SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, on Friday, continued his ongoing criticism of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by leveling allegations of a lack of background in the field of aviation and space, at the wrong person.
What Happened: “Shouldn't the head of an organization responsible for regulating the safety of airplanes & rockets know something about how they work?,” Musk wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, referring to United States Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg‘s lack of background in aviation or space. However, Trottenberg is no longer the acting administrator of the FAA.
Trottenberg served as the acting administrator for FAA for merely a few months starting in June 2023 until Michael Whitaker was appointed the administrator in October.
Whitaker, contrary to Musk’s opinion on FAA leadership, has a background in aviation. Before becoming FAA administrator, he was the chief operating officer at Supernal, a Hyundai Motor Group company developing an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle. He is a private pilot who also worked several years at United Airlines in the past.
Why It Matters: Musk has been criticizing the FAA over the past week – earlier this week, the CEO blamed the agency for the delay in conducting the test flights of its ambitious Starship launch vehicle.
"Flight 5 (of Starship) is built and ready to fly. Flight 6 will be ready to fly before Flight 5 even gets approved by FAA!," Musk said on Thursday.
He also accused the agency of favoritism towards Boeing after it proposed a fine of $633,009 on SpaceX for regulatory violations on Tuesday.
“The FAA leadership spends their resources attacking SpaceX for petty matters that have nothing to do with safety, while neglecting real safety issues at Boeing. This is deeply wrong and puts human lives at risk,” Musk wrote on Thursday.
SpaceX also sent a letter addressed to key members of the U.S. Congress, including Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) denying the FAA’s allegations of regulatory violations while also alleging that the federal agency lacks the resources to review licensing commercial spaceflight operations.
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