-9999
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, last week the Senate confirmed Mike Whitaker to be the FAA Administrator. I supported this nomination. He is very qualified. He has very valuable experience.
Obviously, this body has had a churn being able to look at previous FAA Administrators who came here and then were turned down in the process, and the administration has put forward someone who, I think, is very, very qualified. So I am pleased to be able to see that.
But many people may not know Oklahoma has a very special relationship with FAA, and we have for 70 years. For 70 years, the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, which headquarters offices for so many different areas in the aeronautical center, has been in Oklahoma City. That spot has been there, and it establishes things like how to do testing, how to do research, the medical evaluation, occupational health wing, medical certification, a lot of education that happens there for aerospace. Air mobility is being tested there.
It is 1,100 acres and 133 buildings, across the airport site there in Oklahoma City, and it is just one of those hidden jewels of the United States that is actually there in Oklahoma City. As each of our States have different aspects and different tasks there, Oklahoma City is very, very proud to be a leader in aviation for the country.
There is also a vital component there at the FAA Academy. Now, again, most folks don't think about the air traffic controllers who are in the tower, but when you fly into any airport in the country, the folks who are in that tower were trained in Oklahoma City.
It is the academy. It is the first 60 days of training, and it is done consistently the same it is done everywhere in the country because, no matter where an air traffic controller goes, you want them to have the same consistent training in every location that they go to. So whomever they work next to in the tower, they have all been trained the same way in the basics.
Now, that academy is important to set the standard for all the basics in air traffic control, and then they advance to the next level. They actually get out on the job and to be trained by folks who are in the towers. It is incredibly important as a task.
Now, for years, that academy has trained literally every single person that the FAA could send them. They haven't had a time where they were like: I am sorry. You have to stop. We can't take any more people.
They have got gaps and openings. In fact, right now we need more air traffic controllers, but, thankfully, the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center is ready to go. They are ready to take on more students to be able to expand. In fact, they have got room to double in size. If we wanted to double the number of air traffic controllers across the country, let's do it. Our challenge has been getting enough students to actually do it, to get the training, not actually training space or trainers.
So I would tell you Oklahoma City is proud of that heritage.
We are grateful for Mike Whitaker and the position that he is now in. We look forward to him being back in Oklahoma City. He has been in Oklahoma City multiple times in previous tasks that he has had. He knows full well the value of that facility, and I look forward to training a lot more folks to be air traffic controllers in Oklahoma City, in the days ahead, because our trainers and our folks who are there are ready to put more folks in more towers.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source