FAA Deputy Administrator Visits AirVenture

FAA Deputy Administrator Chris Rocheleau discussed numerous topics during the Meet the FAA Administrator forum at the Theater in the Woods on Thursday morning. Joining him on the stage for a discussion was EAA CEO and Chairman of the Board Jack J. Pelton. Rocheleau also took questions from the audience.

In his opening remarks, Rocheleau talked about Flight Plan 2026, which focuses on three key areas: safety, people, and innovation/modernization. About safety and following the tragic crash at Reagan National Airport in January 2025, Rocheleau said, “One of the things we really doubled down on was what was missed? What could we have done better?” He said that an FAA team has worked with the National Transportation Safety Board to look into opportunities there to make the system safer overall. Rocheleau also said the agency is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to figure out how the FAA is using data to make the system safer.

As it relates to people, Rocheleau acknowledged that the FAA has struggled to bring staff on board. However, he did report good news. “Last year we exceeded our goal of over 2,200 controllers and bringing them into the system,” he said. He also added that they are on track for this year at about 90 percent of hitting their goal and expect to exceed it again.

Regarding modernization, Rocheleau talked about building out a new air traffic control system. “One of the things that that we certainly had to tackle early on last year was some of the outages of the equipment we had within the system,” he said. “We got $12.5 billion to build out a new infrastructure.” In addition to modernizing the airspace, Rocheleau said there is also a focus on modernizing the agency and making it more responsive to stakeholders and industry.

To underscore the FAA’s responsiveness to stakeholders, Rocheleau said that after the forum they would be announcing mobile clearance delivery. This new technology was developed in collaboration with Jeppesen ForeFlight. It will connect pilots with air traffic controllers directly via the ForeFlight mobile app to manage their IFR flight plans without the need for radio and/or phone calls.

During the question-and-answer portion of the forum with Jack Pelton, Rocheleau was asked about the notice of proposed rulemaking on drones and autonomous vehicles operating beyond visual line of sight and the concern of EAA members about sharing the airspace in a safe manner. Rocheleau said the FAA “didn’t want to rush to a decision and have to go back and fix it later on … .” He added that it was going to be necessary to understand the concerns of the drone delivery industry and the general aviation community.

Pelton also asked Rocheleau about the mandate to remove leaded fuel in aviation by 2030 (2032 in Alaska). Rocheleau described the timing as “aggressive,” adding, “… in the coming weeks we’re going to issue a new roadmap to kind of reset …,” he said. “I can tell you with confidence we’re not going to set an arbitrary date that says, ‘well, this is what it says,’ without making sure that whatever we’re going to put in those aircraft is safe.”

Rocheleau also took time to answer a number of questions from the audience, including on digitization, the VOR network, interagency collaboration, and the prospects of air traffic controllers receiving a 2.8 percent pay raise.

Rocheleau has a long and distinguished record of service to the nation. He’s previously served at the FAA in numerous roles and was one of the first leaders of the Transportation Security Administration. Rocheleau served in the U.S. Air Force and retired from the USAF Reserve in 2010 as a lieutenant colonel. Before joining the agency in 2025, he was the chief operating officer for the National Business Aviation Association. Rocheleau said he has been coming to AirVenture for more than 10 years.