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
