Joe Biden’s nominee for FAA administration doesn’t know anything about aviation. The nominee, Phil Washington, is black and that seems to be his major qualification.
Rep. Budd’s first question was to ask him what airspace requires an ADSB transponder. Mr. Washington said he wasn’t sure he could “answer that question right now.”
Budd said the FAA had classified airspace to meet the needs of airports, air traffic, and also national security. The FAA has also designated special use airspace over DOD bases critical to national security, so what are the six types of special use airspace that protect this national security that appears on FAA charts?
Washington said, “Uh, sorry, Senator, I cannot answer that question, okay?”
Mr. Budd continued and said FAA pilots had to have a valid medical certificate. He said the FAA had relaxed the standard with a sport pilot certificate. The point was he wanted to know what the medical limits were, in his opinion.
Washington’s answer was, “I’m not a pilot, so, uh, but obviously you’d…well, some of the restrictions I think would be high blood pressure, some of them would be…” Budd interrupted, “It’s more like how many passengers per airplane, how many pounds in different categories, and uh what else, what altitude you can fly under so and, uh, and then amount of knots, it’s under 250 knots, so it’s not having anything to do with blood pressure.”
“So let’s keep going here, uh, it’s aviation, I’ve heard you talk about aviation, uh, and safety, and it being a particular concern of yours. I appreciate that. Uh, stall spin accidents are a particular concern for general aviation safety advocates. Accidents involving an unintentional stall account for nearly 25 percent of federal aviation accidents. And these happen at spins at low speeds and low altitudes and they’re particularly dangerous. Can you tell me what causes an aircraft to spin or stall?”
“Again, Senator, I’m not a pilot,” Washington said, “but I would lean on our career employees and our safety folks, uh, within the FAA.”
-
The Importance of Prayer: How a Christian Gold Company Stands Out by Defending Americans’ Retirement
It’s a particular concern, and he didn’t have an answer?
Budd went on to 737Max issues and the FAA’s aircraft certification process. “Two years ago, Congress passed a major reform package to address these concerns. It’s not up to the FAA to implement these laws by issuing regulations and monitoring compliance,” Budd said. He then asked Mr. Washington what the three aircraft certifications FAA requires as part of the manufacturing process. Three types, quickly, please.”
Washington said, “Again, what I would say to that is that one of my first priorities would be to fully implement that certification act and, uh, report the three types.”
Budd told him what the three types are. He moved on to three near-collisions of aircraft on the runways. There were separation issues, and I asked Mr. Washington what the separation distance is for landing and departing airliners during the daytime.
“I don’t want to guess on that, Senator,” he said, “but, uh, it would be easy for me to find.”
After the hearings, The New York Times and Politico immediately rushed to his defense, suggesting Republicans were trying to trip him up.
I asked Biden’s nominee for FAA Administrator 7 basic questions about aviation policy.
He went 0 for 7.
We can’t have an FAA Administrator who needs on the job training. @SenateCommerce pic.twitter.com/nzGiEUxr8w
— Senator Ted Budd (@SenTedBuddNC) March 1, 2023
wpDiscuz
