FAA Administrator

July 10, 2019 FAA Administrator 

Vote 14-12

A Party Decision?

During my doctoral research I conducted a critical analysis of our aviation industry in order to address the OIG's 2016 concerns as to pilot error, lack of monitoring ability, and a reduction in manual flight skills. If we always blame the pilot, nothing will ever change. 

What I discovered was that Safety Culture at airlines is severely lacking and impacting pilot training and operational performance. This is nothing the FAA hasn't known for years, but now we have the data beyond accident investigations to clearly see the reasons as to why.  The research speaks volumes: Safety Culture, Training, Understanding, Aviation Passion: The impact on Manual Flight and Operational Performance

A series of airline crashes, Air France Flight 447, Colgan Air Flight 3407, American Airlines Flight 587, Asiana Flight 214, UPS Flight 1354, Lion Air Flight 602, Ethiopian Flight 302, and Altas Flight 3591 all had a common factor: Safety Culture. 

Each of the above accidents can be traced back to Flight Operations and Organizational decisions that placed profit before safety. Safety culture is comprised of just, flexible, informed, learning, and reporting cultures. The issues become further exacerbated under the reporting culture requirement when employees bring forth internal safety concerns to senior leadership, and they are retaliated against for offering such help. They are further condemned as whistle blowers in the media, when all they were doing was trying to improve safety. 

Watch the video of the Hearing, where Senator Wicker states an "extensive review" of Captain Dickson's participation in a retaliatory action was conducted. I would disagree that it is possible to conduct an extensive review unless all parties involved were interviewed. In this case they were not. Furthermore, Senator Wicker stated that Dickson was never named in a whistle blower action; however, the whistle blower law "Air 21" is prohibited from naming individuals, but only the organization.  Nobody disagrees that Captain Dickson had a lengthy airline and military career, the disagreement is using that fact as that qualification standard to become the FAA Administrator. 

The FAA Administrator must put safety before politics and profit. They must focus on passenger safety. They must improve flight attendant crew rest. They must acknowledge that cargo pilot's lives are as equally as valuable as passenger pilots.  They must be angry that accidents occurred and enforce training. They must honor the Federal Regulation, Safety Management Systems (SMS), to support the future of NextGen. The above accidents should never have happened. The FAA administrator position must focus on a positive safety culture that will improve pilot training, improve operational practices, improve crew rest, not deviate from policy, not disregard FAR compliance, and support every person coming forward. This position must be filled by an individual who will not retaliate against and/or condone efforts to destroy anyone who has the courage to share information to improve safety. 

Captain Sullenberger opposes Steve Dickson's nomination because, as he states, "it is critically important that we have an FAA Administrator who will act with the integrity and independence to protect everyone who flies."

I do not believe Steve Dickson should be the FAA administrator. These are my views and personal opinion based upon my Doctoral research and life experience.  

You can still make a difference!

The July 10th vote has only moved this to the next level, where all Senators will vote. That could be any day. You can still voice your concerns with your Senator (or all of them). 

Please do so today! 

Time is of the essence. 

Even if you are a foreign pilot and flying into US Airspace, this decision will impact you, please write to the Senators below. All we can hope is that the Senate will vote for safety and not party affiliation. 

Senator's Name (Party-State)	State	Party
Alexander, Lamar (R-TN)	Tennessee	Republican
Baldwin, Tammy (D-WI)	Wisconsin	Democrat
Barrasso, John (R-WY)	Wyoming	Republican
Bennet, Michael F. (D-CO)	Colorado	Democrat
Blackburn, Marsha (R-TN)	Tennessee	Republican
Blumenthal, Richard (D-CT)	Connecticut	Democrat
Blunt, Roy (R-MO)	Missouri	Republican
Booker, Cory A. (D-NJ)	New Jersey	Democrat
Boozman, John (R-AR)	Arkansas	Republican
Braun, Mike (R-IN)	Indiana	Republican
Brown, Sherrod (D-OH)	Ohio	Democrat
Burr, Richard (R-NC)	North Carolina	Republican
Cantwell, Maria (D-WA)	Washington	Democrat
Capito, Shelley Moore (R-WV)	West Virginia	Republican
Cardin, Benjamin L. (D-MD)	Maryland	Democrat
Carper, Thomas R. (D-DE)	Delaware	Democrat
Casey, Robert P., Jr. (D-PA)	Pennsylvania	Democrat
Cassidy, Bill (R-LA)	Louisiana	Republican
Collins, Susan M. (R-ME)	Maine	Republican
Coons, Christopher A. (D-DE)	Delaware	Democrat
Cornyn, John (R-TX)	Texas	Republican
Cortez Masto, Catherine (D-NV)	Nevada	Democrat
Cotton, Tom (R-AR)	Arkansas	Republican
Cramer, Kevin (R-ND)	North Dakota	Republican
Crapo, Mike (R-ID)	Idaho	Republican
Cruz, Ted (R-TX)	Texas	Republican
Daines, Steve (R-MT)	Montana	Republican
Duckworth, Tammy (D-IL)	Illinois	Democrat
Durbin, Richard J. (D-IL)	Illinois	Democrat
Enzi, Michael B. (R-WY)	Wyoming	Republican
Ernst, Joni (R-IA)	Iowa	Republican
Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA)	California	Democrat
Fischer, Deb (R-NE)	Nebraska	Republican
Gardner, Cory (R-CO)	Colorado	Republican
Gillibrand, Kirsten E. (D-NY)	New York	Democrat
Graham, Lindsey (R-SC)	South Carolina	Republican
Grassley, Chuck (R-IA)	Iowa	Republican
Harris, Kamala D. (D-CA)	California	Democrat
Hassan, Margaret Wood (D-NH)	New Hampshire	Democrat
Hawley, Josh (R-MO)	Missouri	Republican
Heinrich, Martin (D-NM)	New Mexico	Democrat
Hirono, Mazie K. (D-HI)	Hawaii	Democrat
Hoeven, John (R-ND)	North Dakota	Republican
Hyde-Smith, Cindy (R-MS)	Mississippi	Republican
Inhofe, James M. (R-OK)	Oklahoma	Republican
Isakson, Johnny (R-GA)	Georgia	Republican
Johnson, Ron (R-WI)	Wisconsin	Republican
Jones, Doug (D-AL)	Alabama	Democrat
Kaine, Tim (D-VA)	Virginia	Democrat
Kennedy, John (R-LA)	Louisiana	Republican
King, Angus S., Jr. (I-ME)	Maine	Independent
Klobuchar, Amy (D-MN)	Minnesota	Democrat
Lankford, James (R-OK)	Oklahoma	Republican
Leahy, Patrick J. (D-VT)	Vermont	Democrat
Lee, Mike (R-UT)	Utah	Republican
Manchin, Joe, III (D-WV)	West Virginia	Democrat
Markey, Edward J. (D-MA)	Massachusetts	Democrat
McConnell, Mitch (R-KY)	Kentucky	Republican
McSally, Martha (R-AZ)	Arizona	Republican
Menendez, Robert (D-NJ)	New Jersey	Democrat
Merkley, Jeff (D-OR)	Oregon	Democrat
Moran, Jerry (R-KS)	Kansas	Republican
Murkowski, Lisa (R-AK)	Alaska	Republican
Murphy, Christopher (D-CT)	Connecticut	Democrat
Murray, Patty (D-WA)	Washington	Democrat
Paul, Rand (R-KY)	Kentucky	Republican
Perdue, David (R-GA)	Georgia	Republican
Peters, Gary C. (D-MI)	Michigan	Democrat
Portman, Rob (R-OH)	Ohio	Republican
Reed, Jack (D-RI)	Rhode Island	Democrat
Risch, James E. (R-ID)	Idaho	Republican
Roberts, Pat (R-KS)	Kansas	Republican
Romney, Mitt (R-UT)	Utah	Republican
Rosen, Jacky (D-NV)	Nevada	Democrat
Rounds, Mike (R-SD)	South Dakota	Republican
Rubio, Marco (R-FL)	Florida	Republican
Sanders, Bernard (I-VT)	Vermont	Independent
Sasse, Ben (R-NE)	Nebraska	Republican
Schatz, Brian (D-HI)	Hawaii	Democrat
Schumer, Charles E. (D-NY)	New York	Democrat
Scott, Rick (R-FL)	Florida	Republican
Scott, Tim (R-SC)	South Carolina	Republican
Shaheen, Jeanne (D-NH)	New Hampshire	Democrat
Shelby, Richard C. (R-AL)	Alabama	Republican
Sinema, Kyrsten (D-AZ)	Arizona	Democrat
Smith, Tina (D-MN)	Minnesota	Democrat
Stabenow, Debbie (D-MI)	Michigan	Democrat
Sullivan, Dan (R-AK)	Alaska	Republican
Tester, Jon (D-MT)	Montana	Democrat
Thune, John (R-SD)	South Dakota	Republican
Tillis, Thom (R-NC)	North Carolina	Republican
Toomey, Patrick J. (R-PA)	Pennsylvania	Republican
Udall, Tom (D-NM)	New Mexico	Democrat
Van Hollen, Chris (D-MD)	Maryland	Democrat
Warner, Mark R. (D-VA)	Virginia	Democrat
Warren, Elizabeth (D-MA)	Massachusetts	Democrat
Whitehouse, Sheldon (D-RI)	Rhode Island	Democrat
Wicker, Roger F. (R-MS)	Mississippi	Republican
Wyden, Ron (D-OR)	Oregon	Democrat
Young, Todd (R-IN)	Indiana	Republican