Writer

Amy Wilder

FAA Deputy Administrator Chris Rocheleau, speaking February 18 in an <a href="https://www.bigmarker.com/nbaa/nbaa-news-hour-the-faas-historic-investment-in-us-air-traffic-control-modernization">NBAA News Hour webinar</a> moderated by NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen, laid out a detailed public accounting of where the U.S. air safety regulator stands in its effort to modernize the air traffic control system—a plan he described as fueled by a tragic catalyst, an unprecedented coalition, and a hard deadline of December 2028.
Rocheleau touched on the full arc of the FAA’s modernization push: how high profile accidents early last year, and a series of notam and ATC outages in the weeks that followed, created conditions that prompted the May 2025 formation of the Modern Skies Coalition and a $12.5 billion Congressional appropriation toward an estimated $30 billion overhaul, with December 2028 set as the target completion date.
He detailed early progress on copper-to-fiber conversion, radar replacement, and controller hiring and training, as well as the FAA’s <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2026-01-27/faa-reorg-creates-sms-aam-units-streamlines-activities">internal reorganization</a> under Administrator Bryan Bedford. He also touched on the state of BVLOS rulemaking and offered a preview of imminent eVTOL Integration Pilot Program awards expected next month.
On Jan. 20, 2025, after several years at NBAA, Rocheleau had returned to the FAA and was not quite 10 days into the job of acting administrator when the <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2026-01-28/ntsb-probable-cause-cites-faa-lapses-dca-collision">midair collision</a> near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA) happened. Rocheleau noted the accident occurred on Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s first day in office.
Rocheleau described working through the night alongside Duffy, returning to FAA headquarters by 5:30 a.m. the next day, and then briefing President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance at the White House.
“Having had the experience of going through the crisis management exercise in the past, through crashes and other types of events, it’s one of those things where you kind of just go into gear—muscle memory, if you will—and you start to work through your emergency procedures,” Rocheleau said.
Within weeks, the FAA also managed a <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2025-01-31/medevac-learjet-crashes-after-takeoff-philadelphia">medevac crash in Philadelphia</a>, a Bering Air crash in Alaska, and a series of ATC outages. Rocheleau said those simultaneous crises forced a clarifying focus on what the agency needed to fix.
“We were kind of all in as to make sure we’re focusing on safety,” he said. “We were focusing on the people, making sure we had the controllers and the like. And, of course, we got a good look at the equipment that just wasn’t operating like we needed it to.”
<h2>A National Review and New Tools</h2>
One immediate consequence of the KDCA collision was a national “hot-spot” review, in which the FAA deployed artificial intelligence and machine learning to comb through its databases and identify locations with risk profiles similar to the one that preceded the crash.
“We had a traditional approach to reviewing risk and reacting to that risk,” he said. “We’d always wanted to go proactive, and yet sometimes, whether it was the tools or just kind of culture, there was not always that leaning in. Right after the accident itself, we pulled out all the stops.”
The KDCA tragedy ultimately served as the rallying point for a historic alignment of government, industry stakeholders, and Congress. By May 2025, the White House, Secretary Duffy, members of Congress, airline executives, airport leaders, labor unions, and general aviation organizations had convened the <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2025-05-09/duffys-atc-plan-draws-unified-industry-support">Modern Skies Coalition</a>, unifying in commitment to build a new airspace system.
“I never saw before this kind of unity of effort, this focus, where we talked about the need for a brand new air traffic control system for the aviation industry,” Rocheleau said. “And you had…those entities coming together to make sure that we were all in on building out this new system.”
Congress <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2025-07-07/budget-bill-provides-125b-atc-100-depreciation">approved $12.5 billion</a> as part of that commitment last July. Rocheleau was explicit that the initial funding is a down payment. “When we think about something closer to $30 billion for a brand new air traffic control system, the $12.5 billion was a really nice sum…but it really was a down payment,” he said.
Bolen noted that the current effort differs from past modernization attempts in one critical respect. “It’s not just that we have everybody wanting to do something,” he said. “The thing that I think is unique, that we haven’t seen before, is the level of specificity in the brand new air traffic control system. It’s about people, it’s about facilities, and it’s about equipment.”
<h2>Modernization Milestones</h2>
Rocheleau pointed to several concrete progress markers. The foundational step—converting copper wire to fiber optic cable—is roughly half complete. He also noted the FAA has ordered more than 600 radar units and has started to deploy them. The agency has also selected vendors to supply and install equipment. Digital radio replacement is underway, a step Rocheleau described as essential for controllers to operate within the upgraded system.
To sequence and choreograph the full buildout, the <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2025-12-05/faa-awards-atc-upgrade-integration-contract-peraton">FAA selected Peraton</a> as its prime systems integrator. Rocheleau said the choice reflects experience directly relevant to the task: Peraton previously helped the Department of Defense and the intelligence community transition from analog to digital infrastructure.
The FAA also completed surface awareness initiative deployments in 2025, with a target of 100 more in 2026. The program focuses on ground-movement safety at airports. “Movement on the surface…is particularly important when you have so much activity," he said.
The “people” dimension of the modernization effort has matched the pace on the equipment side. Secretary Duffy set a goal of hiring 2,000 new controllers in fiscal year 2025. The FAA finished at 2,028. Duffy then set a new target of more than 2,200 for fiscal year 2026.
To accelerate throughput, the FAA conducted a lean review of its training pipeline and removed five and a half months from the process. It has also expanded its collegiate training initiative (CTI) partnerships to 10 universities, each equipped with simulators and a full curriculum that allow graduates to proceed to on-the-job training rather than routing through the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City.
<h2>FAA Reorganization and Flight Plan 2026</h2>
Administrator <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2025-07-10/bedford-steps-faa-administrator-role">Bryan Bedford</a>, confirmed to a five-year term last July, led the restructuring of the FAA. Under the restructuring, budget and human resources functions are consolidated under the new position of chief administrative officer, currently held by Don Bornhorst.
Flight Plan 2026 is a strategic framework organized around the pillars of safety, people, and modernization. The safety pillar includes weekly meetings with safety team members and the Safety Management Office, led by Nick Fuller and Jodi Baker. The people pillar addresses the full spectrum of FAA workforce needs, not just controllers but also aerospace engineers, safety inspectors, and pilots. The modernization pillar encompasses upgrading FAA operations and the airspace itself.
“It wasn’t a 20-year plan. It wasn’t a 30-year plan,” Rocheleau said of Flight Plan 2026. “It was, what are we going to do to really move the ball down the field as quickly as possible, as safely as possible?”
Rocheleau described eVTOL aircraft, drones, supersonic transport, and commercial space as among the areas he is most personally invested in, and said the FAA reorganization was structured in part to ensure those sectors have direct pathways to the agency’s senior leadership.
Regarding <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/futureflight/2026-01-01/faas-bvlos-overhaul-approaches-finish-line">beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone operations</a>, Rocheleau said the rulemaking process is advancing carefully. The FAA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in August 2025, received substantial feedback, held multiple listening sessions, and then reopened the comment period last month specifically to gather input on electronic conspicuity.&nbsp;
“BVLOS…is so consequential,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re doing it right and taking everybody’s feedback and incorporating that before we issue the final rule.”
Responding to a question about certification and validation with Transport Canada, Rocheleau acknowledged the FAA is working to improve processes. He said the immediate issue involving <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2026-02-03/gulfstream-confirms-delay-over-canadian-type">delayed Canadian approvals of Gulfstream business jets</a> appears to be behind the agency. “I think we’re in a good place there,” he said, adding that the agency is still <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2026-02-12/bombardiers-martel-sees-resolution-gulfstream-certs">working with Bombardier</a>.
His broader point, however, was about the process with certificate authorities and how to work through short term solutions while accounting for risk as well as efficiency. “At the end of the day, we just want a level playing field,” Rocheleau said. “That’s kind of our end goal.”
<h2>EIPP Awards on the Horizon</h2>
Rocheleau also hinted that the FAA’s <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/futureflight/2025-09-15/us-evtol-start-ups-join-white-house-pilot-program">eVTOL Integration Pilot Program</a> (EIPP)—a sandbox program of partnerships with state, local, tribal, and territorial entities authorized under a presidential executive order—is moving toward its first awards.&nbsp;
“I’m happy to report—I don’t know that this is breaking news—that we are on track,” Rocheleau said of the program. “So, next month, I would forecast that we will be making some breaking news with respect to those pilot programs. As you probably know, we’re required to do, or incentivized to do, at least five.”
He said the impetus is not just to prove that eVTOL aircraft can fly safely, but to validate complete operational concepts, whether for cargo delivery in regional markets or passenger transport in dense urban environments.

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