Washington, D.C. — This week, the FAA and the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for two new joint initiatives, NextGen and Wildlife Hazards.
Through the NextGen initiative, FAA and NASAO will explore methods of engaging the states in the promotion, facilitation and implementation of the NextGen system. Collaboration is consistent with the tenets of the NextGen Implementation Plan, NAS Enterprise Architecture and the NextGen Implementation Task Force, officials said. This includes forging community-wide consensus on the recommended NextGen operational improvements to be implemented during the transition stage, as well as maintaining a focus on maximizing NextGen benefits and facilitating development of the business case for industry investment.
The Wildlife Hazards initiative explores methods of engaging the states to work with their general aviation airports to increase wildlife strike reporting and data gathering, and to ultimately implement an effective and uniform wildlife strike reporting and data gathering process. This collaboration will result in a larger and more accurate data bank used to better shape wildlife mitigation efforts and aid the agency in effectively applying its resources towards mitigation, officials said.
