The Human Layer of the autonomous airspace.

The autonomous-airspace transition is treated as a technology problem: UTM, detect-and-avoid, new aircraft. The binding constraint is the human. As autonomy rises, the operator's role shifts from flying to supervising, the required competencies change faster than we can teach them, and the pipeline to produce that workforce does not yet exist. The Human Layer is a competency-based science for training, assessing, and certifying the people who will supervise autonomous aircraft and traffic, and the STEM-to-supervisor pipeline that produces them. It anchors to the U.S. DOT's 2025 Advanced Air Mobility workforce mandate.