Who will be the next FAA administrator?

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the agency, under the US Department of Transportation, which responsibility is to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation. The current regulations prescribe that the administrator of such agency can fill the office for a maximum of 5 years. The last appointed FAA administrator in 2013, under the Obama administration, was Michael Huerta, who has completed his term of 5 years on January 2018, leaving like that the spot open for a new nominee (Novak, 2018). The current acting FAA administrator is Dan Elweel, although shortly his role will be assigned to a person appointed by the Trumps’ administration (Novak, 2018). From the list of potential candidates for covering the position of FAA administrator, the name that makes the most headlines is the one of John Dunkin, Trumps long time personal pilot. Does Dunkin have the qualifications necessary to run an agency whose employees are more than 45,000 and that has a budget of more than $16 billion-dollars?

Dunkin started to work for Trump from 1989 when this last one founded his own airline, Trump Shuttle (Novak, 2018). After the airlines went bankrupt in 1992, Dunkin moved within Trump’s private aviation operations (Novak, 2018). Not only Dunkin had the responsibility of flying Trump around the world but he also assured that everything regarding the private jets ran smoothly, from the little details of their interiors to making sure that the appropriate maintenance was completed. A source that preferred to remain anonymous reported to Axes that Dunkin qualifications do not only include him being a pilot but his experience also include having managed flight departments both within airlines and corporate divisions and certifying, under FAA regulations, airlines during their start-up face (Levin, Natter, Beene, 2018). During the 2016 electoral campaign Dunkin oversaw the entire operations of the candidates’ fleet, making sure that the operations went as smooth as possible. Dunkin, during the electoral campaign had the responsibility to manage all the aviation transportation that led Trump, with his personal Boeing 757, to land in more than 203 cities within a time frame of 21 months (Levin, Natter, Beene, 2018). From those facts we can say that Dunkin not only is a pilot, which means that he is familiar with the aviation field, but he also has really good skills in managing aviation transportation, although in a rather small scale.

Other names that are included in the list as possible future FAA administrators are the one of Daniel Elwell, Robert Sturgell and Samuel Graves. Daniel Elwell is the current acting FAA administrator. Elwell has gained experience in the air, since he flown both within the military and in the civilian sector accumulating over 6000 hours of flight time, and he also gained experience in the administrative aspect of aviation having been actively involved with the FAA over the past 7 years (Lynch, 2018). Robert Sturgell is another possible candidate, as with Elwell he has both the experience of flying and working within the FAA (Lynch, 2018). The last one is Samuel Graves, which along with the other candidates is a licensed pilot. He also held the job of co-chairman for the CA Caucus in the House of Representatives. Youngblood, Graves’ spokeswoman, stated that the congressman is not seeking the job as the administrator for the FAA rather, he is interested in getting a chair in the Transportation Committee within the House of Representatives (Wise, n.d.).

From signage of the Federal Aviation Act in 1958, which created the Federal Aviation Agency to now the people that were appointed as FAA administrators, in my opinion, were very capable of doing their job since they significantly increased the safety in the skies above us. Randy Babbitt was the FAA administrator from 2009 to 2011 under the Obama administration (Randy Babbitt, n.d.). After completing his collage studies Babbitt flew as an airline pilot for over 25 years and he also became president of ALPA (Randy Babbitt, n.d.). Before being appointed as the FAA administrator he had gain previous experience within the agency. In fact, during the Bill Clinton administration he was appointed to the FAA Management Advisory Council (Randy Babbitt, n.d.). After Babbitt resignation Michael Peter Huerta, took over the role as the acting administrator of the FAA. In 2012, president Obama appointed him as the permanent administrator for the next 5 years to come (Michael Huerta, n.d.). Huerta, is one of the few people that served as FAA administrator that had no flying license and not much experience within the field. He graduated with a degree in political science and he earned a master in international relations (Michael Huerta, n.d.). Prior to serving as the FAAs administrator he had a senior position within the DOT (department of transportation). As a source stated: “Huerta is an experienced transportation official who held a number of key positions before coming to the FAA” (Michael Huerta, n.d.).

The person heading the Federal Aviation Administration is called the administrator. The administrator is appointed by the president of the United States of America, and confirmed by the Senate, after he or she has made sure that the appointee can run the duties of such occupation in an efficient way.  The Administrator can lead the agency for a maximum term of 5 years. There are three basic requirements that allow a person to be on the potential list of nominees for this position. Those requirements are: to be a citizen of the United States, to be a civilian and to have experience in a field directly related to aviation (49 U.S. Code § 106 - Federal Aviation Administration, n.d.). The FAA administrator is responsible for the safety and efficiency of the largest aerospace system in the world along with overseeing a budget of billions of dollars (Daniel K. Elwell, 2018). He also has the responsibly of ensuring that both the agency and its employees are trained and prepared to meet the demands and requirements of the aviation industry (Daniel K. Elwell, 2018). In current years the administrator also has the job of overseeing the development of the NextGen program. The FAA administrator authorities include (49 U.S. Code § 106 - Federal Aviation Administration, n.d.):

(A) is the final authority for carrying out all functions, powers, and duties of the Administration relating to

(i) the appointment and employment of all officers and employees of the Administration (other than Presidential and political appointees);

(ii) the acquisition and maintenance of property, services, and equipment of the Administration;

(iii) the promulgation of regulations, rules, orders, circulars, bulletins, and other official publications of the Administration; and

 (B) shall offer advice and counsel to the President with respect to the appointment and qualifications of any officer or employee of the Administration to be appointed by the President or as a political appointee

In terms of my career I do think that it matters who the next FAA administrator would be, simply because it’s going to be the person that oversees the field that I will be working in. The thing that I like the most about America is how it is a meritocracy, and I think that in this case they will choose the best possible fit for the administrator role based on the persons’ skills, experiences and qualifications.

-Nenne747-

References:

49 U.S. Code § 106 - Federal Aviation Administration. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/49/106

Daniel K. Elwell. (2018, January 10). Retrieved from

https://www.faa.gov/about/key_officials/elwell/

Levin, A., Natter, A., & Beene, R. (2018, February 28). Trump's Personal Pilot Meets Key Quality

for FAA Job: Loyalty. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-

28/trump-s-personal-pilot-meets-key-quality-for-faa-job-loyalty

Lynch, K. (2018, January 08). Dan Elwell Takes Helm of FAA as Huerta Departs. Retrieved from

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2018-01-08/dan-elwell-takes-

helm-faa-huerta-departs

Michael Huerta. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72

vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Michael_Huerta.html

Novak, M. (2018, February 26). President Trump Wants His Personal Pilot to Run the FAA

Because America is a Meritocracy. Retrieved March 03, 2018, from

https://gizmodo.com/president-trump-wants-his-personal-pilot-to-run-the-faa-1823317889

Randy Babbitt. (n.d.). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from

https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Ra

ndy_Babbitt.html

Wise, L. (n.d.). Is White House considering Sam Graves for FAA chief? It's news to him. Retrieved

from http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-

buzz/article202727444.html