FAA Chief Bails for Lobby Group

The top official of the Federal Aviation Administration is quitting to lead one of  Washington's most powerful lobbying organizations. Marion C. Blakey will head the Aerospace Industries Association, whose members include Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and most of the rest of the heavy hitters in civil and military aviation, and space and information technology, reports the Washington Post.

Blakey, 59, will take up her new post in November. She is the latest senior administration official to quit  as the Bush presidency approaches its end. Barbara Barrett, a former deputy FAA administrator during the Reagan administration, is being mentioned as a successor.   (More Aerospace Industries Association stories.)