John H. Shaffer

John Hixon Shaffer (February 25, 1919 – September 14, 1997) was an administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration from March 24, 1969 until March 14, 1973.[1]

John H. Shaffer
United States
Federal Aviation Administrator
In office
March 24, 1969 – March 14, 1973
Preceded byWilliam F. McKee
Succeeded byAlexander Butterfield
Personal details
Born
John Hixon Shaffer

(1919-02-25)February 25, 1919
Everett, Pennsylvania
DiedSeptember 14, 1997(1997-09-14) (aged 78)
Frederick, Maryland
Spouse(s)Joan Van Week (m. 1943)
Alma materUnited States Military Academy (1943)
Air Force Institute of Technology (1945)
Columbia University

He was the administrator during an en-masse calling-in sick strike by air traffic controllers during 1969. In the summer, Shaffer testified to a congressional committee that air traffic controllers were neither overworked nor underpaid.[2] Shaffer's testimony increased pressure on controllers to return to their jobs. Celebrity lawyer F. Lee Bailey of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) stated, "This guy Shaffer has got to go."[3] The FAA and Shaffer were both later attacked by the PATCO for continuing to operate the air traffic system despite the low number of controllers.[3]

On December 3, 1970, he testified to Congress about aviation safety.[4]

Following his retirement from the FAA, Shaffer was involved in a debate over the use of microwave landing systems in civil aviation and which country's industry should be awarded a contract for construction of the equipment: the U.S., U.K., or Germany. Shaffer himself agreed with British assessments that the American manufactured MLS system was inferior and poorly tested.[5]

Awards

Notes
  1. "Hearings". 1969.
  2. Unfriendly skies - The air traffic controllers' sick-out, 1969 retrieved on April 27, 2007,
  3. Time Magazine One Man's Slow-Motion Aerial Act retrieved on April 27, 2007,
  4. http://testimony.ost.dot.gov/test/pasttest/70test/Shaffer1.PDF
  5. Time Magazine A New MLS, But Whose? retrieved on April 27, 2007
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-12-21. Retrieved 2010-09-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Government offices
Preceded by
William F. McKee		 Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration
1969–1973		 Succeeded by
Alexander Butterfield
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