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    These Are the SpaceX Engineers Already Working Inside the FAA
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    These Are the SpaceX Engineers Already Working Inside the FAA

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    1. wiredmagazine on

      Engineers who work for [Elon Musk’s](https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-government-young-engineers/) SpaceX have been brought on as senior advisers to the acting administrator of the [Federal Aviation Administration](https://www.wired.com/story/washington-dc-plane-crash-everything-we-know-so-far-black-hawk-faa-potomac-american-airlines-psa/) (FAA), sources tell WIRED.

      On Sunday, Sean Duffy, secretary of the Department of Transportation (DOT), which oversees the FAA, [announced](https://x.com/SecDuffy/status/1891310401800872114) in a post on X that SpaceX engineers would be visiting the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Virginia to take what he positioned as a tour. “The safety of air travel is a non-partisan matter,” Musk [replied](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1891312807896907807). “SpaceX engineers will help make air travel safer.”

      By the time these posts were made, though, according to sources who were granted anonymity because they fear retaliation, SpaceX engineers were already being onboarded at the agency under Schedule A, a [special authority](https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/disability-employment/hiring/) that allows government managers to “hire persons with disabilities without requiring them to compete for the job,” [according](https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/disability-employment/hiring/) to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

      Read the full scoop here: [https://www.wired.com/story/faa-doge-elon-musk-space-x/](https://www.wired.com/story/faa-doge-elon-musk-space-x/)

    3. Roubaix62454 on

      I’m sure these minions bring a wealth of aviation knowledge and expertise with them. NOT!

    5. Prior-Tea-3468 on

      >In fact, some were already being onboarded at the agency under a policy designed to increase “employment opportunities for people with disabilities.”

      To be completely fair, a willingness to continue working for or being associated with Elon Musk *is* a sort of mental disability.

    7. HaMerrIk on

      Weird that they’re against DEIA but are probably incorrectly using Schedule A to bring in unknown individuals without background checks or clearances 

    10. mb4828 on

      There’s objectively a ton of talent at SpaceX, and while this is stupid and possibly illegal, I hope that their smarter and cooler heads will make a positive contribution in spite of our idiot leaders

    11. Nathan_Explosion___ on

      Laughing at Sean Dumpty bringing up Hillary. Someone out of politics is his boogeyperson. So out of touch.

    12. robotzor on

      I don’t want guys that caught a falling rocket with chopstick arms anywhere near my government agencies

    13. glockymcglockface on

      I mean, before this it was basically Boeing running the FAA. The FAA is so far behind on several safety mandates EASA implemented years ago. Various ELT standards have been completed in Europe for a few years now and still waiting to go live in the USA because Boeing isn’t ready yet.

    14. Eskareon on

      This is an exceedingly common government practice across every major industry. It happens at both the State and Federal government levels, all the time.

    15. FledglingNonCon on

      You mean the same spaceX who’s rocket exploded spectacularly just about a month ago? That spaceX?

    16. Decronym on

      Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:

      |Fewer Letters|More Letters|
      |——-|———|—|
      |[ELT](/r/Space/comments/1itgg0f/stub/mdow8ak “Last usage”)|Extremely Large Telescope, under construction in Chile|
      |[FAA](/r/Space/comments/1itgg0f/stub/mdp378i “Last usage”)|Federal Aviation Administration|
      |[MON](/r/Space/comments/1itgg0f/stub/mdox1kt “Last usage”)|Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen|

      Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.

      —————-
      ^(3 acronyms in this thread; )[^(the most compressed thread commented on today)](/r/Space/comments/1iskhdy)^( has 10 acronyms.)
      ^([Thread #11070 for this sub, first seen 19th Feb 2025, 22:06])
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    17. whitelancer64 on

      “We are extremely concerned that an ad hoc team of individuals lacking any expertise, exposure, certifications, or knowledge of aviation operations being invited, or inserting themselves, to make ‘rapid’ changes to our nation’s air traffic systems,” they wrote. “Aviation safety is not an area to ‘move fast and break things.’”

      Yeah …..

    18. ArchStanton75 on

      Ah, that explains the recent accidents. SpaceX employees are used to unscheduled sudden decelerations.

    19. Not_CharlesBronson on

      Trump’s administration is a criminal administration and Republicans should be holding him accountable but instead they cower like the vermin they are.