U.S. President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget request to the U.S. Congress includes $18.6 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration, a 3.3 percent increase from the FY 2022 Continuing Resolution level. Of added importance, with the $5 billion in advanced annual appropriations under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the total FY 2023 funding for FAA is $23.6 billion.

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FAA subject matter experts are on the agenda for next month’s 2022 WATS:

Barbara Adams, Program Analyst, Training and FSTD Policy Development Section, FAA, will address “FAA Strategic Training Initiatives: Facilitating Our Future.”

Kathy Abbott, Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor, Flight Deck Human Factors, FAA, will speak on “Flight Path Management: A Unifying Framework.”

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There are a number of targeted investments in the budget request that will have direct impact on the US commercial aviation community, and by extension, their training activities. Three representative operational investments call for:

  • $4.9 million to integrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the US national airspace,
  • $11.4 million to strengthen aviation safety oversight, and 
  • $6.3 million to develop the aviation and aerospace workforce of the future. 

In another indication that UASs will be a permanent and greater part of the US national airspace, the FY2023 budget for research and development includes $14.9 million for continued research to support safe integration of UAS operations, including efforts to support capabilities such as small UAS package delivery operations, large carrier cargo operations, and passenger transport operations.

The FAA also continues to eye the expansion of eVTOLs in the US. In the areas of equity, economic growth and climate solutions, in FY 2023, the administration’s Airport Technology Research (ATR) program will continue research on the impact and needs of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), including eVTOL vehicles, on existing and future airport infrastructures. ATR also plans to carry on testing of prototype vertiport designs with various eVTOLs and other AAM vehicles at the FAA Technical Center, Atlantic City, New Jersey. 

The president’s budget proposal now journeys through the bureaucratic budget review processes in the US Congress. Conceptually, a final budget for the FAA and the remainder of the federal government will be presented to President Biden for approval before the end of FY2022 (October 31, 2022).