The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has instructed its employees to find tens of millions of dollars to sign a deal with Elon Musk’s satellite internet company Starlink. This comes as hundreds of FAA staff were laid off last month, weeks after a deadly plane crash in Washington, D.C. The FAA officials allegedly directed staff verbally to avoid a paper trail.
This is not the first indication that SpaceX and its subsidiaries are influencing the FAA. Several engineers from SpaceX have been working as senior advisors to the acting FAA administrator. The Washington Post reported that the FAA is considering cancelling a $2.4 billion contract with Verizon to upgrade air traffic control communications systems, instead awarding it to Starlink.
The FAA fined SpaceX for violating license requirements last year. Days before Donald Trump took office, an investigation into a SpaceX rocket breakup was launched. Musk’s involvement with the FAA raises concerns about his companies’ regulatory role. However, there are questions about Musk’s knowledge of the commercial space industry. Recently, he incorrectly stated that Verizon’s system was “breaking down very rapidly” and would fail catastrophically in months.
Musk later corrected himself and identified a different company as responsible for the failing infrastructure. When fellow tech CEO Ryan Petersen asked why a flight from San Francisco to Houston wasn’t flying in a straight line, Musk responded confidently but incorrectly. The truth was that turbulence caused the plane to deviate from its course.
Source: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/elon-musks-satellite-company-windfall