifled by endless redtape and requests for more data and studies.

The last thing we need is FAA's lack of leadership and unwillingness to accept new ideas to drive the next great age of aviation out of America.

As one example of an application where drones can be helpful, during the 2016 floods and Hurricane Laura in 2020 in my home State of Louisiana...

Again, unmanned aircraft systems (or drones) and advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft, have the potential to revolutionize our transportation systems...

I am afraid that is kind of the scenario that we are in today, in that you represent innovators...

How would you feel if you prepared yourself for a marathon over months and months of training, working out really hard, and you get in that race, and you are at mile 26, and all of a sudden, the course just ends?

I am not sure if any of you have been in the rotunda of the Capitol, but up in the rotunda of the Capitol they have a painting called the Frieze of American History that goes all the way around, 360 degrees.