Ex-Acting FAA administrator: Trump made ‘excellent choice’ with Christopher Rocheleau

The former acting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Billy Nolen said during an interview that President Trump made an “excellent choice” in tapping Christopher Rocheleau as the agency’s next leader. 

“It’s a great decision. Chris, when I joined the FAA, was my No. 2. I think the world of him, and I think the president has made an excellent choice,” Nolen said during his Thursday appearance on NewsNation’s show “The Hill.” 

Trump said earlier Thursday that he picked Rocheleau to be the FAA’s acting administrator, less than a day after a military helicopter and a passenger plane crashed into each other Wednesday night near the Reagan Washington National Airport. 

“I’m also immediately appointing an acting commissioner to the FAA, Christopher Rocheleau. A 22-year veteran of the agency, highly respected. Christopher, thank you very much, appreciate it,” Trump said on Thursday from the White House briefing room.

Previously, Rocheleau was the deputy administrator. 

An American Airlines flight going from Wichita, Kan., to Washington, D.C., collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter Wednesday night, killing 67 people. Sixty travelers were on the flight from Wichita, along with four crew members, and three soldiers were on the helicopter. The air disaster is the deadliest in the U.S. since November 2001.

Nolen, who was the acting FAA head during the Biden administration until summer 2023, hopes the tragic crash at one of the nation’s busiest airports can be used as an opportunity to develop better safety innovations. 

“Use this moment. Let’s not let this tragic event go to waste,” he said Thursday. “Let’s take this as an opportunity to say, ‘What are the other innovative things we can do?’ We got some brilliant people out there in America, right? And let’s think about what we can apply, be it AI — how do we make our airspace more efficient?” 

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