[tomder55]

Phil Washington is Clueless' nominee to head the Federal Aviation Administration .
Here are some questions and his responses at his confirmation hearing to determine if he is qualified to run America's air traffic system .If confirmed by the Senate, Phillip Washington would take over an agency dealing with safety concerns including several recent close calls between planes, understaffing that has contributed to flight delays, and the breakdown of a pilot-alert system that briefly stopped flights nationwide in January. Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., called him “an experienced, mission-driven leader who has successfully led three of the largest and most complex transportation organizations in the country.”
Which organizations ?

RTD Bus, rail, and light rail transit service to Denver, and Boulder Colorado

LA MTA rail and busses in LA

Even though he is under investigation for corruption pay-to-play, fraud, waste and abuse of public funds, and discriminatory and retaliatory practices in LA;he was voted in by Denver City Council to run Denver International Airport. He held that job for one year before Clueless nominated him to be FAA boss.

One would think that the position requires decades of aviation experience ;not one year of running an airport.



Budd: "What airspace requires an ADS-B transponder?"
Washington: "Not sure I can answer that question right now."


Budd: "What are the six types of special use airspace that...appear on FAA charts?"
Washington: "Sorry, senator, I cannot answer that question."


Budd: "What are the operational limitations of a pilot flying under BasicMed?"
Washington: "Senator, I'm...not a pilot."
Budd: "But, obviously you'd oversee the Federal Aviation Administration, so any idea what those restrictions are under BasicMed?"
Washington: "Well, some of the restrictions I think would be high blood pressure some of them would be..."
Budd: "It's more like how many passengers per airplane, how many pounds, and different categories, and what altitude you can fly under, and amount of knots — it's under 250 knots — so, it's not having anything to do with blood pressure."


Budd: "Can you tell me what causes an aircraft to spin or to stall?"
Washington: "Again, senator, I'm not a pilot."


Budd: "What are the three aircraft certifications the FAA requires as part of the manufacturing process?"
Washington: "Again, what I would say to that is that one of my first priorities would be to fully implement that Certification Act and report..."
Budd: "You know the three types?"
Washington: "No."
Budd: "That's type certificate, production certificate, and airworthiness certificate. Let's just keep going and see if we can get lucky here."


Budd: "Can you tell me what the minimum separation distance is for landing and departing airliners during the daytime?"
Washington: "I don't want to guess on that, senator."

There have been 7 near misses in the US skies this year alone. We need a qualified Administrator running the FAA ;not another diversity box checked .