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U.S. Secretary of Transportation visits Oklahoma City, highlights aviation industry

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg speaks to aviation workers, instructors, and students at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center on Thursday.
Hannah France
/
KGOU
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg speaks to aviation workers, instructors, and students at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center on Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited Oklahoma City as a part of the Biden Administration’s “Investing in America” tour.

Secretary Buttigieg met with Gov. Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center on Thursday to try out some air traffic control training simulators.

He later spoke with teachers, students, and staff at the Federal Aviation Administration Academy about how funding from 2021’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will be used to improve airfield safety and the future of aviation careers.

"We have a once-in-a-lifetime investment from President Biden’s leadership plus an explosion of new technological possibilities creating all this potential," Buttigieg said.

This follows the FAA’s Safety Summit that addressed the uptick in the number of recent incidents, from near misses between aircraft to unruly passengers.

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Hannah France joined KGOU as a reporter in 2021, shortly after earning a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. In 2023, Hannah was the first place recipient of the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists' Radio Outstanding Reporter Portfolio award. Hannah reports on a variety of topics including criminal justice, housing, and labor rights and is dedicated to educating and empowering Oklahomans through community storytelling.
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