President Donald Trump weighed in on a Cabinet dispute to let his acting Attorney General fly in a military formation with NASA administrator Jared Isaacman’s jet collection, despite objections to the whole scheme from the FAA and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The controversy involved Isaacman’s “plans to fly his personal collection of F-5 Tiger II fighter jets as part of Saturday’s nine-hour parade of military aircraft,” said the report. “The NASA administrator, who made a fortune in payment processing, co-founded a company that trains U.S. pilots,” and thus has one of the world’s largest private collections of fighter jets.
Isaacman “sought permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly the jets in the aerial review, according to a public notice the agency later released,” said the report. “Hugh J. Thomas, a 24-year agency veteran who now directs its Flight Standards Service, determined that the jets were too risky to fly over a densely populated area,” warning, “A single system failure will render the aircraft uncontrollable.”
The FAA refused to alter its decision after an appeal, as Duffy agreed with the FAA’s ruling — but then Trump stepped in, and “the official White House X account posted a video previewing the plan for Isaacman to fly in the parade — seen as a nod in his favor.”
NASA then classified the jets as “public use” on an ad hoc basis, getting around FAA restrictions. “By that point, it was too late for most of the planned VIP passengers to join the ride. But Blanche still wanted to participate,” said the report — and after he mentioned his disappointment to Trump, the president “encouraged him to go,” per an insider source.
Isaacman is a close ally of right-wing tech trillionaire Elon Musk, and Trump’s initial withdrawal of his nomination to NASA — later reversed — was a big part of the two men’s falling out last year.
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