TADERA’s Partnership with the FAA: Providing Industry Expertise, Technology, and Proven Processes

For more than 20 years, TADERA has been a key partner of the Federal Aviation Administration, providing industry expertise, technology, and proven processes to address a wide range of needs at the FAA headquarters in Washington, DC. Our partnership with the FAA allows TADERA to remain at the forefront of industry needs and regulations. The following are examples of these types of projects.

FAA 5010Web.com 

One of our first projects together was the development of 5010Web.com, a secured web application used by federal and state inspectors for annual inspections of over 5,200 civil public use airports. The application allows the transmittal of airport safety inspection data changes directly to the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization’s Aeronautical Informational Services (ATO-AJV) database.  

Since 2004, TADERA has coordinated the FAA’s Airport Data and Information Program. The program’s goal, defined in partnership with the Office of Airports, is to collect and process airport safety data. Based on the application’s success, 5010Web.com was re-created within the FAA’s Airport Data and Information Portal (ADIP) as the Airport Master Record (AMR) module.  

The TADERA team has coordinated actual field inspections and processed over 150,000 individual airport submittals for updating of the Airport Master Record (FAA Form 5010) in the FAA’s ATO-AJV database. 

Certification and Compliance Management Information System (CCMIS) 

In 2004, TADERA and the FAA partnered to develop the Certification and Compliance Information Management System (CCMIS) which TADERA continues to manage today. The CCMIS is a secure web application for the Office of Airport Safety and Operations used by all FAA Part 139 inspectors to manage inspections and compliance of over 500 certificated air carrier airports. CCMIS generates, stores, and archives all FAA Order 5280 correspondences related to Part 139 certification compliance issues, including: 

• Any discrepancies noted in periodic certification and safety inspections 

• Vehicle/pedestrian deviation occurrences 

• Part 139 Certificate actions 

• Part 139 Regulation enforcement action details 

• Aircraft Rescue & Firefighting (ARFF) vehicles and equipment 

• Recommendations by the FAA 

Airports Geographic Information System (AGIS) System Development and Support 

The FAA’s Airport Data and Information Portal (ADIP), formerly known as the Airport GIS Application, has grown into a robust program whose functions benefit many lines of business across the FAA and aviation community. Recognizing the importance of the program, the FAA identified an opportunity to enhance the program’s functionality and the associated outreach activities. They partnered with The FAA Office of Airport Safety & Standards, Airports Engineering Division (AAS-100) contracted with a group of companies to develop, improve, and sustain the AGIS system of hardware, software and procedures and the associated guidance.  

TADERA served as a subcontractor to CGH Technologies Inc. and provided subject matter expertise and comprehensive internal and external support necessary to meet program objectives established by AAS-100, and the broader FAA. TADERA’s work focused heavily on the creation and development of the Airport Master Record (AMR) module within ADIP, duplicating the proven 5010Web.com application (which TADERA developed in 2001 and maintained through 2019). TADERA provides ongoing support and maintenance for ADIP’s AMR module and BasedAircraft.com systems. TADERA also provided professional services to AAS-100, including but not limited to: 

• Airport Operations and technical services
• Airport Safety Data integration services
• Software development and database administration services
• Software maintenance and support services
• Software architecture and design services
• Network and security services
• Training, outreach, and Help Desk services
• Professional Engineering (PE) services
• Program and project management services
• Data collection and dissemination services

National Based Aircraft Inventory Program and BasedAircraft.com 

In 2006, TADERA developed the National Based Aircraft and Inventory Program and BasedAircraft.com website, which it continues to manage today. BasedAircraft.com allows airport operators to track and inventory the approximately 200,000 based aircraft operating at more than 2,900 NPIAS airports nationwide. TADERA is responsible for the overall management of the nationwide data collection process, as well as maintenance and development of enhancements to BasedAircraft.com. The BasedAircraft.com application provides a real-time analysis of tail numbers received from the airports, identifying aircraft which are not in the FAA's aircraft registration database, those that do not have current registrations, and those which claim to be based at multiple airports. After verifying the aircraft in the database, FAA staff and other authorized users can search the final aircraft data through a web-based application, and the FAA can view the aircraft inventory at each airport. 

National Private Use Airport Survey and Outreach 

TADERA designed and executed the National Private Use Airport Data Collection Program and Outreach. This comprehensive program aimed to improve the response rate and updates of critical private airport data, so that these facilities are depicted accurately on aeronautical charts. TADERA manages the nationwide data collection initiative by contacting the more than 14,000 non-military, private-use air facilities in the current FAA Airport Master Record database. TADERA analyzes the data received and enters and submits those changes directly to the FAA’s ATO-AJV database as an additional component of the Airport Data and Information Program. 

TADERA led the initial design of this program and has managed it since 2010. 

FAA Safety Data Needs Assessment 

TADERA most recently completed an analytical review of the airport safety data that the Office of Airports was collecting from multiple systems, and provided recommendations for a more seamless integration of that safety data with current systems. The TADERA team worked with key FAA project stakeholders to properly understand the needs and requirements of FAA personnel throughout the organization. 

As part of this project, TADERA created a data warehouse that incorporated and synthesized data from a wide range of FAA and other sources. This database provides a comprehensive view of airport facilities and activities, both analytically and geographically, using TADERA’s Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping application. The FAA now uses this data warehouse for a variety of purposes, and it now serves as the underlying data for the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) program.  

The information and insights gained from the data warehouse and NPAIS program led TADERA to propose the Aviation Facility Information Tool (AFIT). AFIT is a consolidated airport information tool that compiles and synthesizes data so that users can focus on decision-making, and it has significantly improved the organization’s effectiveness and operation. At its highest level, the AFIT tool would be accessed by FAA Airports division System of Airports Reporting (SOAR) users, and from a user perspective, is an extension of the SOAR program. 

National Airport System Strategic Evaluation Task (National Asset), Data Warehouse GIS and NPIAS Role Generator 

TADERA partnered with the FAA on the National Asset Project, which provided a strategic assessment of the nonprimary airports and to develop new roles that each airport plays in the aviation system. The analysis resulted in a new airport ranking for all GA airports.  

Following our work on the National Asset evaluation, TADERA developed the APP Data Warehouse, which provided National Asset data in a spatial Geographic Information System (GIS) tool. TADERA provides subject matter expertise consulting to the Office of Airports, and has developed numerous datasets, reports, and GIS application views to display those datasets and assist the Office of Airports in their periodic analysis.  

To provide the analysis needed for this project, TADERA collated a wide variety of datasets from the FAA and other federal entities, into a comprehensive “Airport Characteristics Database.” TADERA’s primary role was to assemble and analyze the information (in some cases, creating the data where it did not exist), and develop processes to generate the roles based on criteria set by the FAA.  

We then partnered with the Office of Airports to develop the NPIAS Role Generator website, which automatically generates and storesthe NPIAS Roles (National, Regional, Local, Basic, and Unclassified) that were developed during the 10-year National Asset project. These roles are incorporated into the SOAR program and the biennial NPIAS report that is reviewed by Congress. Along with the Role data, the various datasets are now updated through automation developed by TADERA, and are used to regularly generate data change scenarios, which could affect role assignments based on fluctuations of changes to the datasets, which are analyzed and discussed by FAA staff and archived in the application.