Human factors R&D  focuses on people as they interact with the design of products. HFREG is divided into three R&D areas: (1) Flight Deck/Aviation  Maintenance/System Integration, which develops human performance  information that the agency uses in fulfilling its regulatory responsibility  and provides to the aviation industry for use in designing and operating  aircraft and training pilots and maintenance personnel; (2) Air Traffic  Control/Technical Operations, which researches human factors issues  with respect to the roles of air traffic controllers, air traffic managers, and  maintenance technicians; and (3) general Human Factors Research and  Engineering, which attempts to ensure that the incorporation of human  factors engineering is explicit, timely, systematic, comprehensive,  efficient, and effective. Because of the scope of NextGen, FAA contracted  with Volpe to provide a chief system engineer for human factors to identify  and help the agency better ensure that human factors issues are integrated  into the development of NextGen aviation systems. FAA and NASA Have Several Ongoing Human Factors R&D Efforts That Support NextGen, but a Majority of Experts Suggest FAA and NASA Adopt Additional Measures, Including Strengthening Human Factors Leadership

		FAA and NASA Have Undertaken a Variety of Human Factors R&D Efforts and Designated Funding to Support NextGen

FAA and NASA have created and shared planning documents for how the  agency will incorporate human factors R&D into NextGen. Over the last 2 years, FAA has also dedicated financial resources  specifically to incorporating human factors R&D into NextGen. Experts Cited Suggestions Regarding Human Factors Efforts Supporting NextGen

For the most part, aviation human factors experts we interviewed stated  that FAA’s and NASA’s human factors R&D efforts adequately support  NextGen. However, a majority of experts offered suggestions for further  incorporating human factors issues into NextGen. Improve collaboration of human factors efforts across FAA  departments. Furthermore, a September 2008 National Academy of Public  Administration’s report identified leadership as the single most important  element of success for large-scale systems integration efforts like  NextGen. FAA has not prioritized consistently  staffing the top two leadership positions within FAA that are formally  responsible for human factors R&D. Specifically, the Chief Systems  Engineer for Human Factors position has been vacant since the previous  chief retired in January 2010. Moreover, FAA did not assign a permanent  program director of HFREG for 16 months, from January 2009 until FAA  filled the position in June 2010. These positions currently lack  the authority to ensure that human factors issues are addressed early and  throughout the NextGen system development process. Such authority  could mitigate the need to redesign these systems after implementation  has begun, which can cause delays and add costs. Some suggest that FAA can  meet this challenge by incorporating two elements into its human factors  R&D efforts:    a cross-agency plan developed in cooperation with NASA to identify,  prioritize, and coordinate NextGen human factors issues, and    strong and consistent leadership with the authority to not only prioritize  human factors issues but ensure that they are taken into account  throughout NextGen. Recommendations for Executive Action

We recommend that the Secretary of Transportation direct the FAA  Administrator to take the following two actions:    create a cross-agency human factors coordination plan in cooperation  with NASA, as JPDO has previously recommended, that establishes an  agreed-upon set of initial focus areas for research, inventories existing  facilities for research, and capitalizes on past and current research of all  NextGen issues, and    assign a high priority to filling the vacancy of human factors integration  lead and structure that position and the program director of HFREG  position in a manner that provides the authority to ensure that human  factors research and development is coordinated, considered, and  prioritized in all phases of NextGen development. Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

In response to your request, this report provides information on the status  of the Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration’s  (FAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA)  efforts to incorporate human factors issues into the Next Generation Air  Transportation System (NextGen). In particular, we sought to identify the  extent to which (1) FAA’s and NASA’s human factors research and  development (R&D) is coordinated, and (2) FAA’s and NASA’s human  factors R&D supports NextGen. We assessed  the information FAA and NASA officials provided us regarding their  coordination mechanisms by comparing those efforts with  recommendations issued by the Joint Planning and Development Office  (JPDO)—an interagency organization responsible for planning NextGen. In 2008, JPDO issued a cross-agency gap analysis that found FAA and  NASA lacked a cross-agency plan for identifying and addressing priority  NextGen human factors issues.
Why GAO Did This Study

To address challenges to the aviation industry's economic health and safety, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is collaborating with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other federal partners to plan and implement the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). NextGen will transform the current radar-based air traffic control system into a satellite-based system. Pilot and air traffic controller roles and responsibilities are expected to become more automated, thereby requiring an understanding of human factors, which studies how humans' abilities, characteristics, and limitations interact with the design of the equipment they use, environments in which they function, and jobs they perform. FAA and NASA are tasked with incorporating human factors issues into NextGen. As requested, this report discusses the extent to which FAA's and NASA's human factors research (1) is coordinated and (2) supports NextGen. To address these issues, GAO reviewed coordination mechanisms and planning documents and synthesized the views of nine aviation human factors experts.

What GAO Found

While FAA and NASA officials are coordinating their NextGen human factors research efforts in a variety of ways, they lack a cross-agency human factors plan for coordination. FAA and NASA have participated in research advisory committees and interagency research transition teams, signed interagency agreements, and held cross-agency meetings and conferences focused on human factors issues. FAA also created a human factors portfolio to identify and address priority human factors issues but not a cross-agency human factors coordination research plan in cooperation with NASA, as previously recommended by FAA's Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO)--an interagency organization responsible for planning NextGen. As a result, FAA has not established an agreed-upon set of initial focus areas for research that identifies and capitalizes on past and current research and establishes focus areas for human factors research and development, among other things. The experts GAO contacted generally agreed that FAA's and NASA's human factors research efforts adequately support NextGen, but made several suggestions, including enhancing human factors research leadership, for further incorporating human factors issues into NextGen systems. FAA and NASA have undertaken a variety of human factors efforts to support NextGen, including, among other things, creating planning documents detailing how human factors research will be incorporated into NextGen and dedicating financial resources specifically to NextGen human factors research. While the human factors experts GAO interviewed stated that these efforts support NextGen, a majority offered the following suggestions for further integrating human factors issues into NextGen: (1) Better ensure that human factors issues are fully integrated throughout the development of NextGen systems. FAA did not do this in the development of past systems, a fact that led to schedule slippages and cost increases. (2) Improve collaboration of human factors efforts within FAA departments. (3) Establish strong leadership. A 2008 National Academy of Public Administration's report identified leadership as the single most important element of success for large-scale systems integration efforts like NextGen. FAA has not prioritized consistently staffing the top two human factors positions. Specifically, the position of the Chief Systems Engineer for Human Factors (now referred to as the human factors integration lead) has been vacant since January 2010. Moreover, FAA did not have a permanent program director of its Human Factors Research and Engineering Group from January 2009 until June 2010. These two positions currently lack the authority to ensure that human factors issues are addressed early and throughout the NextGen system development process to prevent the need to redesign these systems after implementation, which can cause delays and add costs. As a result, FAA may lack consistent leadership with the sufficient authority to not only prioritize human factors issues but ensure that human factors issues are addressed throughout NextGen. FAA should (1) create a coordination plan and (2) give priority to filling vacant leadership positions and provide the positions with authority for prioritizing human factors. FAA agreed to consider the recommendations.