Aviation safety subcommittee. Thank you all for joining us today to hear testimony regarding Innovative Aviation Technology and new instruments to the National Airspace system. New entrance include innovations advanced air mobility, electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, unquote Aerial Survey systems commonly known as drones. These technologies have a wide range of applications. From inspecting Critical Infrastructure to delivering medicine in remote areas. To improving a mobility in urban areas. Along with advancements and electric propulsion, these innovative approaches offer opportunities to transport passengers and cargo or provide other Aviation Services while reducing Carbon Emissions. As we begin the process of reauthorizing the federal Aviation Administration next year, congress should incorporate provisions to advance these important developments in technology. Are you hearing today is an opportunity to consider the challenges ahead, and the approaches congress can take to respond to these challenges. Advanced air mobility is an Exciting Technology that has the ability to completely reshape the future of aviation. Analysts estimate that in the United States it could reach 115 billion dollars in the next ten years. Increasing the Public Access to, aviation strengthening National Security will contributing far less Greenhouse Gas emissions than current Aviation Technology. Given these benefits, there is widespread global interest in europe, asia and elsewhere to lead on am technology. And the United States needs to develop a plan to be the Global Leader of this technology. There are similarities between a and the bipartisan Work Congress did in the recently enacted ships and science act. Working with many of my colleagues from the state, including chair cantwell, Ranking Member wicker and senator young, we help support domestic manufacturing for semiconductors, and drastically improved federal research and development for innovative science and technologies. As am continues to advance, congress and the federal government must position in the United States to be the Global Leader of this technology. We must have a Regulatory Framework that ensures the safety of passengers and people on the ground, while creating an inviting ecosystem for effective a manufacturing and operation in the United States. That is why we welcome the opportunity to join my colleague senator moran to introduce advanced and leadership act. Our leadership will develop an Inter Agency Working Group to evaluate plants and coordinate efforts regarding the safety infrastructure and security of developing am in the United States. The department of transportation will leave this working group. But given the technical complexity of this industry and the many beneficial uses, we will incorporate expertise from across the federal government to advance this effort on a broader scale. Our legislation passed the Senate Unanimously on september 21st, and will soon head to the president s desk. I look forward to all legislation becoming, law as the doj and many other agencies can begin their work without delay. They moran cinema am leadership bill as the first down. In two ensure safety the faa needs to provide clarity to the entrepreneurs and innovators who are developing this new technology. Earlier this year the faa changed the path for certification for these ai aircrafts which creates confusion among stakeholders. Looking ahead in order to provide certain to the faa needs to promulgated timely regulations to ensure that commercial operations occur safely, that pilots are treated appropriately and that the aviation workforce will be ready to fill the aa and jobs in the future. United states will also need additional infrastructure owners who safely effectively integrate am into our aviation structures. I was pleased to introduce known as the interest of her jobs act, which by the 25 billion dollars in two effusion imprisoned for in the next 20 years. These investments will find improvements in every over the cross the country. While rebuilding and modernizing air Traffic Control infrastructure. As i visit airports across arizona, i am starting to see the benefits of these historic investments. This week, the faa released reports on bystanders to safely integrate am into airports. Today, our panel will provide the response about the infrastructure including electric charging infrastructure needed for our robots and build out. Todays hearing will also focus on drones and developing the joint economy of the future. Like a, and this is another area where we need to maintain American Leadership and build upon previous factors. Interesting johnson with a commercial and recreational perspective remains strong. As of january 2022, over 860,000 drones have been registered with the faa, along with over 260,000 drone pilots. Drones are providing Crucial Services to arizona and throughout the nation. They can deliver essential cargo such as medicine to rural areas and communities. Drones also have the ability to monitor and respect vital infrastructure, including pipelines, electric transmission lines, and railroads for Team Maintenance after natural disasters when commercials conditions may not be safe for human workers. There is more work to do as the United States is threatening the head of foreign competitors. For example, congress is working with stakeholders in the faa to have safe infrastructure for which may be a failure of additional what we heard today from leaders electric, bolton which provides the opportunity to have while simultaneously minimizing Carbon Emissions from aircrafts. Our committee will be learning more of across any barriers for states that hinder the growth of this technology. We have an excellent panel today, with witnesses representing industry and thought leaders across the atm, drone in the electric propulsion industry. Our witnesses will advise on congresss role in reducing the sectors, creating jobs, and securing American Leadership in the aviation advance of the 21st century. Thank you all for joining us today. And now i would like to turn it over to Ranking Member, cruz for his Opening Statement. Thank, you madam chair. I appreciate your help with all this. This is a critically important issue. Won, frankly, i dont know weve been giving nearly enough attention to. From drones, era to Propulsion Systems, the aviation enterprise is filled with new and exciting technologies that promised to transform how we live and how we work. Whether it is delivery drones getting medications to seniors in the most rural parts of the country, or industrial drones doing Long Distance pipeline inspection to ensure the safe transportation of oil and natural gas. New vertical takeoff and landing vehicles enabling long tossed short haul air transportation to reduce congestion and cities, or new propulsion technologies which will use less fuel or even new fuels to go farther with less. It is a exciting time in aviation. As im sure our witnesses will discuss today every one of us here is facing a similar problem, uncertainty. While the issues facing the faa are numerous, and many of them are very complex, the inability of the agency to do its job and manage the National Aerospace system is threatening to cut American Innovation and Global Leadership off at the knee. Whether that is on the acidification front or platforms, rules for remote ideally or operation beyond visual line of sight, integration into the air Traffic Management enterprise or any other issues, our regulatory system too often is paralyzed by these decisions. They are exceedingly complex and would present a challenge for even the smartest and most well equipped. Some days, the faa seems unable to do even the most basic part of his job. I think that, especially more recently in no small part due to a lack of leadership from the faa and the d. O. T. , and a lack of interest on the part of the white house. Take a look at the faas organizational chart. Throughout the agency there are more than a dozen Important Roles being filled by acting officials, including the very top spot. They are in places like the aviation safety office, the air traffic organization, the assistant for nextgen. International Affairs Office in the air Traffic Safety even when the administration finally sends us a nominee for faa him illustrator, he son someone with almost zero evasion experience, a requisite for the job, who as recent news has highlighted, has more than a little bit of news surrounding him. He is more than a little rich, wanting the transportation secretary beat up on the airlines when he seems to simultaneously ignore the absolute hollowing out of the faa and lack of firm permanent leadership there. Somehow, secretary buttigieg has the time and resources to run around the country cutting ribbons on Infrastructure Projects and launching a new, quote, Airline Customer service task force, he cant find the time to fill critical vacancies at the faa. The secretary hasnt even responded to questions, for the record, from his Budget Hearing in may of this year. Five months ago look, i get that you, the panel before us, you do not represent the faa. I dont know how you look at what i just outlined and think that anyone in this administration is placing aviation at the top of the priority. Even as we are meeting here today, there are still dozens of rules and reports from the last faa reauthorization in 2018 that still have not been done. One thing i offered, the commercial balloon pilot safety act which simply requires the faa to require a medical certificate for commercial balloon pilots. Which was the result of a hurry fixed bloom crash in texas. Recommendations from the and cfc still remain incomplete years after we passed it into law. In fact, it wasnt until november of last year that the faa even issued a notice of proposed rulemaking, three years after the 2018 reauthorization. If the faa cant even get Something Like this done, commercial air balloon safety, how exactly are we supposed to have faith that they can get the much more complex task around integrating new entrance done, let alone done in a timely and efficient way . I look forward to hearing from witnesses, what they think needs to be done. If its more resources for the faa, faster regulatory timelines, organizational shakeups . We are all ears. Congress has almost always taking a collaborative approach in aviation regulation. Directing the faa to go through rulemaking to get Stakeholder Input and shaping and crafting regulations based on feedback. In this space, where emerging innovation is meeting and olden entrenched bureaucracy, we are quickly getting to a point where something have to give. A 41 and determined that what gives will not be continued American Leadership in aviation. Thank you. Thank, you i now recognize the chair of the full commerce committee, senator cantwell for a opening. Thank you senator sinema, thank you for this important meeting with your colleague, senator cruz. And thank you to the important witnesses we have today. I often want to thank, you mentioned the chips and science act. I want to thank you for your help and leadership in the final days of our organization and getting that done. Today we are going to hear from a set of witnesses talking about the Current Issues in aviation. And the fact that faa bill is due for reauthorization next year. This is an opportunity to talk about the prospects of that and what needs to be addressed. This hearing will specifically address how congress can help address airspace safety and innovation and what we need to do for the future, whether that is drones, new am ability concepts. I look forward to hearing from all of the witnesses. I especially happy to hear from Gregory Davis, president and ceo of eviation. I want to congratulate eviation on yesterdays first flight of alice, first time and all electric consumer aircraft built from the ground up took flight. I wish we had time to show the video from it. You could hear a lot of cheers from moses lake from everyone there for this historic occasion. This groundbreaking aircraft took flight from 1300 foot air in the heart of washington. Along with local Companies Like mine ex and aero tack. I can see why this project was considered successful. Electric aircraft, like alice, building 95 composite materials, represent the inspiring promise of america built in and the Sustainable Future in aviation. Locations like moses lake shows how a combination of private infrastructure and public ingenuity create a hotbed for creating next Generation Aerospace technology. Eviation and advance air mobility concept provide an opportunity to expand connectivity, to underserved communities and airports. We know the half of all flights in the u. S. Are less sorry, 500 miles in range. Yesterday successful integration test flight proved the concept that we have sustainable Aviation Technology, it can transport people to these short and middle mile regional routes. This significantly can reduce the Aviation Industries environmental impact. Due to carbon emission in no exclusion. Achieving the technical milestone of Companies Like aviation of commercialization of aircraft like alice in the end of the evolution of Better Technology. Something that was a very key part of the chips and science act. The faa certification process will also have to be there, moving forward on the all electric if it is going to become an industry standard. I think the ceo said it best, these new opportunities for places like seattle to wall a wall of, spoken to muzzling, moses lead to parts of oregon or california. Now they are the kind of thing that will be more economical with these kind of flights. Electric planes can connect regional communities in ways previously not possible. There are more than 2000 underutilized airports in the United States. Knows restriction, it covers over 200 airports in the United States alone. Congress has made significant process with powering this innovation and dynamic. We need to continue to work to help those opportunities to move forward. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act provided a Grant Program to develop Sustainable Aviation fuel and also to incent other types of manufacturing, like electric. 280 billion is authorized to bolster innovation to create new regional tech ups and create historic investment and basic research in appliances. We know that investing in innovation will help us tomorrow. Another innovation another entrant in aviation, drones. One of the Fastest Growing segments of aviation in the United States. Over 860,000 drones have been registered with the faa. As of january over 260,000 pilots have been certified. The faa expects that number of registered drones to grow by 2. 3 million by 2024. The use case for drones continues to grow well beyond Package Delivery to include surveying infrastructure inspection, precision agriculture, whether monitoring, even disaster response. The association for on the crude regal system forecast of 2015 and 2025, civilian drones will added two billion dollars to the u. S. Economy along with 103 new high paying jobs. It will require a technical degree. Additionally, u. S. Based manufacturing a busy designing and manufacturing electric aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing capability. These operations can take off like a helicopter. My colleagues before me have mentioned this. Fly to a fixed wing airplane. The aan in the United States is estimated to reach 15 billion by 2025, create more than 280,000 jobs by 2035. Importantly, alternative propulsion technologies are environmentally friendly and a musthave for the indices future. Aviation contributes 12. 5 of u. S. Transportation emissions and accounts for 3 of the nations to lure Greenhouse Gas production. Dealing with these issues is going to be vitally important for the future. I look forward to hearing from my colleagues and thinking about the future of aviation. Of my colleagues have po