FAA chief who led agency during 737 Max crisis is stepping down

Steve Dickson, who led the US FAA through a tumultuous period following fatal crashes of Boeing’s 737 Max and the Covid-19 pandemic, is stepping down from the agency at the end of March. Dickson informed FAA’s employees in an email Wednesday of his plan to depart less than three years into his five-year term. He called the decision “very difficult,” but said he was motivated by the long periods he’d been forced to spend away from his family in Georgia as a result of the job and the pandemic. “Although my heart is heavy, I am tremendously proud of everything we have accomplished together over the past several years,” Dickson said in the email. “The agency is in a better place than it was two years ago, and we are positioned for great success.” Dickson, 64, was appointed head of the FAA by President Donald Trump and sworn in on August 12, 2019. That was about five months after the second of two crashes of the 737 Max, which killed 346 people. Dickson was thrust front and center as Congress held contentious hearings into the agency and its role in certifying the jet. <br/>