Trump appoints aviation safety commissioners

By John Liang / November 9, 2018 at 10:09 AM

President Trump has appointed four people to be members of the new National Commission on Military Aviation Safety.

The commission, established by the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, is intended to investigate the causes of recent high-profile aviation mishaps.

Trump appointed Scott Donnelly, Joseph Hagin, Richard Healing and Dabney Kern. Donnelly is chairman, president and CEO of Textron. Hagin is the White House deputy chief of staff for operations. Healing is CEO and president of Air Safety Engineering, LLC and a former National Transportation Safety Board member. Kern is senior vice president for corporate homeland and national defense at CACI and a former director of the White House Military Office during the George W. Bush administration.

Earlier this week, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA) made their own appointments to the commission: Thornberry appointing former Texas congressman Pete Geren (D), and Smith naming retired Air Force Gen. Raymond Johns.

Under the NDAA, the Armed Services Committee chairman and ranking member are allowed to appoint one commissioner each, while the president may appoint four.

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