NASA chief flew private military jets over D.C. for July 4th despite FAA disapproval
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flew private military jets over D.C. in a flyover Saturday — with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as a passenger — despite safety objections from the FAA.
In an unusual move, a senior adviser to the NASA administrator petitioned the FAA on behalf of Isaacman's private jet company, JDI Holdings, to participate in the aerial demonstrations over the National Mall during the America 250 celebrations in Washington.
Isaacman, who made his fortune through a payment processing company Shift4 Payments, also co-founded Draken International, a defense contracting company that also holds one of the world's largest privately owned fleets of military fighter jets.
The petition sought to have four Northrop F-5 Tiger II aircraft from Isaacman's private fleet, flown by NASA pilots and U.S. Air Force pilots, participate in the flyover, according to publicly released documents . The petitioner also noted that the request was "sponsored by the White House and NASA."
The FAA denied the request on June 30, deeming the Cold War-era F-5 fighter jet as "very high-risk" to operate over densely populated areas with a lack of emergency landing zones. The denial called the F-5 "an aircraft for which a single system failure will render the aircraft uncontrollable." The decision was signed by Hugh Thomas, the veteran director of the Flight Standards Service.
Still, Isaacman pushed forward with the flyover. NASA bypassed the review's restrictions by transferring Isaacman's aircraft from private to public use under the space agency, allowing the aerial demonstration to continue despite the FAA ruling.