The Buttonville Flying Club COPA Flight 44

Lakeland, April 13-18: FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt to participate at 2010 Sun'n Fun
 
 
SUN 'n FUN CAMPUS, LAKELAND, FL. – (Wednesday March 3, 2010.)FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt will participate in the 36th annual SUN 'n FUN International Fly-In & Expo, which will be held April 13-18 at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Lakeland, Fla. Babbitt will participate in several activities during his stay, including the popular “Meet the FAA” session on Friday, April 16, at 1 p.m. in the FAA National Resource Center and Production Studios located and operating year-round in the heart of the SUN 'n FUN campus.
 
“SUN 'n FUN is very pleased to host Administrator Babbitt this year and we look forward to his participation,” said SUN 'n FUN President and Convention Chairman, John Burton. “There are several issues we hope to discuss with the Administrator and his key staff members during the course of his stay.We also hope he will be able to spend some of his time along the flightline meeting with pilots and enjoying a healthy dose of SUN ’n FUN’s southern-style hospitality.”
 
Randy Babbitt was sworn in as the FAA’s 16th Administrator on June 1, 2009. Babbitt comes to the FAA from Oliver Wyman, an international management consulting firm where he served as partner.
 
A veteran pilot and internationally recognized expert in aviation and labor relations, Babbitt is no stranger to the FAA.He has been a member of the agency’s Management Advisory Council since 2001. In that capacity, he provided guidance to the FAA Administrator on a variety of topics, ranging from air traffic modernization to regulatory policy. He was Chairman of the council from 2004-06.
 
He also was appointed by DOT Secretary Mary Peters to be a member of a special Internal Review Team to assess safety oversight within the airline industry and the FAA.
 
Babbitt had been the founding partner of Eclat Consulting, a highly successful aviation firm, in 2001 and was the President and CEO until Eclat was acquired by Oliver Wyman in 2007.
 
Babbitt began his aviation career as a pilot, flying 25 years for Eastern Airlines. A skilled negotiator, he served as President and CEO for the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the world’s largest professional organization of airline pilots. While at ALPA, he championed the “One Level of Safety” initiative implemented in 1995 to improve safety standards across the industry.He also promoted the international expansion of ALPA through a merger with the Canadian Air Line Pilots Association in 1997.