Successful and Productive “All Hands” Meeting

Just a quick note to say that last week’s “All Hands” Meeting was a tremendous success. We had a great turn-out at the NASA Headquarters Building in Washington, DC, including over 25 participants via teleconference. Special thanks to all of our speakers: Peggy Gervasi, Charlie Leader, Mark Andrews, Jay Merkle, and of course, our guest speaker, Dr. John Zukowsky. NASA TV taped Dr. Zukowsky’s presentation–so, if you missed it, you’ll have a chance to see a recording of his live presentation in the upcoming weeks. Be sure to check www.jpdo.gov for more details on this recording.

In the meantime, you can view all of the “All Hands” PowerPoint presentations here.  Look under “Meetings and Conferences” and “2009.”

You can also see pictures from the event here on our Web site, or here on Facebook.

David Kerr
JPDO Director, Partnership Development Division

NextGen and Operations Planning “All Hands” Meeting

ATO NextGen and Operations Planning Vice President Vicki Cox, in her remarks at today’s NextGen “All Hands”, said that NextGen is a priority of the Obama Administration.  It is, as the mission statement for this organization says, about “giving the world new ways to fly…”  Today’s All Hands offered NextGen employees the opportunity to hear from each of the FAA NextGen Organization Directors as they explained their role in NextGen.  The objective was to provide an integrated perspective on the diverse range of effort–whether it’s in research, integration, systems development, or testing–that is part of developing this crucial national initiative.

Charles Leader, the Director of the JPDO, explained his organization’s role in terms of its planning efforts and its work in helping to structure the implementation efforts of the other agencies involved in NextGen.  This includes the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, NASA, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and most recently, the Director of National Intelligence.  Mr. Leader discussed the online, interagency, relational database, the Joint Planning Environment (JPE), which integrates the NextGen multi-agency Concept of Operations, Enterprise Architecture, and Integrated Work Plan.   He also mentioned the work of the JPDO in developing a national integrated surveillance plan, and in its collaboration with the Department of Defense (DoD) in developing net-centric capabilities.

Mike Romanowski, Director of the Integration and Implementation Office, explained his organization in terms of its role in developing enterprise-level planning and implementation.  The goal, and his organization has developed an automated capability to manage this work, is to integrate all of the FAA’s budgeting, research, and implementation work.  He also noted the importance the FAA is placing on industry involvement.  This is a key responsibility of his office.  As Mr. Romanowski noted, industry is naturally concerned about the equipage demands of NextGen and needs to be able to plan their future aircraft upgrades.

Jim Williams, Director of the Systems Engineering and Safety Office, explained that one of the principal accomplishments of his office has been to develop new NextGen roadmaps, and, most significantly, to align these roadmaps with the enterprise architecture.  His office has also supported eight programs through the concept and requirements definition process, and has handled over 500 NAS change proposals.

Aviation Weather, as explained by Office Director Ken Leonard, is the most pervasive and serious concern to the operation of the NAS.  To emphasize this point and to illustrate the importance weather plays in developing NextGen, he noted that 70% of all delays in the NAS are caused by weather.   It has to be a key NextGen concern.  The Aviation Weather office has established a multi-agency NextGen Network Enabled Weather (NNEW – this is a part of the 4-D cube) Program Office.  The goal of this organization, through the application of net-centric capabilities, and advanced system integration, is to leverage the data-gathering capabilities of the thousands of platforms and sensors throughout the NAS.   The result will be a much more robust and reliable aviation weather capability.  This will help controllers and pilots in better managing operation in inclement weather.

The Tech Center, as introduced by Laboratory Director Wilson Felder, is “the nation’s leading laboratory for transportation.”  It’s where systems are tested and evaluated before they are put into actual use.  This includes, as Mr. Felder noted, testing done outside the lab to include the Gulf of Mexico VHF flight test, as well as future NextGen demonstration efforts.

Barry Scott, Director of the NextGen Research and Technology Development Office, discussed his office’s role as leading the FAA’s research and development initiative.  This includes developing the National Aviation Research Plan (NARP), but also includes planning and conducting the high profile NextGen demonstrations.

One of the important parts of the FAA’s work in developing NextGen is the ability to model and simulate the changes NextGen technologies and procedures will have on the NAS.  This includes modeling overall system mobility, NextGen benefits, and future performance characteristics.  Joe Post, the Director of the NextGen System Analysis Office, is developing his organization’s ability to deliver these capabilities and further, to integrate them into the work of each of the other Directorates.

David Kerr
JPDO Director, Partnership Development Division

Thoughts on the Feb 5 All Hands Meeting

The “All Hands” held by the JPDO on February 5th was one of our most successful if measured in attendance.  There were around 200 people in attendance (either physically in the room or hooked in by telecon).  It was also very successful if measured by content.  We had information being shared by a key stakeholder (Mr. James E. Bennett, CEO and President of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority), a key partner (Dr. Ajay Misra, Program Director of NASA’s Fundamental Aeronautics Program), and one of our very own Working Groups (Mr. Steve VanTrees of the JPDO Aircraft Working Group).  I think we can say that the All Hands is filling its intended mission – which is to provide important and timely information on NextGen to the broad JPDO network.  The JPDO is not a traditional organization – it depends on the large network of individuals that participate on JPDO working groups or with JPDO divisions that reach back into many government and private sector organizations.  There is no practical way to get all of those hands on deck.  But the JPDO’s All Hands meeting is one mechanism for reaching out and having a dialogue.  Please respond to this post if you have requests for specific topics or ideas for further improving communications.

Bob Pearce
JPDO Deputy Director