When it came to picking his transportation secretary, President Joe Biden chose Pete Buttigieg, whose resume includes 1) high performance in some presidential primaries and 2) being the mayor of the 335th-largest city in the United States of America.
This, apparently, qualifies it to lead the way when it comes to the nation’s transport and infrastructure needs. And if that’s the boss for Dot, wait until you see who gets picked as his underlings.
Phil Washington, once the CEO of Denver International Airport, is President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration — you know, the agency charged with making sure planes get off the ground, stay in the air and land safely and on time. .
According to Fox News, Washington initially failed to advance last year after raising concerns about his limited experience in the aviation industry. On Wednesday, during his Senate confirmation hearing, we found out why those concerns are well founded.
GOP North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd, a licensed pilot, has seven questions for Washington that one would expect FAA administrators to know more about. Instead, he managed to go 0-for-7 in what turned out to be a viral clip.
The first of these questions considered the airspace required for an ADS-B transponder. According to Trig Avionics, these devices are “typically integrated with GPS to transmit highly accurate positional information to ground controllers and directly to other aircraft.
“This transmission is called ADS-B Out and its accuracy is greater than that used for conventional radar surveillance. It gives air traffic controllers the ability to reduce the separation distance required between ADS-B equipped aircraft.
However, Washington did not know what it was.
“That’s a very important part,” Budd said.
Next: “What are the six types of special-use airspace found on FAA charts … that protect national security?”
Washington: “Sorry, Senator, I can’t answer that question.”
Fortunately, the FAA nominee had the answer to the next question. It’s wrong, I think, but he is had This is
Question: “What are the operational limitations of a pilot flying under BasicMed?” Bud asked.
“Senator, I’m not a pilot, so—” Washington said.
“But obviously you’re overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration, so what are those restrictions under BasicMed?” Bud asked.
“Well, some of the restrictions, I think high blood pressure, some of them —” Washington said.
Bud stopped him before he got too far; BasicMed is a program that allows pilots to fly without a medical certificate to fly only certain types of aircraft with limited weight, size and passengers.
“It’s about how many passengers per flight, how many pounds in different sections and what altitude you can fly at,” Budd noted. “It has nothing to do with blood pressure.”
Next: Does Washington have any idea what caused the plane to spin or stall? Answer: No!
Then: Three certifications required by the FAA as part of aircraft manufacturing.
“Again, I would say to that one of my first priorities is to fully implement that certification act,” Washington said.
“Mr. Washington, do you know the three kinds?” Budd spoke intro.
“No,” he responded. (Type certificate, production certificate and airworthiness certificate, for the uninitiated.)
“Let’s go ahead and see if we can get lucky here,” Bud said after that.
Spoiler alert: things didn’t get one iota better.
I asked Biden’s nominee for FAA administrator 7 basic questions about aviation policy.
He went 0 for 7.
We cannot afford to have FAA operators requiring on-the-job training. @Senate Commerce pic.twitter.com/nzGiEUxr8w
— Senator Ted Budd (@SenTedBuddNC) March 1, 2023
Well, that’s one way to trick yourself in front of Congress. Needless to say, there is only one possible response to this kind of display:
… He fits this administration perfectly, hire him!!!
— Mini0Truckin0 (@mini0truckin0) March 2, 2023
It comes after a similar embarrassment in January, when Charnelle Bjelkengren, Biden’s nominee to sit on the bench of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, was unable to answer basic questions about the Constitution.
Cringe: Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren, a Biden federal district court nominee from Washington state’s Spokane County Superior Court, can’t answer simple questions about articles of the US Constitution during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. pic.twitter.com/pbYY2YI2iZ
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) January 26, 2023
However, anyone with a D after their name is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Biden said one of his Supreme Court picks couldn’t define a woman because she’s not a biologist. Airplanes — and keeping them in the sky — are a different matter, especially after a winter of airport snores and a transportation secretary who seemed unable to do anything to Southwest Airlines executives on political chat shows Sunday morning.
Wednesday’s hearing is a sign that the problem isn’t just with rogue airlines. I am not a nominee and I knew the answer to two of those seven questions (what causes a stall/spin and what are the three types of certificates respectively).
So, leading Republicans have already tried to block Washington’s nomination (pun intended) by pointing to his lack of experience in the job he wants and his work performance at his previous employer — LA Metro, where allegations of corruption plagued Washington. An exorbitant contract for a sexual harassment hotline awarded to a charity connected to a Metro board member.
“It’s bad enough that Mr. Washington has zero aviation safety experience and is embroiled in an ongoing, unsolved criminal investigation into public corruption in LA metro,” GOP Sen. Ted Cruz said, urging that the hearing be pushed back.
He needn’t have bothered though. After all, if there was ever a moment to expose just how unfit Mr. Washington is for the job, it was Wednesday — and Sen. Budd did a stellar job of exposing it.
This article was originally published in The Western Journal.