I trust, as I must, that Randy Babbitt will faithfully follow the wishes of the administration that nominated him for the position of FAA Administrator.
Due to the circumstances completely beyond MY control, Randy Babbitt was nominated for the Administrator spot back in March, but it took until now for him to be scheduled for his Senate confirmation hearing.
The hearing is set for Tuesday, May 19th at 11:00 AM. My understanding is that there will be little opposition and Babbitt will soon become the FAA's 18th Administrator.
Babbitt's confirmation will not come a moment too soon and in fact years too late. Let us all hope that it is not too late to reverse years of anti-union policies that have compromised air traffic safety and bred a sense of management entitlement that led to a 'safety last' FAA culture.
Here is an example of one more change for the sake of change that the FAA is attempting to shove down our throats before common sense is returned to the agency:
WASHINGTON – At the same time as air traffic controllers picketed Wednesday afternoon outside the terminal at Memphis International Airport to protest the FAA’s rushed and flawed decision to split radar operations from the tower next month, NATCA President Patrick Forrey told the Senate Aviation Subcommittee that an FAA Reauthorization bill is urgently needed to establish a process for reviewing such realignments of FAA facilities and create a collaborative relationship between the FAA and NATCA to work on these types of important safety issues.
The FAA, testified Forrey, is “moving forward on ad hoc air traffic control facility and service realignment efforts without a comprehensive review procedure to determine whether the realignment provides an operational benefit to users, increases safety and efficiency, and/or saves the taxpayer money. FAA Reauthorization is needed to provide that review procedure and compel the Agency to subject all current realignment efforts to this needed layer of oversight, accountability and transparency. Just as with technological development, realignment efforts completed in a collaborative environment will ensure benefits are realized rather than squandered.”
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Welcome back. I missed you.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Today's Randy Babbitt Hearing
http://ejectsturgell.blogspot.com/2009/05/
todays-randy-babbitt-hearing.html
What follows below is the Executive Summary (as pertaining to Redesign) of today’s Hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, on the proposed Confirmation of J. Randolph (“Randy”) Babbitt as the next Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”):
1. Upon review of the Internet webcast, Quiet Rockland still maintains that one or more Senators should HOLD Babbitt’s proposed confirmation pending his written covenant to: (A) terminate the NY/NJ/PHL Airspace Redesign and (B) fire Redesign Project Manager Steven Ray (Steve) Kelley a/k/a “AeroTwink”.
2. In his opening remarks Randy Babbitt indicated his thankfulness for an opportunity to lead the “Federal Aviation Agency”[sic]. However, the correct entity-name is “Federal Aviation Administration”. Babbitt should really know what entity he is planned to lead, before he walks in the door. Then again, the Monday-before-last in D.C. I heard both an Attorney General AND a federal appellate court judge refer to my County of Rockland in New York, as “City[sic] of Rockland” instead. For that matter, I myself had a photo of Randy Babbitt up on my blog for over 2 months, that wasn’t even Randy Babbitt (although after what I have done to Sturgell, who can blame Babbitt for not making his photo easily available to me previously? – I since updated the blog posts with an accurate photo of Randy - please see above).
The point here, is that which is observed by a baseball pitcher – everyone gets nervous, but if you are going to hang a curve-ball, make sure you hang it outside the strike-zone. Don’t make a mistake WITHIN the strike zone.
The second point here is, Randy, in the event you did not know it already, we are watching and transcribing your every word, and chronicling your every step and action. I reserve the right to update and amend this summary and all my writings and postings based upon newly-gleaned information including without limitation a textual written transcription of your words today. What follows is from memory, for now:
3. Senator Frank Lautenberg led off the questioning of Randy Babbitt, by asking if Babbitt would pause or "hold" (heh, heh!) the FAA’s NY/NJ/PHL Airspace Redesign so as to include the input of interested parties including the front-line air traffic controllers who have been to date excluded from the process.
The bad news is that Babbitt in part answered the question by citing how he would “like” to solicit input from all “Stakeholders” - whom he later identified in subsequent questioning to be the airlines only.
The further bad news is that Babbitt ducked, punted, and avoided Senator Lautenberg just like Babbitt recently tried to do to me, saying that: (A) he understood there was litigation governing the Redesign, and (B) he was not certain of that to which he could legally agree, as a nominee alone.
The partial good news is that, although not clearly spoken, Babbitt seemed to suggest his own acknowledgment and understanding, at least from the today Lautenberg question alone, that air traffic controllers have not been active participants in the FAA’s Redesign efforts to date. Babbitt said he would “try” to get input from the ATC’s on the Redesign to the extent the law allows. Yet Babbitt did not agree to hold or pause the Redesign.
4. Babbitt said he “left college early” in 1966, and thereby seemed to indicate that he may not have graduated college. I intend to otherwise leave Randy alone on his background, spoken words, and delivery thereof, until he finally communicates to us whether he will terminate Redesign and fire Steve Kelley.
[He’d better].
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