Records: Chao government flights cost $94K

The newly released records do not indicate that anyone has raised red flags over Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s use of the FAA aircraft. Credit: Susan Walsh, AP Photo

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao flew on Federal Aviation Administration planes rather than commercial flights on seven occasions between January and August 2017, newly released records show — including one flight to and around Europe that cost taxpayers an estimated $68,892 for her and five staffers.

All told, Chao’s flights on the FAA planes cost an estimated $93,977.84, the records show.

She appears to have halted the practice just as one of her fellow Cabinet members, then-Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, was facing increasing scrutiny over his use of private and military flights. Price resigned in September 2017 after POLITICO raised questions about the flight expenses, which totaled about $1.2 million.

View the complete September 18 article by Tanya Snyder on the Politico website here.

Trump’s personal pilot ‘in the mix’ to lead the Federal Aviation Administration

The following article by John Wagner was posted on the Washington Post website February 25, 2018:

Credit: Getty Images

President Trump’s personal pilot is “in the mix” to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, a White House official confirmed Sunday night.

Axios first reported that John Dunkin, Trump’s longtime pilot, who flew him around the country on a Boeing 757 during the 2016 campaign, is on the Trump administration’s shortlist to head the FAA, which regulates civil aviation in the United States. Continue reading “Trump’s personal pilot ‘in the mix’ to lead the Federal Aviation Administration”