FAA Work Stop Impacting Embry Riddle Research
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
By: Mark Simpson

August 3, 2011 | WMFE - The Federal Aviation Administration's funding delay is starting to impact projects beyond just airports. Embry Riddle University in Daytona Beach is listed on the FAA's stop work order website as having two contracts that have been put on hold. One is a $20 million dollar project related to general aviation research, the other is a $245 thousand dollar contract for Advanced Verification Methods for Safety-Critical Airborne Electronic Hardware.

Embry Riddle spokesman Robert Ross says the $20 million dollar contract is split among research programs at several schools across the U.S., distributed by an FAA project called the Center of Excellence for General Aviation Research or CEGAR, which is headed up by Embry Riddle.  It includes projects like $1 million dollar effort to create a GPS based system to allow airplanes to see each other in real-time while flying.

Ross also says “about 10 people at Embry Riddle and other universities conducting research through CEGAR are affected by the furlough of the FAA’s monitors and grant reviewers.”  Some Embry Riddle’s research is monitored by FAA staff who oversee contracts, so those projects are on hold till Federal funding comes through.  Ross also pointed out faculty researchers at the aviation school can’t submit proposals to the FAA for research funding because of the federal furlough.

The FAA’s most recent reauthorization bill expired on July 22^nd.  FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen says projects that have been stopped won’t be restarted till Congress passes and the President signs an FAA reauthorization bill.