FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford's comments on May 21, 2026, and January 22, 2026, highlighted a concerning trend in air traffic management. On January 22nd Mr. Bedford stated <https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2026-01-22/faas-bedfo rd-provides-view-future-atc> , "We'll tell you where we want you to be in three dimensions.and we'll tell you where we want you to be to hit that top of descent mark to meet the constraints of the runway". FAA's "ATC must be in control" mantra is also reflected in Bedford's recent proclamation in Karen Walker <https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/safety-ops-regulation/faa-chief-airl ines-must-reset-schedules-support-atm> 's May 21, 2026, Aviation Week article, where FAA is ordering airlines to reset their schedules to accommodate ATM modernization. However, FAA's narrative is backwards and must be reversed. Instead of "FAA Chief Orders Airlines to Reset Schedules for ATM Modernization" airlines/users/pilots should be saying "Airlines/Users directs FAA Chief to reset ATM modernization to accommodate airline/user schedules, while ATC ensures safe separation throughout the airspace". While requiring airlines/users to step up, this independently validated airline/user centric solution is a much easier, more profitable, less expensive and safer path forward. Therefore, it is crucial for aviation to rapidly move to a joint airline/user/pilot/controller/ATC solution that dynamically incorporates the "day of" business needs of each of the airline's/user's aircraft (which will change daily, and sometimes hourly) where airlines/users and pilots manage aircraft flows and ATC provides separation, which greatly simplifies the solution. With 50 years of experience in airline operations and ATC, I believe this "shovel ready" solution, while not the mainstream, is the only viable way to a future airline industry that profitably puts the passenger where promised, when promised. Conversely, trying to build a future aviation system based on the decades old "ATC only" control processes using updated Ground Delay Program or Cooperative Decision Making tools, which forces controllers to increase their workload (separate plus manage the aircraft speed) and ignores airline and pilot capabilities will not succeed. Finally, regarding the FAA's Brand New ATC System (BNATCS) and its Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories tool (SMART), consider the following: 1. FAA's role, as outlined in the Federal Aviation Regulations and the Air Traffic Controller Handbook (7110.65BB), is to provide separation and safety, not to manage aircraft. As stated, "SMART is not aimed at separating aircraft or doing any of those kind of safety-critical functions", which is exactly ATC's job. 2. SMART appears to be a digitized version of the 1980s Ground Delay Program (GDP), which has proven ineffective and does not account for the variance created after the aircraft departs the gate (+/- 20 minutes). 3. The data required for SMART to efficiently "predict air traffic flows and adjust departure times to resolve conflicts" days in advance will not be close to accurate enough for many years into the future. Besides, why would anyone want the government to do this? 4. SMART fails to dynamically incorporate the airline's tactical, "day of" business needs (schedule, connections, gate availability, crew legality, fuel on board, airport capacity, ramp, maintenance, galleys, lavs, etc.) or the pilot's ability to manage enroute speed and arrival time. 5. BNATCS is built on the outdated belief that airport/airspace capacity is the problem. It is not <https://greenlandings.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/AGIFORS-Random-Point-O verloads-White-Paper-2026-04-14.pdf> . 6. FAA wants to spend $10s of billions controlling aircraft flows when airlines can safely manage their own aircraft flows for $10s of millions. Michael xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx R. Michael Baiada cell - (303) 521-6047 [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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