Fast 5: GAMA’s New CEO James Viola

James Viola’s outlook for the association after his first 90 days.

As the new president and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), what changes do you plan to make?

I’m very happy with GAMA. I jumped right in with Pete [Bunce, former CEO], who had a good plan for the handover and for me going with him to the European office in January. I ended my time with Vertical Aviation International (VAI) on March 15 and took over for GAMA on March 17. I think we’ve got the right committees. They’ve all got a board member who’s a CEO or a leader in industry who’s chairing or co-chairing each committee.

How does it feel to go from helicopters to mostly fixed wing?

My last job in the FAA was the head of general aviation, so I had helicopters and airplanes. When I got the job with Helicopter Association International, now VAI, I thought it was great to only have to worry about helicopters. But helicopters fly 44 different missions, and you can’t talk about a helicopter without talking about its mission, because some things can actually make it less safe by adding additional equipment that doesn’t help in the specific mission. We do have some specialists here at GAMA who focus on rotorcraft.

With your experience as a former FAA regulator and helicopter pilot, you have an interesting background to think about advanced air mobility (AAM). Do you think the industry is working and collaborating in an efficient way as these vehicles near certification?

We’re in the five-year period where it’s going to happen. Beta is flying around the U.S. Archer and Joby are working on certification. We’re getting close. It will be interesting to see some of the evolutions of Joby, trying hydrogen. I think the hybrid engines are coming back.

That question gets right to what GAMA’s purpose is: We’re supposed to try to rally for them. What are the things we have to do for the infrastructure, for example? We’re doing that through our Electric Propulsion and Innovation Committee.

Kyle Clark, Beta’s CEO, is one of the co-chairs. During Aero Friedrichshafen [in April], I was in a two-day meeting about hydrogen propulsion, where Robinson Helicopter announced it just operated a flight with hydrogen power. The technology is all there—now they’re trying to get the sizing so there’s scalability.

One other thing about electric and hybrid engines: It was great to have a discussion with [the European Union Aviation Safety Agency], which has a lot of restrictions about single-engine capability. If they classify an electric motor like Beta’s, which includes multiple electric lift motors, as multi-engine or multi-motor, it’ll open up the ability to have one motor onboard.

Recent accidents have led people to wonder if there is a bigger issue with air safety in the U.S. When people ask you this, what do you say?

It does look like a rash of accidents. But no, there’s no accident waiting to happen, with the exception of the DCA accident. That’s just totally unacceptable. When the NTSB comes out with all of its findings on that, it will be sad that someone didn’t intervene at some level to just stop some of the issues.<\/p>

I look forward to being involved in some of the future airspace discussions. Class Bravo airspace is the most condensed airspace in the U.S. How are we going to incorporate the eVTOLs and AAM in the future? We have to figure that out. Helicopters are the proof-of-concept for what we’re trying to do with AAM. AAM is supposed to come in at a better price point than helicopters so that more people can use them, but we have to figure out airspace. With DCA, airliners often go in holding patterns, which isn’t good for sustainability. We might have to start from scratch at an airport like DCA. How do we reinvent that airspace, so everybody is safe and flowing? The technology has been around for 10 years, we just haven’t implemented it.

Are you concerned that the Trump administration’s tariff wars could hurt GAMA aircraft deliveries this year?

I’m going to focus on educating the administration about why aviation has been exempt from tariffs in the past. That’s the end goal—and get it incorporated into law. Then the next thing to look at is the supply chain. People are investing. Several members from overseas are investing in Florida. Now they’re wondering about what the tariff implications will be.

GAMA hired a tariff expert attorney, and we’ve done a couple webinars for our members. Our attorney’s No. 1 advice is to hire an attorney to help you with the tariffs. We have Hill Day, which will be coming up in May, for our members to meet with their congressmen and women.