Time to DRAFT SULLY for FAA Chief!

[Voice Of Reason]

WASHINGTON — FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt was placed on a leave of absence Monday and U.S. officials said his employment is under review following his arrest for drunken driving in suburban Northern Virginia.
Babbitt, 65, was charged with driving while intoxicated after a patrol officer spotted him driving on the wrong side of the street and pulled him over about 10:30 p.m. Saturday in Fairfax City, Va., police in the Washington, D.C., suburb.
Babbitt, who lives in nearby Reston, Va., was the only occupant in the vehicle, the statement said. Police said he cooperated and was released on his own recognizance.
The Federal Aviation Administration is part of the Department of Transportation. A statement released Monday by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's office said department officials didn't learn of Babbitt's arrest until Monday afternoon.
Babbitt "has requested, effective immediately, to take a leave of absence from the FAA," the statement said. "That request has been granted and Deputy Administrator Michael Huerta will serve as acting administrator. DOT officials are in discussions with legal counsel about Administrator Babbitt's employment status."
Babbitt was a former airline captain and internationally recognized expert in aviation and labor relations when President Barack Obama tapped him in 2009 to head the FAA. He was a pilot for the now-defunct Eastern Airlines for 25 years, and had served as president of the Air Line Pilots Association. As head of ALPA in the late 1990s, he championed the "one level of safety" initiative implemented in 1995 to improve safety standards across the airline industry.
At FAA, Babbitt has struggled to implement a wide range of safety initiatives, often over the opposition of industry officials who say the measures would cost too much money.
___
Barakat reported from Fairfax, Va.

 

[Voice Of Reason]

How much more of a hit can this profession take? It would take someone like Sully to not only focus on safety, but the profession, not to mention the needed professionalism to represent real pilots.

Yet another hit to public perception.

 

[whatitdoing?]

Unbelievable.

 

[flythere]

I vote for Eric Holder?!?!

Ha Ha Ha!!!

 

[Voice Of Reason]

(deleted)

 

[Voice Of Reason]

Just 3 days ago...

------------------------------------------------

"FAA chief Babbitt flies on after having ‘worst three weeks in Washington’
By Keith Laing - 12/02/11 06:00 AM ET

Randy Babbitt flew jetliners for Eastern Airlines for 25 years, but the turbulence he faced as a pilot is nothing like the bumps he’s hit as chief of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Babbitt runs an agency with 49,000 employees that he says manages the safest aviation system in the world.







But when air traffic controllers made headlines earlier this year by falling asleep on the job, Babbitt said there was not much interest in the things the FAA was doing right.
“I was given the award for the ‘Worst Week in Washington,’ ” Babbitt recalls of the period. “I joke that I was cheated. I had the worst three weeks in Washington.
“My 40 years in the private sector did not prepare me to work with Congress,” he said with a laugh.
Babbitt has served as president of the Air Line Pilots Association and been a member of the FAA’s Management Advisory Council, experience that he said has been invaluable in leading the agency.
“I understand a lot of the components,” he said. “I understand the mechanics of the companies we regulate, the machines and the people.”
His leadership has been put to the test by fights over the FAA’s funding in Congress. The agency has not had an authorization bill passed since 2003, and earlier this year, negotiations on a routine short-term extension broke down.
The result was a partial shutdown of the agency that lasted about two weeks and put 4,000 FAA workers on a temporary furlough.
The extension Congress passed to end the shutdown in August was the 22nd short-term funding bill for the FAA since 2007. Babbitt said he never thought the spending fight would come to a shutdown of his agency.
“We were prepared for it a few times,” he said. “You have to face reality, but I never thought they would do that.”
Babbitt attributed the FAA’s troubles securing long-term funding to “a number of issues that we don’t think have much to do with us,” such as a fight over labor rights for transportation workers who are covered under the Railway Labor Act.
The provisions would not affect FAA workers, he said, though most lawmakers attributed the disagreement that led to the shutdown of the agency to the language.
“No labor in the FAA is covered by the National Mediation Board,” Babbitt said. “We don’t have a dog in that fight.”
Babbitt said he and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood took the impact the shutdown had on the finances of FAA workers “very personally,” though lawmakers later approved back pay for the furloughed employees.
LaHood was similarly complimentary of Babbitt, saying he is “a champion of safety and has been throughout his entire aviation career.”
“Under his leadership he has greatly improved FAA’s relationship with labor and brought morale up across the agency,” LaHood said in a statement provided to The Hill. “His background as a pilot makes him a perfect fit for FAA administrator since he understands what it takes to be a true safety professional and how much trust the American people are placing in us to help them reach their destinations safely.”
It’s a role Babbitt said he relishes, though he said airline passengers sometimes get confused about the FAA’s role in the aviation system.
“We get a lot of mail from people who want to know why their trip through security was so painful,” he said, despite the fact that the Transportation Security Administration is housed under the Department of Homeland Security.
“For better or for worse, people often relate their experience at the airport to the FAA,” he said. “It’s an easy three letters to remember.”
Babbitt said he still does some flying of his own. He maintains an active pilot’s license and sometimes flies airplanes used in FAA operations, such as transporting members of the National Transportation Safety Board to the scenes of investigations.
“I enjoy it,” he says of his time in the sky, “but I like it not to be exciting.”
Babbitt has been flying since he was 16 years old. One of the parts of his job at the FAA he said he enjoys most is speaking to people who similarly develop an interest in flying at a young age, such as a speech he gave earlier this year at the graduation ceremony for Vaughn Aeronautical College in New York City.
“My concern is, where are we going to get the next generation of pilots from?” he said. “I think as an industry, we need to think about that. The military doesn’t produce the pilots it used to.”
Babbitt said he doesn’t think of his position at the FAA as being political, though he acknowledges “there are some that do.”
Babbitt, who was appointed for five years by President Obama in 2009, also said he thinks one term as FAA administrator is enough.
Looking ahead, Babbitt said he hopes to continue to make progress on modernizing the navigation system of the aviation industry.
The FAA has been trying to switch the air traffic control system from World War II-era radar technology to a satellite-based system called NextGen. Plans call for the system to be installed by 2014 at the busiest airports, and nationwide by 2020, but Babbitt has faced questions from Congress and airlines about the estimated $22 billion cost to the FAA.
“It’s a fascinating job,” Babbitt said of the FAA. “It’s my first time serving in the public sector, and I’ve worked with wonderful people.”
But he quickly added: “I’m serving a five-year term. When it ends, it ends.”

Source:
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/196759-babbitt-flies-on-after-having-worst-three-weeks-in-washington

The contents of this site are © 2011 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc."
------------------------------------------------

 

[Snaab]

Just a simple question: Why don't people like him have a friggin car service!? Get your drink on and forget about it..

 

[General Lee]

Just a simple question: Why don't people like him have a friggin car service!? Get your drink on and forget about it..

After a long tiring day, he was obviously "fatigued."


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Always deferred]

How much more of a hit can this profession take? It would take someone like Sully to not only focus on safety, but the profession, not to mention the needed professionalism to represent real pilots.

Yet another hit to public perception.

The FAA's mission isn't to represent professional pilots. That's where your Associations come in. FAA's mission is to ensure safe and efficient transportation in the US.

 

[wms]

Does anyone remember the link to the tv interview about RJs he did in the early 2000's? I've been trying to find it.

In it he discussed ALPA's rational for letting the commuters fly them. I'd appreciate a link if you can find it.

 

[SpaceShipEarth]

Flying Cheap by Frontline??? YouTube or Netflix. search away.

 

[Voice Of Reason]

um, hello?

The FAA's mission isn't to represent professional pilots. That's where your Associations come in. FAA's mission is to ensure safe and efficient transportation in the US.

I can see why you "fly a desk" if you don't see the correlation.

Sully would be an excellent choice not only from the pilot rules standpoint, but his experience (not just with the Hudson incident, he has always been very focused on safety issues and consulting) would be a welcome change from anyone's standpoint (except, perhaps, useless airline MBAs unconcerned with pilot and public safety).

 

[Voice Of Reason]

Does anyone remember the link to the tv interview about RJs he did in the early 2000's? I've been trying to find it.

In it he discussed ALPA's rational for letting the commuters fly them. I'd appreciate a link if you can find it.

This one not Babbitt, but there's this from that special (re: regionals):

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/flyingcheap/interviews/cohen.html


ETA:

Here's the Babbitt one:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/flyingcheap/interviews/babbitt.html


the other interviewees:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/flyingcheap/interviews/

sitemap for the Frontline "Flying Cheap" special's website:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/flyingcheap/etc/sitemap.html

 

[Voice Of Reason]

Sully's Resume

http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_documents/sullenberger_profile.pdf <---


(Not sure why TMZ got a hold of it in the past but this is it--PRIOR to everything since the accident...testimonies, etc):

--------------------------------
INC article 2009:

"Pilot. Hero. Entrepreneur?

Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III, who successfully landed a US Airways plane in New York's Hudson River, is also the founder and president of -- surprise, surprise -- a safety consulting firm.

By Andrew Leigh | Jan 16, 2009

The nation is still buzzing about the heroic actions of US Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III, who guided Flight 1549 and its 154 passengers and crew members to a safe landing in New York's Hudson River on Thursday. Turns out, on top of being a pilot and a newly-minted hero, Sullenberger is also an entrepreneur.
Sullenberger, who landed the plane after its engines were disabled by what is believed to be a "double bird strike," is the founder and president of Safety Reliability Methods, a California-based consulting firm that provides risk evaluation, training, and other services to business, government, and health-care clients.
Sullenberger's resume includes more than 40 years of flying experience, on top of an M.A. in public administration from the University of Northern Colorado and an M.S. in industrial psychology from Purdue University.
Safety Reliability Methods focuses on applying the most recent advances in safety and reliability performance, most of which, according to the company's website, originated in commercial aviation. Clients in turn are promised improvements to areas such as risk management and leadership development.

Sullenberger, who is also a former fighter pilot for the U.S. Air Force, has done extensive work on aviation safety. He was a safety chairman and accident investigator for the Air Line Pilots Association, and also participated in accident investigations for the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Attempts to contact Safety Reliability Methods for this story proved unsuccessful, as the company's phone number was redirected to Mr. Sullenberger's voice mailbox, which was -- not surprisingly -- full."

 

[Hugh Johnson]

You can't be the FAA head if you have an aircraft accident on on your record.

 

[Voice Of Reason]

Sully's Resume

http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_documents/sullenberger_profile.pdf <---


(Not sure why TMZ got a hold of it in the past but this is it--PRIOR to everything since the accident...testimonies, etc):

--------------------------------
INC article 2009:

"Pilot. Hero. Entrepreneur?

Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III, who successfully landed a US Airways plane in New York's Hudson River, is also the founder and president of -- surprise, surprise -- a safety consulting firm.

By Andrew Leigh | Jan 16, 2009

The nation is still buzzing about the heroic actions of US Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III, who guided Flight 1549 and its 154 passengers and crew members to a safe landing in New York's Hudson River on Thursday. Turns out, on top of being a pilot and a newly-minted hero, Sullenberger is also an entrepreneur.
Sullenberger, who landed the plane after its engines were disabled by what is believed to be a "double bird strike," is the founder and president of Safety Reliability Methods, a California-based consulting firm that provides risk evaluation, training, and other services to business, government, and health-care clients.
Sullenberger's resume includes more than 40 years of flying experience, on top of an M.A. in public administration from the University of Northern Colorado and an M.S. in industrial psychology from Purdue University.
Safety Reliability Methods focuses on applying the most recent advances in safety and reliability performance, most of which, according to the company's website, originated in commercial aviation. Clients in turn are promised improvements to areas such as risk management and leadership development.

Sullenberger, who is also a former fighter pilot for the U.S. Air Force, has done extensive work on aviation safety. He was a safety chairman and accident investigator for the Air Line Pilots Association, and also participated in accident investigations for the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Attempts to contact Safety Reliability Methods for this story proved unsuccessful, as the company's phone number was redirected to Mr. Sullenberger's voice mailbox, which was -- not surprisingly -- full."

You can't be the FAA head if you have an aircraft accident on on your record.

um...nevermind

 

[Voice Of Reason]

wtf?

So, the "acting FAA Administrator" Michael Huerta, helped SLC with organizing Olympics...WTF *AVIATION *experience does he have that would accomplish the FAA title effectively and safely?????

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111shrg57886/html/CHRG-111shrg57886.htm

scary stuff! Good old boys network yet again

 

[dustrpilot]

You can't be the FAA head if you have an aircraft accident on on your record.

WTF? You don't even have to be a pilot to be head of the FAA.

 

[dustrpilot]

Duplicate

 

[Voice Of Reason]

So, the "acting FAA Administrator" Michael Huerta, helped SLC with organizing Olympics...WTF *AVIATION *experience does he have that would accomplish the FAA title effectively and safely?????

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111shrg57886/html/CHRG-111shrg57886.htm

scary stuff! Good old boys network yet again

Oh! I finally found something in the nomination speeches about this guy related to aviation. Barbara Boxer said he once "worked to" to connect the BART subway system to the SFO AIRPORT. There ya go, airport

"During Mr. Huerta's time as the Chief of Staff for the Secretary of
Transportation (DOT) under the Clinton Administration, I worked with
him on several transportation initiatives that were important to
California, including the Alameda Corridor project in Southern
California and the extension of BART to the San Francisco Airport."

Other than that I see no "transportation" related to aviation...and they go to great lengths, her, Orrin Hatch, etc...to generically use the term "transportation" when speaking of his credential for the FAA. NOT "air" transportation