Just Close the Door

Have you noticed the pattern ? Once a town has an aviation disaster, suddenly their local Press discovers there are problems in aviation. We saw it in Lexington, Kentucky and now it is Buffalo, New York’s turn.

FAA officials still fly through revolving door

”Two weeks after a federal safety official said at a public hearing that "a recipe for an accident" led to the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 and the loss of 50 lives, the parent of the regional airline that operated that doomed flight did something it had never done before.
It hired a lobbyist — and not just any lobbyist. “

"Good-government types describe this coziness between the government and the airlines it regulates as "a revolving door" and say it deserves scrutiny, particularly as the families of those on Continental Flight 3407 battle the airline industry over a congressional proposal to boost pilot training."

Don’t scrutinize them. Just close the door. Of course, that would require hiring people that were more interested in running a good government than feathering their own nest. And it might require paying them like they were running a large, world-class enterprise instead of telling them they have to return to private industry to earn “real” money. Not an easy task.

I have zero faith that it will ever be done in my lifetime. It require a total change in our culture. It would require that we recognize that government is extremely important and deserving of our attention instead of our contempt. It would require hiring and grooming high-caliber talent to handle some of the toughest jobs imaginable. That won’t happen on a government pay scale with the only bonus being the contempt dripping from the title “bureaucrat”.

Bring on the corporate jet, the high-6-figure salaries, the stock options and the company condo on the beach. Lube up the gears because the door is going to revolve. Try not to get run over.

Don Brown
November 1, 2009