Out With the Old, In with the New

Aug 28, 2007 3:28 PM

September 13^th is Marion Blakey’s last day as administrator of the FAA. It is notable that this is neither Friday the 14^th, the end of the normal work week, nor Tuesday the 11^th, which would have allowed the Administrator to leave on 9/11. In any event, her tenure has caused damage enough to General Aviation, which will probably never shed the blight of public image that Ms. Blakey and the airlines have conferred upon it with the leprosy of “User Fees.” And, in fact, one senior AOPA staffer has suggested that this issue has attained the same controversy as gun control, meaning that all we can do is win some battles, but the war is probably forever. So…. “ Thanks, Marion, we needed that. Maybe The Aerospace Industries Association can reconfigure your gun sights a bit. As the new CEO for a collective group of commercial aviation businesses you may find the need to ratchet the artillery around to the 180 degree position, whence you came.” In any event, it’ll be interesting to watch.

Rumor has it that one of President Bush’s leading candidates for the spot Blakey vacates is Arizona’s Barbara Barrett. A self made woman in many ways, Ms. Barrett serves on a variety of prestigious boards, founded her own law firm, has run for Governor of AZ, and at one point was president of the American Management Association. More importantly for the aviation industry, she was deputy FAA administrator under Reagan, which might give her some background for an air traffic controller union that’s starting again to rattle its cages. If appointed, she would be the first of three women in a row at 800 Independence Ave. to hold a pilot’s license with an instrument rating. And from this writer’s standpoint that is the first qualification for the job. So let’s cross our fingers folks and hope. It sounds like we might actually get a good one for a change!

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2012 Penton Media Inc.