The Changing of the Guard: Thank you, Michael Huerta

News and Commentary.  Michael Huerta’s 7 years with the FAA ended this Saturday at midnight.  Yesterday, Dan Elwell, the FAA’s Deputy Administrator, was named Acting Administrator.  If invited to fill the put up completely, Elwell will begin a 5 yr time period able that many Americans have by no means thought a lot about – however one which has a serious influence in the enormous aviation business.

It’s an enormous change, and the business is anxious to see what the future holds for drone integration beneath new management.  As we witness the switch, it appears acceptable to notice the actually important accomplishments that Michael Huerta achieved for the drone business throughout his tenure.

I haven’t at all times been a Huerta fan.  Three years in the past, listening to Huerta communicate at an AUVSI convention, I used to be fast to criticize the agonizing pace of laws, the inefficient course of of Section 333 Exemptions.  Some individuals booed (quietly) when he took the stage. I joined colleagues in lackluster applause, blaming  Michael Huerta for slowing down the development of what was clearly an explosive enterprise sector straining to take off.  I wrote scathing articles outlining the many missed deadlines for drone laws.

It was a rookie mistake.  As time went on, and the complexities of drone regulation turned clearer to me, I might see that railing towards the pace of authorities was merely flailing at windmills.  And Huerta was slowly and steadily working in direction of one thing huge.  He launched collaboration into regulation.

While there have been many sensible causes of manpower and sources to do that, Huerta wasn’t making an attempt to simply get some regulation – good, unhealthy, or detached – performed as quick as potential.  He was making an attempt to deliver business into the course of, to determine it out absolutely.  He was making an attempt not solely to construct bridges with the business but additionally to get rid of bottlenecks – to lighten the load intelligently in order that progress could possibly be made extra shortly.

It’s an strategy that hasn’t at all times labored completely, and it has its drawbacks and naysayers.  Companies included in the course of get early data, and in some circumstances acquire a aggressive edge.  Some opponents say that business collaboration in regulation is the fox guarding the hen home – enterprise can’t be anticipated to sacrifice its personal pursuits in the good of the nation.  Others declare that enterprise persons are merely not outfitted to grasp the complexities of the National Airspace.

All of that’s in all probability true to some extent or one other.  But the reality stays that bringing representatives from all sides of a difficulty into an area to work collectively continues to be the quickest and best approach of exchanging essential viewpoints and data.  And that has sped up the course of of regulation.

It’s simple to listing Huerta’s accomplishments by merely itemizing the laws that handed beneath his watch – most notably, the Part 107 laws that opened the skies to business drone companies.  But his lasting legacy could also be extra essential: the concept that regulators and business can truly – generally,at the least – be on the similar staff.

When I heard Michael Huerta communicate eventually May’s AUVSI Xponential convention, his fourth, I joined the crowd in a genuinely enthusiastic welcome.  He’d modified a bit over the years (the new goatee was fairly dapper.)  The tenor of his speeches had shifted too.  “I am starting to feel a little bit like that uncle, the one who shows up every Thanksgiving, talks about some of the same things over and over, talks about some stuff that is new,” he mentioned.  He thanked the Drone Advisory Committee, and talked about some of the new alternatives for collaboration with completely different business sectors that had been put in place.  “…There is no question in my mind that the significant milestones we have achieved so far are because stakeholders from across government and industry have come together,” he mentioned.

Whether you like or detest the FAA’s drone insurance policies, Huerta did his greatest to offer as many voices as potential an opportunity to talk.  He moved issues ahead.  He confirmed as much as hear what the business thought.  And he confirmed real enthusiasm for the new applied sciences and capabilities that drones display.

Thank you, Michael Huerta.