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Fortune
Fortune
Christiaan Hetzner

White House scrambles to fill top FAA role amid tragedy after departure of Elon Musk target left aviation-safety regulator rudderless

Elon Musk FAA Donald Trump Mike Whitaker United States SpaceX Chris Rocheleau Sean Duffy
Former FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker testifies before a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. (Credit: Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images)
  • President Trump named an interim replacement for the vacant position of FAA administrator, following the catastrophe of Flight 5342. The previous leader resigned a day before Trump’s inauguration, after Elon Musk demanded his head for grounding SpaceX multiple times.

President Donald Trump named Chris Rocheleau, chief of operations at the lobby group National Business Aviation Association, as interim FAA administrator on Thursday, one day after a midair collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter near Washington D.C., left 67 dead.

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