Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

Congress late last night approved the sweeping <a href="https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-116HR133SA-RCP-116-68.pdf">coronavirus relief and government funding package</a>, renewing support for air carriers and airports, providing nearly $18 billion for the FAA’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget, and calling for reforms of the agency’s aircraft certification processes.

 


The package cleared the House yesterday evening in two bills before heading to the Senate in a single massive bundle, where it was passed by a 92-6 vote near midnight. The congressional approval came as the government funding was set to expire under a stopgap measure.

 


On the coronavirus relief front, the final bill sets aside $15 billion for renewal of the Payroll Support Program (PSP) for air carriers and $1 billion for their contractors.

 


According to the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), the Department of Treasury intends to use the same portal that was created for the original PSP tranche under the CARES Act. The bill establishes quick action for the renewal, giving the Treasury Department five days to publish guidance on applying for PSP funds and 10 days to make initial payments, NATA noted.

 


New applicants are permitted for the program, which provides forgivable loans to cover employee compensation. The Air Line Pilots Association praised the program’s renewal, saying it will provide airlines with resources to recall thousands of pilots and prohibit further furloughs through March 31.

 


In addition to the PSP, the bill provides $2 billion for airports and concessionaires, allotting $45 million for general aviation and nonprimary commercial service airports. In addition, $5 million is dedicated for airports with contract air traffic control towers.

 


Along with the aviation-specific measures, the bill also renews the more generally focused Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses. Forgivable loans covering employee compensation will be available to businesses that show a reduction of gross receipts of 25 percent or more from the first and third quarters of 2020, compared with the same period in 2019. The bill provides more than $284 billion for the first and second PPP loans.

 


“This new, bipartisan relief package provides an important and helpful path forward as we all work to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “Our industry continued to make our voices heard in Congress, ensuring these important provisions to support general aviation airports, air carriers, businesses, and workers were maintained and expanded as we continue to navigate through this unprecedented crisis.”

 


Not included in the package, however, was a measure backed by&nbsp;lawmakers in the House and Senate to provide a cost-sharing program covering salaries of certain manufacturing workers. The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) urged Congress to take further steps to preserve manufacturing jobs. “Aerospace and defense companies of all sizes continue to support the nation’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic—aided by relief provided early in the crisis,” said AIA president and CEO Eric Fanning. “However, as the public health crisis wears on, the risk of even more job losses at all levels of our shared aerospace and defense supply chain grows. Our communities and our country cannot afford to lose highly skilled, experienced workers who contribute greatly to our national and economic security.”&nbsp;

 


Democrat leaders have indicated plans for further relief, but what shape that relief would take is still unknown.

 


However, also tucked into the massive 5,000-plus-page package is the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act, the congressional response to the myriad reviews, reports, and investigations surrounding the Boeing Max crashes.

 


This act includes many of the elements included in bills introduced in both the House and Senate this year to reform the FAA’s certification processes and systems. It also includes directives to manufacturers, including mandatory safety management systems and increased disclosure responsibilities surrounding safety-critical aircraft systems.

 


Importantly, the bill does not call for the elimination of organization designation authorizations (ODA)—once feared as a possibility based on criticism by certain lawmakers—but it does call for stepped-up scrutiny of ODAs involved with transport-category airplanes to ensure that the organizations promote and foster a safety culture, as well as audits of their work. Further, there are limits on ODA approvals surrounding certain flight-critical systems and increased oversight of individuals involved in ODAs. The act also calls for the establishment of ODA best practices and calls for the reporting of any interference or harassment to sway the ODA work.

 


In addition, the bill includes further whistleblower protections and seeks to ensure the FAA has adequate certification staff that is properly trained. It provides $27 million each year through Fiscal Year 2023 to enable the FAA to recruit and retain engineers, safety inspectors, human factors specialists, scientific and technical advisors, security experts, and others, particularly to deal with new and emerging technologies. It further would provide for continuing training and development of the certification staff.

 


Measures were included seeking the creation of an FAA center of excellence for automated systems and human factors, as well as for human factors training and research.

 


As far as processes, the bill would have the FAA establish interdisciplinary integrated project teams comprising experts from multiple agencies, such as the U.S. Air Force and NASA, for new transport-category airplane type certificate applications. That team would review and advise on applications. Meanwhile, another layer of review is included surrounding amended type certifications.

 


The bill includes protections against conflict-of-interest in the certification process and sets up a voluntary safety reporting system for certification staff. In a more specific measure, the bill includes language ensuring the adequacy of flight crew alerting systems.

 


In another area, the act includes several measures surrounding the adequacy of pilot training, particularly for new technologies, and of pilot training standards.

 


The certification measures largely garnered support from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). “Many of the provisions included in the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act, bolster efforts long championed by GAMA,” said GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce, citing the inclusion of SMS as an example.

 


Calling the certification act a compromise bill, Bunce said it addresses a number of key issues raised during the Max reviews and are consistent with GAMA priorities, such as additional resources for FAA safety workforce and oversight.

 


As for the FAA budget, the bill provides more than $11 billion for the agency’s operations, $3 billion for facilities and equipment, $198 million for research and development, and $3.35 billion for the Airport Improvement Program (AIP). However, the bill provides an additional $400 million for AIP that will come from general treasury funds, rather than the aviation trust fund.

 


Included in the appropriations is an NBAA-backed measure calling for the FAA to develop a program enabling private aircraft operators to block their Mode S transponder code and other identifying information from real-time or near-real-time public tracking.

 


“This important victory for our industry codifies the enhanced privacy and security protections available to business aircraft owners and operators under the Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed (LADD) program,” Bolen said. “Implementation of a dedicated FAA privacy program will mark the culmination of NBAA’s steadfast efforts to ensure operator anonymity protections are successfully maintained in the ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast) environment.”

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