In the Spotlight

Advent Health Heliport, DeLand, Florida Russ Gorman from the Airport Emerging Technologies section visited the Advent Health facility in DeLand, Florida, on July 13-17, 2026, in support of the Vertical Flight Data Standards project. This facility is one of six heliport sites chosen due to the abundance and uniqueness of obstacle data that will be used to support Airport Technology Research & Development (ATR) research. The goal of this project is to investigate cost-effective, practical ways to address gaps in the collection and maintenance of obstacle data that may present risks for lower-flying vertical flight aircraft, including helicopters and Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) vehicles. The project team members also performed an analysis to identify gaps in the information collected and stored versus the full set of data required by vertical flight aircraft. This gap analysis led to the development of a prototype schema design to enable the storage of the complete set of information required by vertical flight aircraft in the Airport Data and Information Portal (ADIP).

This trip focused on conducting surveys to collect obstacle information at the hospital heliport location and within the surrounding neighborhoods. The survey data will be analyzed and compared to publicly available third-party data, such as from Google Earth and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The prototype ADIP schema will also be validated during this analysis phase to ensure that the design is complete and that all data can be saved and retrieved correctly. If more data can be leveraged from third-party sources versus having to manually collect all the required data, then costs will be reduced and the data will be more readily available and maintained more easily, resulting in a richer set of up-to-date obstacle data.

Russ Gorman | ANG-E263

Counter UAS Testing Counter UAS Testing Jim Patterson, Sean Van Dongen, Joe Healey, and support contractors from the Airport Emerging Technologies section attended counter unmanned aircraft system (cUAS) testing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, on July 13-17, 2026. The testing was led by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The ATR team's primary role was to observe the TSA's testing to learn about their procedures and methodology and provide support as needed. This included observing the TSA's test director and flight team, and the operation of the UAS detection and mitigation systems. The ATR team also collected ambient radio frequency (RF) data and RF emission data for each mitigation system that was tested. The TSA evaluated multiple UAS detection and mitigation systems over the course of the week. The testing will continue during the week of July 20-24, 2026.

Joe Healey | ANG-E263

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