Jim Williams, AURA Regulatory Affairs Director, Appointed to RTCA Advisory Board

AURA is pleased to announce that our Regulatory Affairs Director, Jim Williams, has been appointed to the Advisory Board of RTCA, the aviation industry's nonprofit independent Standards Development Organization. RTCA is expected to ultimately inform a means of compliance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations and other aviation regulatory authorities for uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft operations within the National Airspace System (NAS).

“I’m very pleased and honored to be included in this advisory group,” Jim said of the announcement. “I think this work is the latest indication of an overall acceleration in the very important standards-setting process for the UAS industry, and those of us involved in the process feel the momentum.”

Jim leads AURA’s efforts to secure approval to use its network to provide command-and-control (C2) links for both crewed and uncrewed applications. His 40-plus years of aerospace-sector experience encompasses three decades of FAA service, including his tenure as Executive Lead for the UAS Integration Office. 

AURA continues to emerge as an industry thought leader by helping to inform aviation standards, and Jim has helped lead these efforts. He has represented AURA and the industry during years of standards development, including on the FAA UAS Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) that was tasked with making industry recommendations on how to accelerate integration of UAS into U.S. airspace. He is also Co-Chair of the RTCA Special Committee working on UAS and AAM standards.