Quote:
Originally Posted by Efthreeoh
the FAA is even further behind. The FAA is very cautious and that translates in to glacial adoption of new technology.
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Not really, 737 MAX. The FAA is a disaster right now and completely captured by industry / corporate interests - most of the people who actually understood aircraft design and operations left 10 years ago (when they realized they had no power except to go on airframe-paid boondoggles), and the 737 MAX is the crowning jewel to that failure - first time in history the FAA has lost the confidence of global aviation. The FAA will likely never recover that trust.
With that, the speed of regulatory changes will come down to the market size and profitability - if there's a lot of money in it, lobbyists will write those regs and jam them through congress (if needed) licketysplit. I used to work for the ATA and helped write and implement a major spec change to a 40 year old standard across all military and civil aviation for US, and civil aviation globally, and we did it in ~18 months. That change created a multi-billion $ industry with lots of DoD and government contracts
Washington loves money.
If autonomous drones mean big corporate $$, unless we see some large government regulatory body reform, I'd be surprised if took more than 2 years. Probably < a year.
Example:
space shit? no problemWASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao today announced the publication of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Streamlined Launch and Reentry Licensing Requirements Final Rule (PDF) for commercial space transportation launches and reentries.
“This historic, comprehensive update to commercial space launch and reentry licensing requirements facilitates greater growth in this industry and helps America to maintain our #1 position in the world,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.
This rule modernizes the way FAA regulates and licenses commercial space operations and allows the burgeoning aerospace industry to continue to innovate and grow, while maintaining public safety.
Elon wants to fire off orbital rockets from Boca Chica Texas? Cool, cool.