In a White House press briefing Thursday morning, President Trump announced the appointment of Chris Rocheleau as acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Great. Another “acting” political partisan leader with no long-term commitment to policy and decision making.
Im sorry, can you identify which of the men pictured is Mr. Rocheleau?
It’s not his fault he’s “acting” administrator. At least he’s qualified for the position, which is more than I can say for most of the permanent appointees.
I do not what you think you read but my comment did not state or imply that Mr. Rocheleau is “at fault” nor could it have been interpreted that way by a normal person. And I am not sure what appointees you are referring to but the only FAA appointee in the FAA (other than political appointees) that must be confirmed is the Administrator. And since approximately 50% of the leadership in all lines of business in the FAA is in an “acting” position (as opposed to permanent), I stand by comment that there will continue to be no long-term vision within the organization and any policy decisions will continue to be delayed. Not to mention the never-ending budget CR ramifications.
The one in the middle.
…but my comment did not state or imply that Mr. Rocheleau is “at fault”
You may not have implied fault, but you did accuse him outright of being politically partisan.
Merriam-Webster’s definition of partisan is fairly typical:
“…a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause, or person; especially : one exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance.”
Is this an accurate description of Mr. Rocheleau?
“…the first fatal commercial plane crash in the United States since 2009.”
Not according to Wiki, which includes charter and sightseeing operations. But even if only scheduled airliners are included, who could forget Asiana Airlines Flight 214?
Given the current climate, I would put yours and my money on a wager that he fits a good portion of that definition. Time will tell.
Anybody know what he did in the Air Force?
This administration is crippling the FAA in order to claim that the government is ineffective and move toward privatization.
January 20: FAA administrator fired
January 21: Air Traffic Controller hiring frozen
January 22: Aviation Safety Advisory Committee disbanded
January 28: Buyout/retirement demand sent to existing employees
January 29: First American mid-air collision in 16 years
I am told that the buyout/retirement demand is worded much the same way as the buyout when Twitter was purchased by Musk. Public safety should NEVER be compromised to further a political party’s agenda.
Wrong.
January 20, 2025- Administrator wasn’t fired- he resigned - announced his resignation several weeks earlier. Totally unqualified fraud who caved to the unions, gave each employee a $5000 bonus and a maximum of 2 days per week in the office- MAXIMUM. LET THAT SINK IN AS YOU PAY YOUR TAX BILL IN APRIL.
January 21, 2025- Controller hiring frozen - Yes - for assessment of current hiring practices and policies. A 25+ year look back at controller hiring would show several negative changes to hiring practices and training, OVER SEVERAL ADMINISTRATIONS and general deterioration of the controller workforce - ALL due to FAA policies regarding hiring, promotion, pay. How do I know- because I was there.
January 22, 2025 - Aviation Safety Advisory Committee disbanded- an excellent move. Totally worthless group focusing on the wrong priorities, totally politically motivated, couldn’t see the forest for the trees, and had no idea what they were doing, each member with their own agenda. It doesn’t take a magician or a “Committee” months or years to see what changes need to be made nationwide, including- firing MOST of the top brass, the majority of which walked over to 800 Independence from Andrews AFB, knowing absolutely nothing about commercial aviation, concentrating totally on unworkable programs- all about policy and nothing of substance. Examples- Non merit based hiring ACROSS THE BOARD IN ALL DIVISIONS INCLUDING ATC.Totally destroyed all of the certified educational programs for ATC at several colleges and universities and ditched over 1000 names of qualified graduates to focus on hiring according to color and sex. ISO9000 certification for Flight Standards in 2004- totally worthless and unusable program that took the inspectors off the tarmac and put them in front of computer screens writing car’s, par’s and ncr’s) which was later scrubbed- Thanks Nick you dumb ass. He and his ilk totally missed 9/11/2001 and refused to do anything about foreigners flight training in this country though they continued to pour into the country illegally and flight train at a number of part 61 training providers ( totally illegal) on improper visas or worse yet, passports - don’t comment unless you know the law.
January 28, 2025- Buyout is across the board, not just FAA. An excellent idea to get rid of the dead wood and those whose focus is on themselves or their fantasy programs.
No need to comment on your last entry- it’s ridiculous to blame a current administration that has been in office for all of 11 days for tragedies that are the direct result of the failures of those who have been in charge for MORE than 25 years.
The result of the latest tragedy will be a finger pointing, power grabbing mess followed by years of litigation and literally millions of taxpayer dollars flying out of the county’s coffers ALL because of malfeasance at the highest levels of government and totally unchecked overreach by those in charge. The most overused word in the English language - “accountable”. “They need to be held “accountable for their actions.” The word is a total joke as no one is “held accountable” or we would have seen several of these so called “aviation safety experts” put in prison for the decisions that they made in the interest of everything other than aviation safety and the total decimation of a once great agency. 25+ years of putting the country at risk, the public at risk and the industry at risk.
I too am a retired controller (26years), although not as bitter as you seem. As to the blame game, if something happens while on your watch, you get the good along with the bad. Can’t all be one sided.
Not bitter at all- just stating the facts which are absolutely of record, searchable and provable.
I’m guessing you and I could agree on more than we would disagree on and I couldn’t agree more with your words- “CAN’T ALL BE ONE SIDED.”
I am in TOTAL agreement.
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