Vote Was By Unanimous Consent Request, No Opposition To
Nominations
A former Boeing engineer and a
former NASA scientist have been unanimously confirmed to the
NTSB. The Senate approved the nomination of Dr. Earl Weener and Dr.
Mark Rosekind to the Board on Tuesday by unanimous consent. The
White House nominated Dr. Rosekind to the NTSB in October 2009,
while Dr. Weener's nomination was submitted to the Senate in
January of this year.
Weener, who turned 65 Wednesday, has lived in Sherwood, OR since
2005. The Sherwood Gazette reports that he holds a degree
in aerospace engineering and is a fellow at the Flight Safety
Foundation. He was chief engineer in Boeing's Commercial Airplane
division.
During his confirmation hearings in March, Weener told the
Senate Transportation Committee "I have been actively involved in
advancing safety, more specifically, aviation safety, for more than
four decades as a private citizen, as a participant and technically
trained professional in the commercial or private sector and as an
active professional and consultant, educator and advocate in the
not-for-profit sector. As an individual, at the beginning of my
aviation career, I flew as an Air Taxi pilot and endeavored to
teach people to fly airplanes safely. I continued as a flight
instructor throughout my college days to the present."
"I was involved in assignments that included developing the
flight crew interface of the Boeing 767 and 757 flight decks, as
well as the preliminary development of the modifications to the 747
that lead to a modern two crew flight deck," he continued. "During
the mid 1980's, I was involved, as an employee of Boeing, in
government affairs in this city, and, in that capacity, dealt
extensively with aviation safety issues."
Since retiring from Boeing, Weener said "I have continued to be
active in the area of aviation safety and have worked with the
Flight Safety Foundation to develop and lead two international
programs focused on enhancing ground safety and runway safety. More
recently, I was involved in leading the Flight Safety Foundation
Runway Safety Initiative, an effort focused on preventing runway
excursions, which were involved in approximately 30% of the
commercial air transport accidents world-wide over the past decade
and a half."
Dr. Rosekind lead significant early investigative work into
flight crew fatigue during his time with the NASA, and his research
into fatigue has made him one of the preeminent authorities on the
issue, a point he made during his confirmation hearing in November.
"My own passion has been to study human fatigue and apply
scientific knowledge to improve performance and safety in diverse
settings, including all modes of transportation," Rosekind said.
"Fatigue has been on the NTSB's Most Wanted List since its
inception in 1990. Clearly, over the years the NTSB's findings and
my professional endeavors have led us to the same conclusion: that
effectively managing fatigue is a critical factor in human
performance and transportation safety.
The NBAA Wednesday enthusiastically
welcomed the appointment both of these respected figures with a
thorough understanding of safety issues important to the business
aviation community to the NTSB.
"NBAA and the business aviation community have long-standing and
highly productive working relationships with Dr. Rosekind and Dr.
Weener," said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. "Each is very
knowledgeable about business aviation, and each has long been
focused on safety, which is the industry's highest priority. The
superior level of technical experience and investigative knowledge
that each will bring to the Board will contribute significantly to
the expertise already present at the NTSB. We look forward to
working with Doctors Rosekind and Weener, and their colleagues on
the Board."
NBAA worked with Dr. Rosekind on the development of a Fatigue
Countermeasures Toolkit, which includes several resources and
videos to increase awareness among flight crews and passengers
about the dangers of flying while fatigued. Dr. Rosekind was
interviewed about fatigue countermeasures for the business aviation
community in an article for the July/August 2008 edition of
Business Aviation Insider.
Weener will fill out the term of former NTSB chair Mark
Rosenker, who resigned last summer. Both have been confirmed to
full five-year terms on the board.