Who should be the next FAA Administrator? Part II

Who should be the next FAA Administrator? Part II

In my last iteration of this topic earlier this year we discussed if John Dunkin was qualified to lead as the next FAA administrator. Today I want to expand on why I believe he is at the very least qualified for the position. So, first let’s look at what the job description for the FAA administrator is according to SKYBARAY the description of the FAA administrator is “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the agency of the United States Department of Transportation responsible for the regulation and oversight of civil aviation within the U.S., as well as operation and development of the National Airspace System. Its primary mission is to ensure safety of civil aviation. John Dunkin has managed airlines and flight departments. He is not new to running these departments he has overseen Trumps fleet since 1989. For approximately 29 years he has organized and operated Trumps fleet. Honestly that is quite a long time. He also did manage Trumps campaigns air transportation, and according to Jonathan Swan from AXIOS he managed transportation to 203 cities in 43 states over the course of 21 months.

 I don’t think the argument that he is not qualified to run the FAA stands all to well. It seems to be more political than anyone having any issue with him specifically. To be honest the position of FAA administrator right now seems to be more of a game of chess between republicans and democrats. With how intense the last few months have been between the two groups its not surprising to see such a debacle of the position. Both sides are trying to pack as many of their people into positions of power to prevent the other from gaining to much of a foothold. This is not a new tactic for our two-party system, but it has definitely become much more published since Trump took office. With Trumps approval ratings as low as 39 percent the opposition to this move was bound to show up. And I want to stress that by no means am I a Trump supporter. I just want to stress the importance of looking at the individual based on their deeds and not by what political party or individual recommended them.

  He was not the only one interested in the position. Dan Elwell an acting Administrator and former American airlines pilot is also in the running, and he is not alone. Bobby Styrgell a former naval fighter pilot, naval top gun instructor and the acting administrator under George W. Bush is also in the running. Then looking in the past we had Marion Blakey as FAA administrator her before she was the FAA administrator she worked with the Departments of Commerce and Education, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the White House according to the FAA. It is not unheard of for the FAA administrator to not be a pilot if they have the required experience in running or organizing an organization, although it helps. But in the end Dan Elwell was elected as the FAA administrator again. To be honest I am ok with this decision. He has the experience from his previous term and I am a fan of how the FAA is changing.  

References

SKYbrary Wiki. (2018, March 03). Retrieved March 03, 2018, fromhttps://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Federal_Aviation_Administration_(FAA)

History. (2018, January 03). Retrieved March 03, 2018, fromhttps://www.faa.gov/about/history/

Laris, M., & III, A. H. (2018, February 27). As Trump puts personal pilot on shortlist to head FAA, agency faces biggest challenges in decades. Retrieved March 03, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/as-trum

Global Airlines: Is It a Fair Playing Field

The US-UAE Open Skies Agreement was set into place to ensure fair competition between airlines with minimal involvement with the government. This agreement allows airlines to offer travel, shipping routing, and capacity at the lowest possible prices. And allow air carriers to travel across and land in their respective countries. To air carriers that are a part of this agreement are Emirates and Qatar airways. These two air carriers have received large subsidies from Persian Gulf countries. Many in the aviation community consider this an unfair advantage these companies have over their US counterparts but Over the year quite a few of the airlines have accepted subsidies for example the contract air mail act of 1925 subsidized what would become the modern air carriers we see today. Then more recently the US government bailed out American airlines shortly after 9/11. One thing I think everyone in aviation can agree on is that aviation is expensive. Even the large carriers we see today needed help occasionally otherwise they would not have been able to stay in business. I don’t believe that there is nothing wrong with that. But as a worldwide community we need to determine at what point dose that occasional help become unfair.

 We should discuss the export import bank. This bank gives loans to companies like Emirates at very low interest costs so the at they can use that money to fund their own investments. This funding allows them to purchase aircraft at mush lower rates than their competitors. And the reason that this is such an issue is the fact that domestic air carriers are not able to compete with these carriers that are purchasing substantial amounts of aircraft rapidly and suddenly flying more routs between the US and other countries. This enables them to drop their prices and out perform US companies unfairly. This has become more prevalent with Norwegian International Airlines. They operate 450 routes with 150 destinations.

References

Correll, D. S., & Krupa, C. (2017, December 02). US airlines at odds over aviation agreements with Qatar and UAE. Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/us-airlines-at-odds-over-aviation-agreements-with-qatar-and-uae

McGee, B. (2015, September 02). How much do taxpayers support airlines? Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/mcgee/2015/09/02/how-much-do-taxpayers-support-airlines/71568226/

Mutzabaugh, B. (2017, February 23). Norwegian Air's $65 fares to Europe: What's the catch? Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2017/02/23/norwegians-65-fares-europe-whats-catch/98292866/

Who should be the next FAA Administrator?

Who should be the FAA’s next administrator? First let’s look at what the job description for the FAA administrator is according to SKYBARAY the description of the FAA administrator is “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the agency of the United States Department of Transportation responsible for the regulation and oversight of civil aviation within the U.S., as well as operation and development of the National Airspace System. Its primary mission is to ensure safety of civil aviation.” John Dunkin has managed airlines and flight departments. It is not as though he is not qualified to hold the position. John Dunkin did manage trumps campaigns air transportation and according to Jonathan Swan from AXIOS he managed transportation to 203 cities in 43 states over the course of 21 months. But he is not the only one interested in the position. Dan Elwell an acting Administrator and former American airlines pilot is also in the running, and he is not alone. Bobby Styrgell a former naval fighter pilot, naval top gun instructor and the acting administrator under George W. Bush is also in the running. Then looking in the past we had Marion Blakey as FAA administrator her before she was the FAA administrator she worked with the Departments of Commerce and Education, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the White House according to the FAA. It is not unheard of for the FAA administrator to not be a pilot as long as they have the required experience in running or organizing an organization, although it definitely helps. This choice on who will be our next FAA administrator is important. The leader of any organization is given power to shape how the system is run. Policies change with people and time and this could be good or bad.

References

SKYbrary Wiki. (2018, March 03). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Federal_Aviation_Administration_(FAA)

History. (2018, January 03). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from https://www.faa.gov/about/history/

Laris, M., & III, A. H. (2018, February 27). As Trump puts personal pilot on shortlist to head FAA, agency faces biggest challenges in decades. Retrieved March 03, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/as-trump-puts-longtime-personal-pilot-on-shortlist-to-head-faa-agency-faces-biggest-challenges-in-decades/2018/02/27/c1ac0102-1b4d-11e8-b2d9-08e748f892c0_story.html?utm_term=.a81912a86531

The Current Status of UAVs

The Current Status of UAVs

UAVs have begun to grow in popularity in the past few years. Both in the military and commercially. Drones have begun being used to help first responders, help with fighting fires, with police operations, in the film industry, and in many other fields. As drones advance we will continue to see them be adapted to what could be a countless number of fields. They allow us to go, see, and do things that would be much more difficult without their help. Drones are an invaluable asset in todays society. But they do have some limitations namely batterie life. Drones are regulated by the FAA, and as such must meet certain requirements to be used in legally. For commercial drone operations some of the main points are that they must weigh less than 55 lbs, are VLOS (Visual line-of sight) only, have a maximum ground speed of 100 mph, and have a maximum altitude of 400 ft AGL (Above ground level) according to the FAA (FAA sUAS Part 107: The small UAS Rule). Down below I will list the link for those interested, it dose a good job at simplifying the rule.  Not only are drones taking off in the United States but in other countries as well. Europe has begun using them for security and to help first responders as well. Other counties have followed suit as of currently and have put in place their own regulations.

When It comes to drones being introduced into National Air Space (NAS) I don’t think this would be a promising idea. I understand that with time and more advanced technology drones could become more useful but with how our system is set up I believe it would too much pressure on ATC and pilots. I know some pilots that are rightfully concerned about drones being flown to close to close to airports especially in more traffic heavy cities. Now it is against all drone regulations to fly their drones within the proximity of airports with how easy it is to acquire drones in today’s economy it would not surprise me if someone not educated enough decided to go to Walmart or Costco and get them self a drone and decide to take some “cool” video or photos of aircraft at the airport.

Switching gears, a bit drones in the military have been around for quite a while now. These drones started off being used for surveillance. They helped troops on the ground gather intelligence for upcoming operations. Soon after they were used for strike missions. An article by Stewart Smith dose a respectable job stating how the US military views drone usage “Anytime a drone can be used to protect the lives of the military men and women they will be armed with live video remote communications to ground troops, essential gear, or weapons” (Stewart Smith 2017).

Regarding UAV jobs I was surprised to find quite a few. All I did was type in UAV jobs into google. The one that stuck out to me the most was add for Drone operator and safety observers for the Oasis USA corporation. I will attach the link below.

Links

https://www.google.com/search?q=UAV+jobs&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS721US721&oq=UAV+jobs&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1021j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ibp=htl;jobs#fpstate=tldetail&htidocid=f8bFp-8BbB65oDPlAAAAAA%3D%3D&htivrt=jobs

https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/faa-uas-part107-flyer.pdf

References

 Unmanned Aircraft Systems . (n.d.). FAA sUAS PART 107: THE SMALL UAS RULE. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/faa-uas-part107-flyer.pdf

Smith, S. (2018, January 10). Tactical and Practical Uses for Drones. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from https://www.thebalance.com/military-and-civilian-drone-use-4121099

Should Cargo Carriers Be Exempt from Flight/Duty Changes?

After the Colgan Air accident in 2009 the FAA released new regulations regarding flight and duty requirements. These new regulations changed not only the requirements for student pilots (250 hours to 1500 hours) it also changed the requirements. According to an article put out by Sarina Huston, the new rule does not differentiate from domestic, international, and unscheduled flights. Instead these rules apply to all involved Pilots. And now pilots must now sign a document before a flight stating that they are fit for duty while before they did not (Houston 2017). Before reserve pilots had to be given a 24-hour rest during a 7-day week. While now reserve pilots must have a rest period of at least 10 hours (Houston 2017). I kind of agree with this change. While it probably meant rewriting a few schedules. It allows pilots to have better rest opportunities between flights. Allowing for better rested flight crews. The old rule required active pilots to have at least 9 hours (this could be reduced to 8). While the new rule changed that to 10 hours with the opportunity for 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep (Huston 2017). This is a welcome change in my opinion. This forced pilots and companies to set up better lodging for flight crews away from home. Instead of having them sleep or rest at the FBO. What is also required in the flight and duty requirements is the development of a Fatigue Risk Management plan. This plan according to (FAA part 117,119,121 flight crew member duty and rest requirements) states that this Fatigue Risk Management plan must have three parts, and address fatigue related education and training.

 From what I was able to find the flight and duty requirements for cargo carriers have not changed. While the FAA has allowed them to opt in if they wish. According to part 117 final rule most cargo carriers were not factored into this rule because of cost. To which I agree the cost to implement for cargo carriers was too much for most cargo operations. Cargo carriers also work on different schedules than passenger operations. I agree that cargo operations do not need to be apart of this regulation. The cost to these cargo operations would be to much for them to remain profitable. Although I do believe that there should be some changes to their flight and duty time, but it should be tailored to them specifically. Although I might be a tad bias in this. I play to fly cargo so as it affects to myself I would prefer to not have to stick as thoroughly to these new regulations. I am curious to see if they will change them in the future and if so what will they change.     

References

Houston, S. (2017, November 17). Learn About the FAA's Final Rule for Pilot Duty and Rest Requirements. Retrieved February 02, 2018, from https://www.thebalance.com/faa-final-rule-pilot-duty-and-rest-requirements-282927

F. (2012, January 4). Flightcrew member and duty requirements . Retrieved February 1, 2017, from https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/practice_areas/regulations/part117/Part117_General/media/Final%20Flight%20Duty%20Rule.pdf