Confirm Phil Washington as FAA administrator
There’s currently no Senateconfirmed leader at the FAA. If there were, they’d be fired by now. It’s been a rough couple of years for air travel: We’ve seen the first nationwide grounding of flights since 9/11 because an old computer failed, airlines stranded passengers for days after a winter storm, delays so frequent you can almost predict them and even near-collisions on runways.
It’s time we put someone in charge who can put the FAA back on course. That someone is Phil Washington.
You might wonder who would want the job, given the recent chaos. But that’s what Phil does. He takes on the big, complex problems and gets it done. Phil honed his leadership skills over 24 years in the Army, where he ultimately achieved the rank of command sergeant major, the highest enlisted rank possible. In the Army, the command sergeant major makes things work by organizing and motivating troops to get the mission done, whatever it is.
He then took the top job at Regional Transportation District (RTD), Colorado’s largest transit entity. When he took over, RTD’S flagship, multibillion-dollar light-rail program, Fastracks, was behind schedule, over budget and losing credibility. When he left RTD four years later, three-quarters of the project was done or under construction. Then he went to LA Metro and oversaw another big, multibillion-dollar modernization and expansion project.
Today, Phil runs Denver International Airport (DIA), the third-busiest airport on planet Earth. He’s in charge of runway safety, airfields, local safety action — you name it. Every day, he manages a major organization nearly the size of the FAA. He took over DIA in the midst of, you guessed it, a big expansion project facing delays and unforeseen challenges.
Sensing a theme?
Unlike three of the past four FAA administrators, Phil isn’t a former airline pilot or executive. Does anyone who’s flown recently think this position should be a revolving door for the airlines to police themselves? We need strong oversight of airlines on safety, junk fees and compensation for late or canceled flights, not an enabler for bad behavior.
President Joe Biden made a great choice when he nominated Phil Washington to be FAA administrator. Now it’s time for the Senate to do its part. A few weeks ago, senators from both parties had the chance to ask Phil about his experience and qualifications. At the hearing, the senators and the public got a glimpse of the man I’ve come to know as someone with integrity, an obsession with “operations tempo” and an intense focus on completing the mission at hand. Phil showed that he’s exactly the jolt of leadership the FAA needs. Next, the Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee will vote on his nomination, and finally it will go to a vote in the full Senate.
Now some senators are trying to slow down Phil’s nomination by claiming he’s not a civilian because of his prior military service and therefore needs a waiver to serve. It’s nonsense. The statute states only that the FAA Administrator must be a civilian; Phil has been a civilian for 23 years. In contrast, nominees to be secretary of defense must be out of the military for seven years to be considered civilians, and even then only if they were commissioned officers. Again: Phil Washington has been retired for three times as long as the requirement put in place for the secretary of defense, and he was never an officer. He’s a civilian and does not need a waiver to serve.
Look, we’re all exhausted by the thought of trying to fly somewhere right now. We just want to get home to our loved ones, visit family and make new memories with friends. No one wants to have to learn what a NOTAMS is or how specific airlines coordinate getting their crews from flight to flight. But Phil does. And he’ll fix it. So let’s get an FAA administrator who’s Senate-confirmed and gets things done. An administrator who can manage the complex bureaucracy at FAA and prepare it for the realities of air travel. Someone who will give you confidence the next time you get on your flight. Someone you know will get you where you’re going safely.
At RTD Phil inherited a mess and got it back on track. He did it again at LA Metro. Again at DIA. It’s time we bring that attitude to the FAA. It’s time we confirm Phil.