Trump nominates former Delta executive to run Federal Aviation Administration
The White House announced Tuesday that President Trump is nominating former Delta executive Steve Dickson as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. The move comes a week after the FAA announced that it would ground all Boeing 737 Max planes after a Ethiopian Airlines crash killed 157 people.
Dickson, who has also been nominated as chairman of the Air Traffic Services Committee in the Department of Transportation, recently retired as the senior vice president for flight operations at Delta Air Lines.
"Captain Dickson is a strong advocate for commercial aviation safety and improvements to our National Airspace System, having served as chairman of several industry stakeholder groups and Federal advisory committees," the White House statement said.
Daniel Elwell has served as acting FAA administrator since January 2018. Sens. Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal wrote a letter to Elwell in February urging the FAA to investigate the airline industry after a CBS News report found that mechanics believed they were being pressured to ignore potential safety issues.
More recently, the FAA was urged to ground Boeing 737 Max planes after several other countries chose to do so last week.
Mr. Trump announced Wednesday that the FAA is grounding all Boeing 737 Max planes "effective immediately," saying that the decision was reached after new information came to light, and that federal aviation officials and Boeing's leadership agreed with the move.