FAA administrator Randy Babbitt resigned Tuesday as head of the Federal Aviation Administration following his arrest over the weekend on charges of drunken driving.
Randy Babbitt, who had been FAA administrator since 2009, resigned Tuesday following his arrest Saturday December3, 2011 on a DUI charge.
Randy was observed by police driving on the wrong side of the road on Old Lee Highway near the Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center and police station in Fairfax City, Virginia.
View Google Map: Fairfax City Police Department Building 3740 Old Lee Highway.
Babbitt was raised in Florida. He attended the University of Georgia and the University of Miami before becoming an airline pilot, flying for Eastern Air Lines for 25 years.
Babbitt’s father (“Slim” Babbitt) was also an airline pilot; he was one of the founding fathers of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which has become the largest airline pilot union in the United States and Canada.
President Bill Clinton appointed Babbitt to the FAA Management Advisory Council. While in that capacity Babbitt sat on an independent review panel advising the government on aviation safety policy.
President Barack Obama formally nominated Babbitt to become the FAA Administrator on 27 March 2009. Babbitt’s nomination was confirmed by the US Senate on 21 May 2009; and he was sworn in on June 1, 2009.