Imagine boarding a large commercial airliner and looking into the flight deck to see an old college friend sitting in the captain’s seat. Surprised, you ask, “Hey Bob, I thought you went to medical school. When did you become an airline pilot?”
Bob smiles. “Yes, I’m a doctor not a pilot, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”
The effective ad campaign and its catch phrase ring true with the current nominee for the FAA. The Biden administration nominated Mr. Phil Washington to head up the FAA, our nation’s regulatory organization for all things aviation. He has an outstanding resume and compelling story of a struggling young man who left home and found success. His experience includes rising to the highest enlisted rank in the Army, managing large public transportation organizations, and running the Denver International Airport. Indeed, he is the picture of success. But there’s just one problem. He has no experience in aviation—not as a flight attendant, mechanic, pilot, or even baggage handler. Maybe he slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
We all love a rags-to-riches success story, and even though Mr. Washington may have achieved great success in one field, that does not automatically qualify him to lead in another field. So many professionals fall prey to this deceiving trap that it has become an archetype—dentists who think they can run a business, airline pilots who think they’re qualified to give investment advice, and doctors who think they can fly. Aviation enthusiasts even nicknamed an aircraft the “Doctor Killer” because so many doctors assumed their prowess in the medical field automatically qualified them to fly a high-performance aircraft long before they developed the skills to do so. Success in one field of endeavor may offer a number of transferrable skills, but it doesn’t qualify someone as a professional in another field.
The trouble with Mr. Washington is that he thinks (and his supporters agree) his success in one field automatically qualifies him as a professional in another one. The nomination smacks of crony politics, not an effort to find someone well qualified. Surely the Democrats can find someone who is both politically connected and a qualified professional in the aviation field. In fact, a quick glance at the current acting FAA administrator serves as a good example of what that looks like.
Mr. Washington may be successful in his field, and maybe he slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but paying passengers deserve someone better.
ABOUT BROCK
Brock Booher is a former USAF pilot and professional airline pilot with over sixteen thousand flight hours. He is also a published author and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
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If you have never seen the ad campaign mentioned above, visit this link for an example - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHCTaUFXpP8