Photograph by Boeing via Bloomberg

A Boeing Co. ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flies over the ocean.

The Federal Aviation Administration told Congress it’s further delaying the naming of six test sites for unmanned aircraft, as called for in a law passed Feb. 14, as it weighs the privacy implications of the new technology.

FAA acting chief Michael Huerta’s letter to members of the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus marked the first time the agency has said it would consider privacy issues related to commercial and other non-military drones, though those concerns have been broadly raised elsewhere.

“Our target was to have the six test sites named by the end of 2012,” Huerta wrote to the lawmakers about so-called unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

“However, increasing the use of UAS in our airspace also raises privacy issues, and these issues will need to be addressed as unmanned aircraft are safely integrated.”

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an Arlington, Virginia-based trade group representing the industry, believes privacy concerns can be managed and test sites should be named, Gretchen West, the group’s executive vice president, said in an interview.

“We just want to make sure that they can meet the deadlines that were set by Congress,” West said.

Congress set Sept. 30, 2015, as the date when drones must be integrated into the U.S. aviation system.

A Sept. 14 report by the Government Accountability Office questioned when technology will allow unmanned planes to safely operate next to manned aircraft.

Original post is FAA Going Slow on Drones as Privacy Concerns Studied by Political Capital.

Photograph by Paul Sakuma/AP Photo

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt speaks in front of the Oakland air traffic control tower, under construction, near the Oakland Airport in this file photo.

Randy Babbitt, the former head of the Federal Aviation Administration, is returning to his
union roots.

Babbitt, 66, who resigned from the FAA in December 2011 after an arrest on drunk-driving charges for which he later was acquitted, is joining Southwest Airlines Co. as senior vice president for labor relations, the airline said in a statement.

The former FAA chief led the Air Line Pilots Association, the nation’s largest union for flight crews, before becoming a Washington consultant and then joining the FAA in June 2009.

Southwest, which has been more profitable than its major airline competitors, has enjoyed mostly smooth labor relations with pilots and other unionized employees.

“For more than 40 years, Southwest has thrived because of our regard for labor organizations as partners,” Southwest Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven said in the release. “Randy’s unique skills and experience at various levels in our industry can only strengthen those partnerships to ensure our employees continue to play an important role in Southwest’s success.”

The position may be a good fit for Babbitt not only because of his labor background, but because it doesn’t put him in contact with his former agency. Despite the circumstances of his departure, he’s under U.S. ethics restrictions on contacting or lobbying the FAA.

Original post is FAA’s Babbitt Lands at Southwest by Political Capital.

Photograph by Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo

Federal Aviation Administration Acting Administrator Michael Huerta, right, with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, left, announcing a sweeping final rule that overhauls commercial passenger airline pilots scheduling to ensure pilots have a longer opportunity to rest before they enter the cockpit.

The precedent for this does not bode well:

Michael Huerta, acting chief of the Federal Aviation Administration since his former boss stepped down after a drunk-driving arrest in December, will face his first hurdle next week on the path toward becoming the agency’s administrator.

The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a nomination hearing for Huerta on June 21 at 10 a.m. Huerta, who had been Randy Babbitt’s deputy and the FAA official in charge of the agency’s ambitious program to update the air-traffic system, is being considered for a five-year term.

While the Huerta nomination is proceeding, the most recent precedent for an acting FAA head seeking Senate confirmation does not look good for Huerta.

Four years ago, as President George W. Bush’s administration neared an end, he nominated then-acting FAA head Bobby Sturgell to become FAA administrator. The nomination was blocked by Democratic senators, and Sturgell served out his time as the acting chief.

The reason for the holdup has to do with the unusual structure of the FAA job. Unlike other high-level U.S. political appointees, who serve only as long as the president who nominated them is in office, the FAA job has a five-year term.

If Huerta were to win Senate support, he would serve for five years, according to his nomination papers. That means that he would serve through the next president’s term, regardless of whether that is Obama or the presumptive Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.

Huerta and Romney are not unfamiliar with each other. Huerta served as managing director of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, according to his FAA biography Web-page. Romney left Bain Capital to head the Olympics organizing committee.

Original post is FAA Candidate Faces Historical Odds by Political Capital.