Accolades For The New Permanent Administrator Continue To Roll In

The Helicopter Association International and the Airline Pilots Association have joined the chorus of those congratulating now-permanent FAA Administrator Michael Huerta on his confirmation by the U.S. Senate Tuesday.

"Michael Huerta has been a steady hand at the controls of the FAA since his appointment as acting administrator, and now the agency has the certainty of knowing who its leader will be," said HAI President Matt Zuccaro (pictured). "We look forward to working with Administrator Huerta on our common goals such as safety, NextGen technology, access to airspace, infrastructure development with regards to heliports, quiet aircraft technology, and maintenance issues of concern.
 
"We wish Administrator Huerta well during his tenure and stand ready to continue our excellent relationship with the team of FAA professionals."

In his statement, ALPA president Capt. Lee Moak urged the now-permanent administrator to take a hard look at duty and crew rest rules for cargo pilots.

"The confirmation of Michael Huerta as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, together with a stable source of long-term funding, puts the FAA in a powerful position to safely build capacity and foster airline growth in this country," Moak (pictured, below)  said in the statement.

“Mr. Huerta’s formidable transportation policy experience has already enabled him to achieve remarkable progress during his tenure as the FAA’s acting administrator. ALPA is eager to continue this positive action at an accelerated pace to ensure the United States maintains a world-class air transportation system.

“Our industry needs strong leadership from our government partners to ensure that we continue to move forward and position ourselves in a global economy. We need to take the gold standard in regulations and safety practices in the United States to the International Civil Aviation Organization to raise the safety bar for the world’s aviation community and ensure that U.S. airlines are not disadvantaged internationally.

“While ALPA was gratified by the FAA’s release of new science-based flight- and duty-time limits and minimum rest requirements for airline pilots, we will continue to work with Administrator Huerta and his team to advocate in the strongest possible terms for applying the new rules to all airline pilots, regardless of whether they carry cargo or passengers.

“We are also dedicated to advancing NextGen, which will improve safety and increase efficiencies while decreasing costs to the airlines. In addition, ALPA is intensely focused on maintaining safety as the first priority in efforts to integrate unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system and on putting in place regulations to ensure the safe shipment by air of hazardous materials, including lithium batteries. We look forward to continuing to work with Mr. Huerta on these, as well as many other, ALPA aviation safety priorities.

“With superbly qualified leadership and stable long-term funding, the FAA could not be more strongly positioned to engage with industry and labor to enhance the U.S. transportation system infrastructure and give U.S. airlines and their employees the opportunity to compete and prevail in the global marketplace.”

FMI: www.rotor.com, www.alpa.org