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Aviation News Item: 03419
23rd Dec 2009
EC, FAA Move on SESAR, NextGen Cooperation
Source: aviationweek.com
 The European Union and the FAA have made another commitment to cooperate on interoperability of their respective air traffic modernization programs, SESAR in Europe and NextGen in the United States.
Talks began last Friday in Brussels aimed at creating a memorandum of cooperation (MOC). Daniel Calleja, director of the EC's air transportation directorate, led the negotiations for Europe. Stephen Creamer, director of the FAA's office of Africa, Europe and the Middle East, led the U.S. team. "The MOC comes as a pragmatic response to airspace users' requests," the EC said in a statement.
The MOC is to be a "binding framework", and framed as an agreement on civil aviation research and development and "should have the potential to cover other related civil aviation R&D issues," the statement said.
EC's SESAR program last year suffered a near-meltdown after a users-revolt that included the European military, air traffic controllers and national airspace authorities after the initial SESAR requirements and architecture were proudly announced after consulting with nearly no-one. The EU and EC quickly retrenched and said SESAR would be reconfigured with users in mind.
This raises the question as to why a simple "agreement to cooperate" is scheduled to take a year to complete. The announced goal is to complete the talks by June 2010 and have an agreement in force in early 2011, which doesn't convey much of a sense of urgency.
In fact, the EU Council of Ministers in October finally gave the EC a mandate to negotiate the agreement in response to airspace users' demands that the EU and U.S. systems must be interoperable to avoid costly duplication of airborne equipment.
Another rather urgent item on the international front: ICAO has amended its rules to now require operators to carry a standardized certified true copy of their Air Operator Certificate (AOC) on board when operating internationally. You have to get these from the FAA, through your POI. The agency has issued a new "Information for Operators" advisory, InFO 09019, to help obtain these required documents. It contains a template of the required ICAO-format AOC. You can get the info by going to www.FAA.gov and searching for InFO09019. NBAA advises operators to take action immediately since the requirement take effect January 1.
Artist's concept: Aviation Week & Space Technology
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