Editorial Contributor

Robert A Sturgell has been deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration since 2003. He oversees the agency's day-to-day operations, capital programmes and modernisation efforts. He is also acting COO of ATO.

Prior to this, he was senior policy advisor at the National Transportation Safety Board, where he served as the chairman's primary advisor and coordinator for recommendations, policy programmes and other safety initiatives. He has also worked as a flight operations supervisor and line pilot for United Airlines. He is an attorney and practiced aviation law at the Washington, DC law firm, Shaw Pittman.

A former naval aviator, Sturgell was an instructor at the Navy Fighter Weapons School (Topgun) and flew the F-14, F-18, F-16 and A-4 aircraft. Now a Commander in the US Naval Reserves (Retired), he is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and the University of Virginia School of Law.