Industry Impact
Facts & Figures
2.9
Million passengers fly daily across the skies above the United States
45,000
Flights across the National Airspace System everyday
3,000
Active Airline Dispatchers nationwide
What Has Our Attention
August 17, 2026
Good evening,
This afternoon, OCA met with staff from the relevant entities on Capitol Hill who have jurisdiction over transportation and aviation. OCA expressed its concerns surrounding the implementation and development of elements of the FAA ATC modernization efforts . OCA maintains that in order for the professionals responsible for ensuring the safety of the flying public to have working faith in any replacement of the current ATC infrastructure, it must be robustly and impartially tested to it’s failure points, evaluated, improved and retested achieving proof of concept and safe use before it is deployed and utilized in the NAS.
As I write this, OCA is not convinced that the proposed replacement solutions fit that criteria based on publicly available, open source data.
Ours is a sacred covenant of trust between the flying public and our crews that we will plan and adapt flight plans and flight following with one single mandate - their safety and the safety of everyone in proximity to our aircraft. This covenant is one we accept without oath but one that carries the weight of the blind trust given when they step onboard. We are steadfast in upholding that trust and will accept no compromise.
To that end, OCA is committed to continuous engagement in Government with all agencies and bodies of jurisdiction over civil aviation no matter the political or national affiliation. We have secured the assurances of the representatives we met with today that they will engage OCA and by extension it’s partner organizations as they inquire into the processes currently being undertaken to replace the aged out ATC system and how it interfaces with the civil aviation community.
OCA is committed to the enduring effort of ensuring the safety of our skies for everyone. We will tirelessly engage and hold accountable those in Government that are charged with development and oversight of the safety of the flying public and will continue to provide transparent updates of our efforts.
As always, we welcome your input and suggestions, feel free to reach out to us at any time.
Respectfully,
Jim Starnes
Executive Director
Operational Control Alliance
jim@theoca.org
Industry Papers
The European Aviation Safety Agency is the central civil aviation regulatory authority for the European Union. EASA sets safety standards, certifies aircraft, and and oversees aviation operations across the EU.
EASA has set themselves apart from the FAA in terms of planning for the AI boom and it's potential impacts to aviation. Below are a collection of papers that illustrate exactly that.
