FAA Acting Administrator Huerta Says No To Small Business, Academia and the End-User UAS Stakeholder!
In the May 15, 2012 letter from Congresswomen Matsui addressed Mr. Huerta it clearly reiterates (attached)
“My office has been contact by members of the Remote Control Aerial Photography Association who are concerned that the Arc has left out a number of key stakeholders, including small business, academics and end users.”
The letter further states
“UAS are now being used by a wide variety of end-users, from farmers to real estate agents; clearly there is a need for due diligence to be conducted by the FAA as federal rules and regulations are developed. However, for those rules and regulations to work for the public, it is important the FAA listens to all stakeholders. I encourage you to review, and consider expanding, the ARC membership in order to ensure that the FAA has the appropriate stakeholders at the table.”
A simple and straightforward message easily discernable by any fair-minded individual.
The official reply by John Hickey deputy associate administrator for aviation safety AKA deputy associate administrator for FAA aviation job safety, read more:
“Acting administrator Huerta has asked me to respond to your May 15 letter about the exclusion of the Remote Control Aerial Photography Association (RCAPA) from the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC).”
So speaking on behalf of the FAA Acting Administrator Huerta, Mr Hickey states
“As explained in a previous response to your office relating to this issue, a panel was convened to discuss the UAS ARC membership in the spring of 2011.”
Who was on the panel, who chose the DoD contractors to represent small business and how come they disregarded the UAS ARC Charter? Where are the minutes for that meeting?
“That panel was charged with providing a list of recommended stakeholders for UAS ARC membership that represented a wide spectrum of the aviation community, to include manufactures of small UAS.”
We don’t really know what to make of the response, as there is a glaring omission on the subject of small business.
Here’s the .PDF FAAUAResponse
