Avionics News September 2014 - 15

Dear Administrator Huerta: 80 percent
(closer to 90 percent) of your workforce wants to say
yes, but Washington keeps getting in their way.

tablets for aviation purposes. The market for purpose-built EFBs
has taken a serious hit. Will the market for in-seat in-flight entertainment systems follow the same path?
While the international regulatory authorities all struggle
with the balance between increasing scrutiny of certified equipment and the lack of policy and guidance as the technologies
advance, the growth of COTS nonrequired equipment continues
to expand. Recently, we had a human-factors expert discuss the
logic that a modern avionics system could not be installed in a
VFR aircraft because the display was "too compelling" for a
pilot not to pay attention to it during flight. This engineer was
the barrier to cockpit upgrades.
Let's look at this logic for a moment. In this engineer's opinion, it is better to fly with little or no information in the cockpit
powered by 50-year-old technology rather than the engineer
having his name on the authorization to upgrade the cockpit
putting modern, proven, lifesaving situational awareness information in the hands of a licensed and qualified pilot because he
doesn't trust the pilot. And we wonder why there are so many
portable displays (tablets and portable GPSs) in the cockpit
today. In case you haven't noticed, they are already using the
"compelling displays" and will continue with displays that
advance faster than you can say no.
But then we must understand that for this engineer, there is no
penalty for saying no.
As I finish writing this month's column, it is after AirVenture
in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. AirVenture is every pilot's toy store.
Whether your interest is a new aircraft or just a new app,
you can likely find it within the 800-plus exhibitors scattered
throughout the airfield.
But there were a couple of notable items this year.
First, the phrase of the day was spoken by Michael Huerta,
Federal Aviation Administration administrator, during the annual "Meet the Administrator" session. During his 90-minute discussion, Huerta stated that he has challenged his workforce with
"How do we get to yes?"
Dear Administrator Huerta: 80 percent (closer to 90 percent)
of your workforce wants to say yes, but Washington keeps getting in their way. This vocal minority and the other 10 percent
are risk-averse and insist on saying no. In many cases, they will
go out of their way to challenge another employee's support

of yes. And like their treatment of industry, if challenged, an
employee who is challenged by saying yes is guilty until they
defend themselves and prove that yes was not the wrong answer.
I cannot think of a better way to disincentivize a workforce
from "getting to yes." It is a cultural issue; history has shown
that left unchecked, this type of behavior from a minority of
employees is a cancer that will break the best corporations.
Moving forward, I suggest the agency's policy is that yes is the
expected answer, and no must be defended.
By the way, the agency's efforts are resulting in some
improvements in overall culture, especially at headquarters and
the directorate's offices. Unfortunately, I still don't think it supports those who are "getting to yes" well enough yet. But keep
up the work; aviation needs it, and the industry appreciates the
efforts, even if it seems all we do is complain.
Getting back to commercial off-the-shelf items and cockpit
situational awareness outside the FAA's focus, have you seen
Aero Glass? On one side, we have individuals locked in time
and will find every excuse possible to deter modernization,
and on the other side we have entrepreneurs developing wearable "synthetic vision" technology. Good luck with that - any
bureaucracy is slow to adapt. That isn't a criticism, just a reality.
Large bureaucracies simply are not nimble. Consumer product
technology is and will continue to be brought into the cockpit, and the agency will continue to focus on the dozen or so
installed systems that need certification while the use, utility and
safety of flight will grow despite their efforts.
But this is more about your business than theirs.
At this year's AirVenture, there were about a dozen new or
newly certified products introduced. But the ones that got my
attention were the software products - products that controlled
avionics, integrated avionics or expanded the utility of avionics.
In fact, while the aviation electronics technologies are lagging
consumer products by a few generations, I found the software
products to be quickly closing the gap.
How are you adjusting to this change in the avionics marketplace? Have you hired an avionics information technology
professional? Have you sent your avionics installer to information technology courses? In the past, a changing industry took
years to manifest itself; today, it seems to happen overnight. Are
you prepared? q
avionics news

september

2014

Avionics News September 2014

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