Trump appoints new FAA administrator after vacancy during deadly plane crash

As first responders searched the Potomac River Thursday following the nation’s deadliest airline crash in nearly a quarter of a century, the agency tasked with regulating civilian air travel was without a Senate-approved head.

President Trump moved Thursday, appointing Christopher Rocheleau, a 22-year FAA veteran, as acting administrator of the agency. Mr. Trump described  Rocheleau as “highly respected.”

The Federal Aviation Administration’s most recent administrator, Michael Whitaker, resigned when President Trump took office last week. Whitaker held the job for 15 months, with the last few marred by criticism from prominent Trump supporter and now-White House official Elon Musk, who chafed at the agency’s oversight of his company SpaceX.

Mr. Trump formally appointed Rocheleau with a memo he signed in the Oval Office Thursday afternoon. 

“He’s a very capable guy,” Mr. Trump said. 

Who is Christopher Rochelau?

Rocheleau is in his third stint at the FAA. He was appointed by Mr. Trump as deputy administrator last week, and took on the title acting administrator Thursday morning, hours after an American Airlines jet with 64 people on board and an Army helicopter carrying three collided. Rocheleau most recently was chief operating officer of the National Business Aviation Association. Prior to that job, which he began in 2022, he was the FAA’s deputy associate administrator for aviation safety. The U.S. Air Force veteran previously worked for the Transportation Security Administration.

Why did Whitaker step down?

Whitaker announced in December that he was stepping down. He was among many agency heads who stepped down as the new White House administration took shape, but did not publicly attribute his resignation to the incoming administration nor Elon Musk. The role of FAA administrator is a Senate-confirmed role, with a five year term. Whitaker was unanimously confirmed in October 2023, filling a role that had been run by acting administrators since March 2022, 

What did Musk say about Whitaker?

Musk openly complained about Whitaker and the FAA, after the agency imposed $600,000 in fines on SpaceX related to missions launched with unapproved changes. Musk accused the agency of “harassing SpaceX about nonsense.” Musk posted on his social media site in September that Whitaker “needs to resign.” 

What is an acting administrator?

Rocheleau will be the agency’s fourth acting administrator since 2018, taking the helm of the agency without Senate confirmation. The last seven years have been a tumultuous time for the FAA, which faced criticism of its oversight after two Boeing crashes in 2018 and 2019, and later dealt with the rise in unruly passenger behavior amid and following COVID-19 era mask regulations, as well as airline staff shortages and technology glitches.

What about the Transportation Secretary?

Former Rep. Sean Duffy was sworn in as Secretary of Transportation on Tuesday, after being confirmed by the Senate in a 77-22 vote. The Department of Transportation includes the FAA. Duffy posted on social media Thursday that, “I want the families of the victims to know that they have my word: I will not rest until you have the truth.”

“I will find answers to how this happened. I have directed every relevant agency to immediately investigate what went wrong, and I will not tolerate delays or bureaucratic excuses,” Duffy wrote. “If there was negligence, incompetence, or failure anywhere in the system, we will find it—and I will fix it.”