Musk has publicly clashed with the FAA and its former chief, Michael Whitaker. The Federal Aviation Administration is facing its first major aviation disaster in 16 years without a leader because Elon Musk helped push him out.

Mike Whitaker, the previous FAA administrator, stepped down on Inauguration Day after just over a year on the job. He’d repeatedly clashed with Elon Musk — now in charge of a group tasked with slashing the government’s headcount by President Donald Trump — over safety issues at his space company,

While that office may be ready to go to work, the FAA itself is not fully on the job. That’s because it’s without an administrator. Michael Whitaker, who had led the administration since Oct., 2023, stepped down earlier this month,