While acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell brings deep knowledge of both the aviation industry and government workings to his new role, he also carries a long background of pushing for ATC reorganization and has advocated user fees for business and general aviation.
In 2007, while assistant administrator for the FAA, Elwell testified before Congress about how airline passengers are “subsidizing the corporate CEO flying in the company jet and, yes, the general aviation pilot flying his Cessna as well.” He then cited statistics—disputed by NBAA—that commercial aviation “foots 95 percent of the bill” and general aviation pays just 3 percent. More recently, Elwell played a role on the Trump White House transition team and met with industry leaders, discussing the need for reform of the ATC organization.
Though Elwell has been on the opposite side of the ATC issue, GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce called him a friend and noted that Elwell received an SIC type rating in a Cessna Citation Excel on December 22. “We have a philosophical disagreement on ATC privatization,” Bunce said. “Decisions pertaining to this issue will be made by Congress, so Dan’s view on privatization is just one of many. This…is greatly outweighed by his aviation experience, passion for NextGen, expertise within industry, and knowledge about how Washington and the FAA works. Dan is a good guy.”
Comments
AGC-1
January 18, 2018 - 3:06pm
The fact that Dan worked for A4A does not mean that he is favorably disposed towards all of their positions. NB he left A4A.
Chad Trautvetter
January 18, 2018 - 4:04pm
We agree. That's why we didn't mention A4A anywhere in this story and only quoted comments from during his tenures at the FAA or during his time working on the Trump transition. In other words, we used only his comments associated with him acting in a governmental capacity.
matt
January 18, 2018 - 6:27pm
I do not agree. GA has been burned in the past by experienced former airline and career FAA bureaucrats. I do not favor Mr. Elwell as the next FAA administrator due to his lack of past support of GA and his support of removing ATC from government. You would think the aviation alphabet groups would have learned this lesson with the last administrator. We need the next administrator to be someone directly from GA who is a certificated pilot and/or airplane owner. Even better would be a former pt 135 air carrier operator.
AGC-1
January 25, 2018 - 10:42am
Agreed. Thought that the subtlety of your point might be lost to the readers outside the beltway and they might benefit from a more explicit resume marking.
Chad Trautvetter
January 25, 2018 - 10:45am
It's there – click on “new role” in the first paragraph.