FLASH NEWS The new AVS-1 and what she brings to Certification
FAA Taps Locke To Lead Safety Organization
Sean Broderick June 16, 2026
FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety Caitlin Locke
December 17, 2024The FAA Aircraft Certification Service has been subjected to severe scrutiny for obvious reasons. Every action or inaction has been the subject of Hill hearings and all sorts of media coverage. Given that recent high profile it is incomprehensible that neither the DOT nor the FAA announced the December 16th selection of the AIR-1 Executive Director. Only Aviation Daily highlighted this important leadership decision.
Below, Mr. Broderick’s partial article about Caitlin Locke and her Curriculum Vitae provide important background.
The AIR function has been the subject of a number of posts and their general message is that the FAA is challenged in its determination of airworthiness, particularly aircraft and related products:
- Time for FAA to up its CERTIFICATION game?
- What did the OIG really find in its audit of Boeing-FAA ?
- What can be learned from Piper Fury and Part 23 revision?
- History has an ANSWER for FAA’s 3rd party inspections
- BOEING 737 MAX 10—THE MAZE explained.
- National Academies point out massive future FAA challenge
- A new aviation innovation tests the FAA TC
- Battery Technological Explosion coming, path to FAA approval?
- Scholl interview: a blueprint for innovative TC applicants
- COCKPIT AUTOMATION- ALPA NO, NEVER; does the L in ALPA = LUDDITE ?
- Some Interesting insights into old aviation technologies being reimagined!
Ms. Locke should be an important addition to the Certification Service. Her education should facilitate her work with the TC applicants, in that the MIT “RAT RING” will identify Locke as a peer in industry meetings.
Another significant IMPRIMATUR for her relationships with the field is her history- working up the ranks of the FAA. That creates credibility with the aviation safety professionals who work at:
- Certification Branches (formerly Aircraft Certification Offices (ACO))
- Certificate Management Branches (formerly Manufacturing Inspection Offices (MIO))
- Certificate Management Sections (formerly Manufacturing Inspection District Offices (MIDO))
These facilities are where the important analysis occurs and where the policy pronouncements from Headquarters are implemented (sometimes begrudgingly).
In 1998 the National Academies issued a thoughtful report about AIR and the future- Role of the Aircraft Certification Service (AIR) | Improving the continued airworthiness of civil aircraft …. Director Locke appears well suited to meet that guidance.
Locke Takes Over As FAA Certification Chief
Sean Broderick December 16, 2024
The FAA named CAITLIN LOCKE as the new head of its certification service, the agency confirmed. Locke’s first day in her new position, formally executive director of Aircraft Certification (AIR-1), was Dec. 16. Locke replaces Wes Mooty, who has been serving as acting AIR-1 since Lirio Liu left the…
