As you know President Trump has tipped John Dunkin, his personal long time pilot for the FAA Administrator position. A position that puts him in charge of the $16 billion budget according to reports all over the news. There isn't a lot or anything about his resume online but John Dunkin has worked for Donald Trump since 1989 when Trump owned his own airline. Dunkin's role took off in 2016 during the presidential campaign when he coordinated and led the aviation-related side of Trump's campaign for travel to 203 cities in 43 states over the course of 21 months, coordinating aircraft movement, among other duties, while serving as captain for the Boeing 757 jet. He's also managed airlines and corporate flight departments, certified airlines from start-up under FAA regulations. Other candidates however include acting FAA administrator Daniel .K. Elwell, who is fillinlg in after Huerta's departure. Elwell is a former pilot and has served in various roles at the FAA for years. Previously served as Deputy Administrator of the FAA, Assistant administrator for policy, planning and environment, most recently senior advisor on aviation to U.S secretary of transportation. From 2013-2015 he was senior vice president for safety, security and operations at Airlines for America, prior to that he was vice president of the aerospace industries association from 2008-2013. He was also a commercial pilot for 16 years with American Airlines while serving as managing director for international and government affairs at American airlines. Republican representative Sam Graves, who sits on the aviation subcommittee of the house committee on transportation and infrastructure is also reportedly a candidate.
A quick look at past FAA administrators, firstly we look at Langhorne M. Bond. Born in Shanghai in 1937, earned an A.B and law degree at the university on Virginia. He went on to study at the institute of air and space law at McGill University, London school of economics and Oxford University. Bond was a member of the task force that developed the legislation establishing the U.S Department of Transportation, and then served one-year stints as special assistant to the first DOT secretary, Alan S. Boyd and as assistant administrator of public affairs in the DOT's Urban Mass Transportation Administration. He left federal service in 1969 to become Executive Director of the National Transportation Center, a non profit research organization in Pittsburgh that managed bus technology projects for transit authorities. In March 1973, he became Secretary of Transportation for the State of Illinois. Like John Dunkin and the next ex administrator we'll check out, he has no military history or background. I believe he's the first FAA Administrator that served without a military background or history. David R. Hinson, a native of Oklahoma earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington. He served as a naval aviator and as a pilot for Northwestern Airlines. In 1961 he became a flight instructor for United Airlines. He later became captain and director for flight training for West coast airlines, eventually becoming the director of flight standards and engineering for West coast's successor, Air west. In 1973, he founded Hinson-Mennella Inc., a partnership whose acquisitions included Flightcraft Inc., the beech aircraft distributor in the pacific northwest. He was one of four founder of midway airlines in 1978 and served as chairman and chief executive officer from 1985 until the airline ceased operations in 1991. When selected to run the FAA, he was executive vice president of marketing and business development with Douglas airlines, a subsidiary of McDonnell Douglas. Like John Dunkin, he was in charge of an ailine that closed up. I picked these two because I think they have similarities with President Donald Trump's candidate for the position.
As the FAA administrator, John Dunkin, if he gets it, will be responsible for the safety and efficiency of this very large aerospace system. Who better than a pilot that's been a part of that aerospace system. I think John Dunkin can be a good administrator. He's loyal and shows longevity, he's worked for Donald Trump for 29 years now. He's has experience flying the man all over the world. He's navigated his way through a very busy campaign period with no hiccups. I believe he's a good shout for FAA administrator and I'm sure he'll get a lot of support.
REFERENCES
Davis, Parker. Trump's Personal Pilot on Short List for new FAA Head. February 28, 2018.
Lanktree, Graham. Who is John Dunkin? Trump wants his personal Pilot to head the FAA. February 26, 2018.
https://www.faa.gov/about/history/media/AOA_bios.pdf
https://www.faa.gov/about/key_officials/elwell/
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