Summary
- The FAA and EASA had a joint safety conference between June 11 and June 13, where the two regulators discussed many issues.
- In his opening remarks, Mike Whitaker, the Administrator of the FAA, stated that the FAA and EASA could cooperate on three areas, including safety.
- The two regulators and other industry stakeholders discussed wide-ranging topics during the event, according to the conference’s agenda.
Speaking during the joint Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Safety Conference, Mike Whitaker, the Administrator of the FAA, emphasized that the lessons learned from the Alaska Airlines mid-air door plug blowout can form the basis of discussions between the two regulators.
Working together with EASA
Whitaker remarked that the event made him think that there was a huge opportunity for the FAA and EASA to work together, remarking that he already had time to spend time with Florian Guillermet, the Executive Director of EASA. According to the head of the FAA, the two had already worked together, making it like a reunion between two friends.
“Since we’re in the U.S., I feel I have to quote an American philosopher instead of a French philosopher. I’m going to go with Yogi Bear who famously said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” So, we’re at a fork in the road, and I think there’s a lot of opportunity. We’re really excited about that.”
Photo : Chad Robertson Media | Shutterstock
The US regulator’s Administrator added that there were three areas where the FAA and EASA could cooperate, namely safety, cooperating regarding regulations, and international engagement, namely driving the agenda at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
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Lessons from the mid-air door plug blowout
While Patrick Ky, the predecessor of Guillermet worked with Boeing and the FAA during the 737 MAX groundings as well as on the initial certification processes of the 777X, Whitaker said that the lessons the FAA had learned from the Alaska Airlines mid-air door plug blowout could act as the foundation for discussions about safety between the two regulators.
“We’ve taken the learnings from January 5th and also applied them to other areas in the system, whether it’s operators, maintainers, controllers, pilots, or with workforce performance, writ large.”
Photo: BlueBarronPhoto | Shutterstock.com
Whitaker explained that since he began working as the Administrator of the FAA, his focus has been safety, as well as pilot mental health, fatigue, and controller hiring. Still, the Alaska Airlines incident on January 5, when a Boeing 737 MAX 9 lost its door plug while it was climbing out of Portland International Airport (PDX), helped clarify that the FAA was in the right mode, looking at operational safety in the system.
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Improving regulation cooperation
Whitaker noted that regulatory issues could also be another area where the two regulators could cooperate. The Administrator said that rhyming the FAA’s and EASA’s regulatory structure would be a good goal, adding that while the two cannot have identical regulations, they should be as compatible as possible.
Photo: Ian Dewar Photography | Shutterstock
Whitaker’s comments came as he opened the joint FAA-EASA Safety Conference on June 11. However, EASA did not publish Guillermet’s opening remarks. The event’s agenda showed that the regulators are looking to tackle many issues, including sustainability, runway safety, mental health, manufacturing quality and safety, cybersecurity, safety management systems (SMS), and other topics.
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