U.S. to mandate design changes on Boeing 737 MAX 8 after crashes
reuters.com
reuters.com
In any other administration, Republican/Democrat, I'd believe them. This one? With Chao being McConnell's wife.
This makes me feel uncomfortable.
Elaine Chao actually worked under Bush as the deputy Transportation Secretary and Chair of the Federal Maritime Commission. She actually knows a thing or two about how this country moves (at least how it moves stuff in the Oceans). I think her words hold more weight than a lot of other secretaries right now.
Chao's history of Maritime Transportation -> Transportation Secretary at least makes sense. Maybe its not the airline experience the country needs for this specific crisis right now, but its at least a valid set of credentials for her position.
EDIT: It should be noted that Chao was voted into her position with a Senate vote of 93 to 6. For the most part, the country agrees that she was a fine pick without much controversy. She's probably the least controversial pick in all of Trump's cabinet.
Not only that, but in the 2012 debates, Perry proposed that he would want to eliminate the Department of Energy as president:
> Gov. Rick Perry couldn't remember the third federal agency he has pledged to eliminate. "The third agency of government I would, I would do away with, the Education, the... Commerce and, let's see," Perry said, as his brain freeze continued. However, a few minutes later in the debate, Perry remembered that the third department was the Energy Department. "By the way that was the Department of Energy I was reaching for a while ago," he said with a chuckle when he was asked another question.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-perry-fails-to-remember-wh...
A government agency that has less work to do does not shrink, and one that has completed its job does not just disappear. Organizations find excuses to exist. They are self-perpetuating, always seeking new justification for their continued parasitic existence.
I don’t know how committed you have to be to a libertarian view to get here but trying to paint the entire Department of Energy as feckless bureaucrats and red tape in need of abolishing, that Perry could actually mean that in good faith for the betterment of our country, is just preposterous.
I would have much preferred to have an actually qualified person running our nation's nuclear program, but... I'll take a cautiously-optimistic non-expert over a lot of the other secretaries who are aiming at destroying their specific departments.
The FCC is a good example of active destruction from within. All those Robocalls you've been getting the past year or two are precisely because of the new FCC Head refusing to do his job to punish robocallers. The fact of the matter is that only the FCC has the authority and power to effectively police Robocalls, and ignoring those responsibilities leads to the annoying situation we have today.
For some context in case anyone is curious: the position of Secretary of energy was created together with the Department of energy in 1977. There have been 14 Secretaries of energy, and 2 more acting secretaries.
It's not trivial to summarize each into a single field, but they have had degrees in law (x6), chemical engineering (x2), physics (x2), dentistry, economics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and political science.
To the best of my research, it seems only one (Ernest Moniz) could be called a "nuclear physicist" or "nuclear engineer". He immediately preceded Rick Perry as Secretary of energy (if one skips over an acting secretary).
Its natural for people to question whether or not Nepotism got them a role when people get into a position of power. Ex: do you really think Donald Trump Jr. deserves the powerful White-House role he has? Or was he only put in there because his daddy is the President?
Whenever people see nepotism, its only natural to instinctively question the qualifications of the individual. In the case of Chao (and being the wife of McConnell), the fear of nepotism is certainly a factor... but as far as I can tell... its fine because Chao actually has experience in Maritime Transportation.
I can't blame anyone for being cautious with nepotism (real or imagined). Being the son, daughter, or wife of someone important isn't a qualification at all. People have to be judged on what they themselves have done in life.
Usually HN has quite a few people more intimately involved with aviation — question to them: does this feel odd to you as well, or is this a fairly typical response to a problem of this nature?
I assume that just before this announcement the FAA had a phone call with Boeing confirming the will have the fix ready by April. This way the FAA gets to looks tough without harming Boeing in any way.
What is the downside to not grounding planes that have killed 300 people until April when the fix is ready and we can get pilots training? Where in the constitution does it say we must protect shareholders of airlines and save them 3 weeks of lost revenue from ...(checks notes)... 30 planes ...(Southwest)?
If something happens between now and then on this airplane, and it may not even be related to the issue, how much trust is lost in the United States of America and its aviation industry. it just seems quite short sighted.