Yes, but the other candidate was a pilot in the North Korean Air Force. Hey, why not?
Something tells me the “moderate” wing of the senate (Manchin et. Al.) will cave.
If the Democrats actually cared about public safety and human health under jurisdiction of the FAA, they would have revised and updated the FAA standards regarding airport and airplane noise exposure back when they had control of Presidency, US Senate and House of Representatives, between 2008 and 2010. They have not. Instead, Democrats like Vermont's Senator Patrick Leahy, and Congressman Peter Welch (in totally safe, non-gerrymandered district), conspired with the Obama-Biden Pentagon to force the US Air Force to base Lockheed's budget-busting, ear-splitting F-35 fighter jet amidst Vermont's most densely populated area. Given Democratic Party support for military Keynesianism uber alles, regardless of extreme noise exposure and negative impact to health and home values of thousands upon thousands of people, the opposition to Mr. Dickson just strikes one as politics as usual.
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A pilot is exactly the wrong person to head the FAA, would you make a bus driver the head of the DOT?
@Paulie: That would depend on the bus driver. The late Larry Hanley, international president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, started out as a bus driver. He was one of the smartest and most aware leaders in the mass transit industry. He understood and cared about safety from the perspective of the passenger as well as the person behind the wheel, and his perspective on larger social issues was second to none. He would have made a great head of DOT.
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Trump said it: “I hire the worst people.”
Not a lie- surprise!
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The FAA position is not be a partisan issue. This is about safety and we need someone with integrity who will do the right thing.
Stephen Dickson was at Delta Air Lines as a senior VP when this case was going on, directly involved, yet he neglected to mention it? Delta used a mental health diagnosis and paid a psychiatrist $74,000 to silence a whistle-blower. Period. I attended the trial in Seattle this April. At the end of it the AIR21 judge told the Delta attorneys: "...you are not going to like my findings, factually. If you really want this out there, I would think long and hard about this." (The ruling won't be out until next year but the court documents are public: https://www.ssmplaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PETITT9.pdf )
Michael Huerta, the former FAA administrator, now sits on the board of Delta Air Lines. Mr. Dickson left a $2 million position at Delta to become the new administrator? I'm a retired Delta 747 captain and this whole situation is very troubling.
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The FAA position is not/should not be a bipartisan issue ;) I wish there were an edit button!
I flew empty freighters out of the USA to Asia for years, and full freighters back. I am thrilled President Trump is trying to level the playing field. But I am not thrilled with this nominee.
@Captain Kathryn McCullough
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It was much safer when Elizabeth Dole was in charge.
To me, John Dunkin would be my choice. Any pilot that flew a 757 all over the country, with continuous changes in IFR flight plans is very competent. You need a tough and current pilot to take charge and bypass the swamp and keep us safe!
The 737 Max is a classic example of swamp mentality and global ignorance of aviation!
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Referred to a psychiatrist for raising safety-related concerns? Sounds like something out of the gulag. Furthermore, I wonder if a look into safety issues raised by other Delta pilots would find that Karlene Petitt's male counterparts were treated in the same manner.
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If there ever was a conflict of interest this is one. He retired from Delta 9 months ago and is already being nominated for a job that has critical oversight of his former employer of 27years? The FAA must be completely objective in all of its decisions. Former airline personnel are, indeed, perfect candidates for positions because of their knowledge in all the different aspects of commercial aviation. It’s impossible to find problems with cockpit instruments if you aren’t a former pilot. But for him to have any influence over any safety issues at Delta is ethically wrong at this time.
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@Wamsutta pilots know nothing of aircraft systems, they are merely taught to press that button and this will happen. They don’t even navigate, dispatch gives them the info to load into the airplane’s FMC and there’s that voice on the radio telling the where to go; ATC.
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@Wamsutta: Ethics? This is the Trump Administration! They don’t need no stinkin’ ethics.
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You have to know that there is something wrong with this man. Why else would he have been picked by Trump?
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It's all futile as long as Republicans control the Senate and Trump's personal toady McConnell controls the Republicans.
Democrats can whine as much as they wish to in the 'hearing', but just as has happened pretty much every single time, the Senate Republicans vote as a unified block and do as they please.
Like most nominees, Dickson will be confirmed.
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A Trump appointment that faces scrutiny from Democrats? Is this supposed to be news? Even if Trump were to appoint a Democrat there would be criticism and a search for an ulterior motive.
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@Richard Bourne:
There's a reason for that.
Perhaps you've been in some remote forest where the news hasn't reached you yet about what Trump is doing to the country.
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@Richard Bourne
For Republicans there is always an ulterior motive. Namely, to maintain white hegemony and make the rich, richer.
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