I recently had the opportunity to spend several days at the USTDA’s U.S.-India Aviation Summit.  The program was alive with both timely and interesting panels.  We had many speakers from FAA including Administrator Randy Babbit, Peggy Gilligan, Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety, Di Reimhold Acting Administrator for International Aviation, Kate Lang, Associate Administrator for Airports, Nancy Kalinowski, Vice President, System Operations, and Carey Fagan, Director Strategy and Performance International Office.  Each of these folks delivered serious and valuable messages during their sessions.  I was taken by the breadth of FAA involvement, and their ability to address the myriad issues facing the service provider in India, as they try to build their infrastructure.  The Indian Government has a large interest in understanding what the FAA has done and what goes on here in the U.S.

I had a chance to participate in a panel led by Carey Fagan focused on Airports and Airspace Safety and Efficiency, there were some heavy hitters up there with me.  John Kefalotis, VP of NextGen Systems from ITT  (you may remember they won the ADS-B contract), Agam Sinha, Senior VP and General Manager of MITRE, and from India a man I’ve had the pleasure to interface with on several occasions Mr. V. Somasundaram, Executive Director, Air Traffic Management. He has great interest optimizing the Indian ANSP operation.  As part of the summit activities, a trip to the Command Center was scheduled where many of our tools are in use, and he visited with us here afterwards.  While at the summit Bret Fujisaki took him through some of our suite of tools, and it was obvious to me that he was impressed.  I think we not only showed him that we have great tools, but we also have great people who understand the needs of the service provider and that we stand behind our products.

I must say that in all of my travels, in the business of ATC or ATFM the international language is clear and so are the problems we each have to face.  The biggest difference is the level of service each country currently provides.  We are pretty lucky to be as advanced in the process as we are, although it’s often said that “necessity is the mother of invention,” and with that said, the US is perfectly positioned to share lessons learned along with technology and more.  So when I see in Mr.  Somasundaram’s eye the need for some assistance in achieving his goals, and I see that the FAA speaks the very same language as relates to the service we provide, it sure makes it easy to uncover the root of the problem and apply a solution that truly answers the issue.  I’ve heard it said any number of times from the airlines while in the FAA, that we often provided a cure to a malady they didn’t have.  I think that may relate to our lack of understanding of their business, but in the case of another ATC service provider we are clearly on the same page.

I really believe India is a burgeoning area for us and many others as they endeavor to improve their infrastructure.  This summit was invaluable in identifying the many needs of the Indian Government related to the aviation industry.