In the Spotlight

Jeremy Casey of the Airport Technology Research and Development Branch was interviewed by the National Transportation Safety Board as a subject matter expert to support an investigation into an Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) response. The interview focused on ARFF research conducted by the FAA and its implementation, and was recorded via Teams for inclusion in the official investigation record.

Jeremy Casey | ANG-E261

Ryan King and Russ Gorman of the Airport Technology R&D Branch, Airport Emerging Technologies R&D Section traveled to FAA Headquarters in Washington, DC to participate in adjudication of internal FAA Lines of Business' (LOB) comments on a new Draft Advisory Circular (AC) for Vertical Flight Infrastructure. A team of subject matter experts was convened to adjudicate each comment. The team comprised representatives from ATR (Technical), the Office of Airports Safety and Standards (Policy), and support contractors responsible for the publication of the document. The Draft AC represents the culmination of nearly six years of research on emerging, Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) aircraft performance and their impact on design standards for landing facilities such as heliports, vertiports and airports. The Draft AC was circulated among FAA LOBs for review and comment and garnered nearly 500 comments, each of which were discussed and resolved. Additional comments are anticipated over the course of the summer, before the document will be available for Industry review.

Ryan King | ANG-E263

International Airfield and Highway Pavements Conference: Dr. Navneet Garg and Dr. Dan Offenbacker participated in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE's) 2026 International Airfield and Highway Pavements Conference in Detroit, MI, from July 28 to August 1, 2026. They conducted Airport Pavement Design and Evaluation workshop on 6/28. On 6/30, Dr. Garg presented research results from EWR instrumentation project "Relating Sensor Response to Asphalt Pavement Behavior" in a technical session.

Dr. Navneet Garg receiving ASCE Geo-Institute's 2026 Carl L. Monismith Lecture Award Dr. Dan Offenbacker Presents During the conference Dr. Garg received ASCE Geo-Institute's 2026 Carl L. Monismith Lecture Award "for his pioneering contributions to transportation geotechnics and airfield pavement engineering, including advanced testing, and development of innovative materials and systems." He is the 14th recipient of this prestigious award, and the first non-academic and federal government employee to receive it. His Monismith lecture was titled "Advanced Material Modeling for Airport Pavement Design for Next-Generation Aircraft" and was presented in the pavements plenary session Carl Monismith Legacy and Lecture. The Lecture was streamed live on YouTube around the world. The lecture can be accessed on YouTube.

Dr. Navneet Garg | ANG-E262

Dr. Dan Offenbacker | ANG-E262

Dr. Brill Presents Dr. David R. Brill of the Airport Technology R&D Branch attended and gave an invited keynote lecture to the 12^th International Conference on the Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways and Airfields (BCRRA2026), held June 21-25 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In addition to the keynote lecture on "The Challenge of Data for Airport Pavement Design," Dr. Brill presented 3 technical papers on research conducted at the FAA's National Airport Pavement Test Facility (NAPTF). He also participated in a pre-conference workshop on Geosynthetics in Pavement Engineering, at which he presented full-scale test results from the NAPTF Construction Cycle 9 (CC) Geosynthetics Test. The BCRRA is a major international forum for research on pavement structures held every four years. Over 300 participants attended the BCRRA2026 conference, representing 37 countries. The conference proceedings (in preparation; not available yet online) will include four peer-reviewed technical papers by ANG-E262 personnel.

David Brill | ANG-E262

Personnel from the Emerging Technologies Research & Development Section participated in an FAA tabletop exercise with Electra Aero Inc on June 23, 2026 to address policy associated with Electra's proposed short takeoff and landing (STOL) operations for exposition/demonstration and to establish a framework across FAA lines of business (AVS, ARP, and ATO) regarding these operations in the National Airspace System. The Section is particularly interested in this activity, as it will allow researchers to conduct data collection on the landing and takeoff performance of Electra's aircraft in a more controlled environment, which will provide more accurate data collection. The results of these data will be used by ARP to support development of new design standards for eVTOL landing facilities.

Jim Patterson | ANG-E263