FAA Administrator Quit on Jan. 20 After Elon Musk Told Him to Resign

[babylonsister]

U.S. News
FAA Administrator Quit on Jan. 20 After Elon Musk Told Him to Resign
DROPPED THE PILOT
Michael Whitaker had only been in the role for a year but the SpaceX chief accused him of “harassment.”
Hugh Dougherty
Executive Editor
Updated Jan. 30 2025 3:34AM EST
Published Jan. 29 2025 11:53PM EST


The Federal Aviation Administration’s leader stepped down on Jan. 20, months after Elon Musk demanded that he quit.

The move by Michael Whitaker means the FAA has no Senate-confirmed leader for one of the biggest crises in its history because he quit before Donald Trump took office.

Whitaker ran the FAA for just a year but announced in December that he would step down on Jan. 20, as the new president was sworn in.

snip//

In September Whitaker had proposed fines of more than $600,000 for SpaceX, prompting Musk to demand his resignation and promise to sue.

more...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/faa-chief-michael-whitaker-quit-on-jan-20-after-elon-musk-told-him-to-resign/

[Omnipresent]

1. Why would the FAA Administer allow himself to be hoodwinked by Elonia?

[TommyT139]

2. Because he knew the trumpists would side with Muck?

[Raven123]

3. Perhaps you assumed he was hoodwinked

Sometimes the hassle isn’t worth it.

[JI7]

5. He wasn't hoodwinked. Musk demanded he resign months ago.

But he resigned when Trump took office as he had little choice.

[Prairie Gates]

10. How was he hoodwinked?

He decided that he wasn't going to work for the Trump-Musk Administration, especyially since the South African Nazi had publicly harrassed him. Seems perfectly reasonable to me

[orangecrush]

4. K&R

[malaise]

6. Hence the instant blame game from

Donvict

[Wiz Imp]

7. Since when does a private citizen have the authority to demand a government official resign?

[GiqueCee]

8. Tip of the iceberg...

... They'll keep committing more and more outrageous and unconstitutional acts until they get a reaction that they consider to be a justification for instituting martial law.Then the real fun begins.

[dalton99a]

9. +1

[Chellee]

15. To be fair,

I routinely demand that my Senators and Representative resign because they are a disgrace. They have stacks of letters from me demanding their resignation. I think Trump and Vance should go on TV today, this morning, and say, "I'm unworthy and incapable of doing this job; I resign for the good of the nation." Nobody's ever done it, so far, but I, private citizen, still frequently demand that they go.

[Wiz Imp]

16. Good point. But as you say, you have no power to make that happen. Musk is treated as if he is a government

official whose orders must be followed when he is just a private citizen who should have no more power than you do.

[Chellee]

17. Oh, he's absolutely in charge.

The administration is listening to him, not Trump. I wish Trump would figure that out. His ego won't stand for it, then he'll fire him, and start shit talking him. Musk, whose ego will not stand for being fired or ridiculed, will retaliate. They might even have a slap fight. I am so looking forward to that day.

[Hugin]

19. You had me at slap fight...

I haven’t seen a good slap fight since the lunch room in junior high.

[Wiz Imp]

20. Oh, it's been clear since day 1 that a "split" between Trump & Musk would happen sooner or later.

No way for those 2 gigantic egos to get along together for an extended period of time. I too am looking forward to when this happens. The fireworks should be spectacular.

[hay rick]

23. Since 77 million people voted for Musk, which some people have already forgotten.

[Wiz Imp]

24. Funny how his name wasn't on any ballot...

[hay rick]

25. Proving my point. Another sad case of Musk Memory/Mind Wipe!

[COL Mustard]

26. Apparently since Musk wrote a mass email to all Federal employees

We all got that one and it's a stick, not a carrot...deferred resignation. He wants us all gone.

[bronxiteforever]

11. Subpoena Muskrat to the Senate

Find out the conversations he is having with government workers. Make the world’s richest ego sweat. The US government ain’t Tesla or X yet.

[mwooldri]

21. I like the idea, but...

... who's going to enforce such a subpoena?

We have seen the powerful simply ignore said subpoenas and get away with it. If it was me, then I'd be wanting to comply because if I did a no show, Congress would refer me to the Dept of "Justice" and I'd have a warrant out for my arrest and be on the FBI's "Most Wanted" before you could scream "Woke DEI Libtard".

However if the funky muskrat was subpoenaed and was a no show Congress may well shrug and do nothing .. if say the Dems reclaim the House, and it be referred to DoJ, the "Attorney" General would probably say "Hmm, no we ain't gonna enforce this" and that would be the end of the matter.

There's a big part of me that wants to take a time machine, bring back the Founding Fathers for their judgment on the state of America... And then send them back (after wiping their memory of this encounter of course).

[bronxiteforever]

30. What you say is true.

It will probably end it that way but at least we can try and use it later on. Weak tea I know.

[Dem4life1234]

35. The Founding Fathers didn't think far enough

I suppose they would have never thought Americans would be debased enough to vote for a felon.

What did they think they were gonna get when voting in a criminal?

[COL Mustard]

27. Papa T*ump would not approve

And the Senate, as currently constituted, won't do anything he doesn't okay.

[AverageOldGuy]

12. Correction to your title:

Your title should read:

FAA Administrator Quit on Jan. 20 After President Elon Musk Told Him to Resign

[Emile]

13. This tragedy happened on Trump's watch. When

is he going to take personal responsibility and solutions to prevent this from ever happening again?

[dchill]

32. Okaynever.

[Lonestarblue]

14. During Biden's term, there was one crash of a small seaplane due to mechanical failure, with 10 fatalities.

Trump has been in office less than 2 weeks and already a major crash has occurred. It is unlikely that Whitaker’s forced removal had an impact, but did military changes cause the crash? It was a training mission, and both the military and commercial aircraft have strict flight corridors around DC. Since the commercial flight was clearly on a landing path into Reagan, they were most likely not off course, which leaves human error for the helicopter pilot. The question I have is whether FAA traffic controllers can warn military aircraft off. It’s my understanding that the military has its own air traffic control system.

I know that better information will emerge in the days ahead, but the likelihood that the military training flight caused the crash seems probable. I hope this results in better air traffic safety, but with Trump’s incompetent appointees in charge I have doubts, especially since their charge is to reduce staffs and make their agencies less effective.

[valleyrogue]

18. Musk had and has no say about anything. He can go pound sand. n/t

[boonecreek]

22. Should have told Musk

"Fuck you, fire me" which Musk has no authority to do.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

28. About the Space X violations....

FAA wants to fine SpaceX more than $600,000 for Space Coast launch site violations...

...."Safety drives everything we do at the FAA, including a legal responsibility for the safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses," FAA Chief Counsel Marc Nichols said in the release. "Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences."

https://phys.org/news/2024-09-faa-fine-spacex-space-coast.html

[58Sunliner]

29. Trump owns this.

[mdbl]

31. Another reason I no longer fly the unfriendly skies

[dchill]

33. SpaceX needs to be repatriated.

[Dem4life1234]

34. Why can't he hop on a rocket and go to Mars ?

Sick of him.

Stay out of government business, he knows nothing about how government works.

Imagine having all that money and still miserable and bored.

[uponit7771]

36. That's legally a firing