Please join us as we kick-off the 2021 ACC Virtual ATW with Welcoming Remarks and an Open Mic Session With the FAA.

T.J. Schulz, President - Airport Consultants Council

Larry Studdiford, PMP, President - Studdiford Technical Solutions

Shanetta Griffin, Associate Administrator for Airports - FAA

Our industry is at a critical juncture in which quality of product has appeared to suffer in order to satisfy increasingly aggressive deadlines for planning, environmental, and design documents.  This discussion intends to provide guidance regarding expectations from the FAA as well as potential strategies and best practices to assist with quality control in documentation for design, planning and NEPA documentation.  This session aims to address what conversations need to be had with Owners, Consultants and the FAA at the inception of a project and to be clear on meeting the expectations of all parties.

Jason C. Fuehne, P.E., Kansas City Aviation Business Team Leader / Senior Project Manager - Garver

Jean Wolfers-Lawrence, Environmental Specialist - Federal Aviation Administration

Joni Steigerwald, ENV SP, Senior Consultant - C&S Companies

Renju Abraham, Burns & McDonnell

In 2020, FAA issued internal guidance on Section 163 of the 2018 FAA reauthorization law, which significantly reduced FAA’s role in approving non-aeronautical development projects at airports. FAA is no longer required to approve every building or project that occurs on airport land and this deregulation of airport land use will be a game changer for capital development that does not directly affect the airfield. This session will discuss the available FAA guidance regarding 163, when it applies to airport projects and lessons learned from FAA’s review of past and existing projects.

Peter J. Kirsch, Partner - Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell LLP

Greg Heaton, P.E., AICP, Vice President and Aviation Group Manager - Crawford Murphy & Tilly

Kelly Moulton, CM, ENV SP., Director

The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the dire importance of resilience planning. While airports continue to adjust their strategies to remain operational in the wake of this disruption, it is necessary that lessons learned are used to inform a better approach to weather the next disaster. Updated emergency plans, diversification of revenue sources, adoption of innovative technologies and other resilient measures will allow airports to prepare for and adapt quickly to future stressors. However, it is imperative that federal and state agencies provide direction, as well as funding, for employing these measures. For airports to survive, and to thrive in the future, resiliency must be integrated in every aspect of the aviation industry. This session will continue the discussion initiated by the Planning & Environmental Committee of ACC in March 2021 with the release of the white paper Rethinking Airport Resiliency in the Aftermath of COVID-19.

Gaël Le Bris, CM, P.E., Senior Aviation Planner and Senior Technical Principal - WSP USA

Jen Wolchansky, AICP, ENV SP, Project Manager, Senior Sustainability Specialist - Mead & Hunt, Inc.

Api Appulingam, P.E., Deputy Director of Aviation, Capital Development - Philadelphia International Airport | Northeast Philadelphia Airport

Mike Hines, Manager, Planning and Environmental Division, Office of Planning and Programming - FAA Airports

Join us as we announce the recipients of the 2021 ACC Aviation Award of Excellence and the ACC Agency Best Practices Award.

Throughout 2020 there was a wide range of uncertainty in previous, on-going, and certainly the newer aviation projections. While the impacts and trends during the COVID-19 pandemic were not unique to the industry, it highlighted again various issues related to the overall development, approval, and application of aviation forecasts. This session aims to address some of the challenges and best practices to consider when preparing forecasts before, during, and after a pandemic or other industry shock events. 

Mitch Hooper, Planning Department Manager - Mead & Hunt

Rick Lucas, Senior Project Manager, Airport Planning - McFarland Johnson

Josh Cohn, Airport and Terminal Planner - InterVISTAS

Michael Lawrance, Senior Aviation Planning Specialist, Office of Airport Planning & Programming - Federal Aviation Administration

The FAA released the results of its airport noise Neighborhood Environmental Survey (NES) in January of this year. The results showed that near-airport communities are substantially more annoyed by aircraft noise than they were in the 1970s, to the tune of 20 dB DNL. This 20 DNL increase in sensitivity cancels out nearly all the improvements made in noise-reducing aircraft technology over the past few decades. This session will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of changing the FAA’s 40-year-old noise policy in response to the NES results. 

Chris Musei-Sequeira, Principal

Eric Pilsk, Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell LLP

This section will explore the latest on various Advisory Circulars (ACs) that have been recently finalized by the Agency, or released in draft form for industry review and comment. ACC’s Engineering and Planning and Environmental Committees have participated in the review of several ACs in the past year. Hear first hand from reviewers as well as from the Agency on these latest AC developments and the relevant and specific changes/guidelines for various operations of the aviation industry

Genevieve Long, LEED AP, P.E., Program Director - Commercial Airport Program

Ania Motas, P.E., Deputy Regional Solutions Lead - Jacobs Engineering

Zachary Shuman, Aviation Program Director - Woolpert

Tom Dowse, Project Manager, Senior Civil Engineer, Construction Observer - Burns & McDonnell

Michael Meyers, Manager for Airport Engineering Division - Federal Aviation Administration

Harold Honey, P.E., PMP, Civil Engineer

Robert Bassey, Electrical Engineer, Airport Engineering Division - FAA

In this session, we will combine two of the aviation industry’s hottest current topics: commercial space transportation and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). This session’s aim is to provide the audience with a “state of the union” of these industries with varied perspectives focused on a purposely crafted combination of Operators, Manufacturers, Consultants with Federal Government representation. Focus areas include discussion on feasibility, regulatory framework creation, technology (including the electrification of aircraft and EVTOLs), timelines, and expected industry milestones as we come closer to mainstream commercial space and AAM applications. The session will also have a directed Q&A segment co-moderated by two industry professionals who operate in these trending aviation themes. 

Fin Bonset, Director of Aviation Services - VHB

Roeland Visser, Project Manager - InterVISTAS

Stacey Zee, Environmental Protection Specialist - FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Jennifer Datz, Program Manager - Kennedy Flight Operations Contract

Rubén DelRosario, Senior Director Aerospace Systems, -Crown Consulting

Tom Davis, Vice President, Science and Research Programs - Crown Consulting

Yasmina Platt, Infrastructure Launch Lead - Joby Aviation

Chad Cashin, Business Development and Corporate Strategy Lead - Joby Aviation

The Transportation Research Board’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) has selected winners for its annual University Design Competition for Addressing Airport Needs. Now in its 15th year, the prestigious competition encourages students to design innovative and practical solutions to challenges at airports. Five first-place winners were chosen across four technical challenge areas: Airport Environmental Interactions, Airport Operation and Maintenance, Runway Safety/Runway Incursions/Runway Excursions, and Airport Management and Planning.