President Bush nominated former UAL Captain Bobby Sturgell to a five-year term as the head of the FAA. Before United, Mr. Sturgell was an instructor at the Navy Fighter Weapons School (Topgun). He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Although Mr. Sturgell supports users fees- “A cost-based funding structure is essential to transforming the aviation system” he’s quoted as saying, the AOPA and the EAA said they both supported his nomination. AOPA President Phil Boyer says he’s found that Sturgell “understands aviation from the pilot’s perspective.” The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) also support his nomination.

The only dissenter among the wave of positive support by the alphabet groups is the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). “The President’s nomination for FAA Administrator has been an integral part of [the] systematic demise of controller staffing and abysmal labor-management relations,” said NATCA president Patrick Forrey. “Therefore, NATCA will not support a nominee who will continue to exhibit a management philosophy that demoralizes its valuable workforce to the point of leaving.”

Personally, I’d prefer someone with real world experience in that position myself.
~Capt’n Chris

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