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The Federal Aviation Administration’s safety chief is expected to lead the agency on an acting basis after the current administrator,
Steve Dickson,
steps down at the end of March, people familiar with the matter said.
Billy Nolen
was named associate administrator for aviation safety in December after a career as an American Airlines pilot and industry executive focused on regulatory and safety matters. In his current role as the agency’s safety chief, Mr. Nolen oversees more than 7,600 FAA employees who focus on a range of flight-safety issues, including manufacturing and airline operations, the agency has said.
An official announcement about Mr. Nolen’s appointment was expected to come as soon as Monday, people familiar with the matter said.
Billy Nolen, shown in 2015, currently oversees more than 7,600 FAA employees who focus on flight-safety issues.
Photo:
Business Wire/Associated Press
As acting FAA chief, Mr. Nolen would confront a host of aviation challenges, including maintaining airline safety as carriers increase operations to meet surging demand, approving deliveries of
Boeing Co.
’s 787 Dreamliner amid various production lapses and assisting Chinese authorities’ investigation of a recent crash of a U.S.-made plane in that country.
It wasn’t immediately clear whom the Biden administration planned to nominate as a permanent FAA chief to succeed Mr. Dickson, who was appointed to the role by then-President
and confirmed for the position by the Senate in 2019.
A Transportation Department spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to comment Saturday.
Mr. Nolen, or whoever eventually wins Senate confirmation as FAA administrator, would take the controls of an air-safety agency trying to emerge from the aftermath of two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. The accidents, in Indonesia and Ethiopia, took 346 lives and prompted regulatory, congressional and criminal investigations.
The MAX crashes exposed breakdowns in how the FAA approved a flight-control system later blamed for sending the jets into fatal nosedives. The FAA has been working to implement a new law governing how regulators approve new aircraft as safe for passengers.
The agency also has initiatives under way related to electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft, drones and space launches.
Mr. Dickson, the current administrator of the air-safety agency, is a pilot and former
Delta Air Lines Inc.
executive. In February, he said he would step down March 31, citing personal reasons for the planned departure.
Write to Andrew Tangel at Andrew.Tangel@wsj.com and Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com
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