US president Donald Trump named Chris Rocheleau, who has logged 20 years working at the Federal Aviation Administration, as the agency’s acting administrator, a move following the 29 January mid-air collision involving a passenger jet near Washington, DC.
The FAA confirms the appointment.
A well-known figure in the aviation community, Rocheleau had worked at the FAA until 2022, when he took a job as chief operating officer at the National Business Travel Association.
Rocheleau now returns to the FAA as acting administrator, filling a post vacant since former FAA administrator Michael Whitaker left the agency in January ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
A former US Air Force officer, Rocheleau joined the FAA in 1996, taking an operations job, then left in 2001 to work at the Transportation Security Administration, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He returned to the FAA in 2005 and worked there until 2022, holding positions including counsellor to the administrator, chief of staff, and executive director of the FAA’s office of internal affairs. He became the agency’s deputy associate administrator for aviation safety in 2021.
Rocheleau takes the agency’s helm with the aviation industry and travelling public reeling from the deadly mid-air collision of a PSA Airlines MHIRJ CRJ700 and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk near Washington, DC on 29 January.
Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River, killing all 64 people aboard the CRJ700 and all three crew on the Black Hawk.
The agency has already been working for several years to address a recent spat of near-aircraft-collisions. It has also been working to address a nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers.
