At a congressional committee hearing, a committee member asked about implementation of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 and was told the Government Accountability Office has begun a study of high-school aviation maintenance programs and the Federal Aviation Administration has installed 56 tower simulators in FAA facilities.

The committee member raised workforce and rural-access concerns tied to the law, asking whether the GAO had started a study required by the reauthorization and when the FAA would deploy tower simulation systems. The GAO witness said, “That study was initiated last month,” and that it is currently in initial scoping and without an anticipated completion date. The FAA witness said tower simulators are “vital for our success,” described recent installations and said the agency is on pace to meet the act’s requirement that towers have access to simulators.

The exchange linked two implementation items in the 2024 law. The committee member cited a provision directing the GAO to assess high-school aviation maintenance and technician programs and identify pathways for graduates to become FAA-certified mechanics. The GAO witness confirmed the agency has started that work but said it is still scoping the engagement and could not provide an expected report date, adding, “It's just in its initial stages.”

On flight operations training, the FAA witness described tower simulation systems as tools that let controllers practice irregular operations in realistic settings. “Tower simulation systems are something that, is vital for our success,” the FAA witness said. The witness said, “We currently have 56 tower simulators that have been put into our FAA facilities, and most recently Newark,” and added that the simulators include visual databases to replicate tower views. The witness said the simulators allow controllers to practice events such as engine failures or bird strikes in a training environment.

The FAA witness thanked lawmakers for funding and said the agency is “on pace to make sure that we meet the authorization bill that every tower has access to a tower simulator.” The committee member asked for any updates the GAO could share; the GAO witness reiterated the study’s early-stage status and offered to provide progress updates as work continues.

No formal votes or committee actions were reported during this exchange. The discussion consisted of questions from the committee member and answers from GAO and FAA witnesses about implementation steps and timelines. The GAO provided a concrete status — that the study had been initiated — while the FAA provided deployment counts and described ongoing work to meet the reauthorization’s training provisions.

Committee staff or the witnesses did not specify a completion date for the GAO study, the number of schools to be reviewed, or dollar amounts for the funding referenced; those details were not specified during the exchange. The FAA cited Newark and Salt Lake City as examples of airports tied to broader implementation and said regional airports and rural communities rely on workforce and modernization efforts addressed by the law.