Poll: Should An FAA Administrator Be Required To Be A Pilot?

The administrator need not be a pilot, but must have experience in the field – air traffic, maintenance, engineering, airworthiness, or any of the main related fields the Agency is responsible for. One must know much more than how to fly an airplane to be qualified to run such a large agency with such a diverse range of responsibilities.

Someone with current GA experience. We don’t need another airline or military person. And putting the current acting administrator would just continue the existing problems and issues that currently plague the FAA.

They beed to be a good, competant leader. They need to understand the aviation system, things that affect aviation, and the business of aviation and how the FAA figures into it all. They don’t need to be a pilot any more than the head GM needs to be a mechanic.

Not necessarily a pilot, but someone with some experience. In my opinion, someone who has GA experience too. Military and corporate pilots know the system but are too removed from the headaches of operations because they let others do the planning maintenance, and regulatory compliance and they do is fly a predetermined mission while someone else pays for the fuel. The person needs to also be a business leader with experience managing businesses that span an large logistical and operational footprint.

Although not the popular response, I chose “needs to be a good leader”. Given the opportunity to elaborate, though, that leadership should include a background in aviation—real aviation, not just a short stint as CEO of a large airport. Being an experienced pilot would be very helpful—not just a person who has toyed with aviation by merely soloing or who received a private certificate 20 years ago and hasn’t flown since except in the back of an airliner, but one who has experience with the system. The system includes ATC, mechanics, regulations, rules, safety—a whole myriad of the facets of aviation. And that person, in order to be a good leader, must also be a good listener and be willing to learn about those facets with which he or she has less knowledge or experience.

Best way to understand it is to do it.