Aircraft Electronics Association President Paula Derks recently met with the Federal Aviation Administration’s acting Administrator, Dan Elwell. Derks was accompanied by AEA Chairman of the Board David Loso, along with Ric Peri, AEA vice president of government and industry affairs.
Discussion topics during the meeting included the upcoming ADS-B mandate and shop capacity to perform the thousands of installations still needed to meet the Jan. 1, 2020, mandate. Administrator Elwell stated again that the mandate will stick; there will be no extensions. The Part 23 rewrite also was discussed and how it is contributing to the streamlining of certifying new avionics products.
Peri stressed the need for the FAA to encourage and support its avionics safety inspectors to attend training events offered by the AEA in an effort to educate and inform the inspectors about advancing technologies.