U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has selected a team of universities to lead a new Air Transportation Center of Excellence (COE) for general aviation.  The COE will focus research and testing efforts on safety, accessibility and sustainability to enhance the future of general aviation.

"The United States has the largest and most diverse general aviation community in the world, with more than 300,000 aircraft registered to fly through American skies," said Secretary LaHood.  "This innovative partnership with academia and industry will help us to take general aviation safety to the next level."

The selected group is called the FAA Center of Excellence Partnership to Enhance General Aviation Safety, Accessibility and Sustainability (PEGASUS), and will be led by Purdue University, The Ohio State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.  The core team also will include the Florida Institute of Technology, Iowa State University and Texas A&M University.  Affiliate members include: Arizona State University, Florida A&M, Hampton University, Kent State University, North Carolina A&T State University, Oklahoma State University, Southern Illinois University (Carbondale), Tufts University, Western Michigan University and University of Minnesota, Duluth.

The FAA's COE program is a cost-sharing research partnership between academia, industry and the federal government.  Research and development efforts by PEGASUS will cover a broad spectrum of general aviation safety issues, including airport technology, propulsion and structures, airworthiness, flight safety, fire safety, human factors, system safety mangement and weather.

Research projects will be performed through a partnership of prinicipal investigators from different universities.  PEGASUS will engage both graduate-level and undergraduate students in its research activities.