It's my first day, how bad can it be?

Ben Sliney actually played himself in the movie United 93. It was his first day on the job, but he was pretty experienced, he previously ran all of New York City's air traffic.

I saw an interview with him maybe 15 years ago (sorry I can't find it now) but he grounded every plane in the US without approval from anyone above him on his first day as the FAA National Operation Manager (I believe he was at least 5 levels below the President).

Pretty incredible story but he knew how to react and executed the plan well.

edit: clarified some stuff and figured I should include his Wikipedia page too

Thanks for sharing. That’s really interesting. Also, what a way to absolutely do great on your first day. Realize there’s a massive aerospace emergency, ground all flights without approval, because approval could mean the cost of more lives. Dude deserves some praise for what he did.
- Looking back at history, we're there other flights as attack vectors that a ground stop prevented from executing their plan? Or was a ground stop, albeit the correct course of action, pointless in preventing anything because the plan had already been executed in full?
Now imagine what it was like for the guy who took over his old job in New York on that day.

I wonder if there was a moment where he was like, "oh haha, very funny guys. Sure it just crashed into the WTC, totally."

"Awesome prank Farva."
- Al Qaeda: "HAHA OH SHIT I GOT YOU GOOD YOU FUCKER"
It's obviously just a hazing ritual they put the new guys through, right?.... Right guys?

Damn, can you imagine that being your first day? I assume he had already been through some kind of training or had some assistance in making the decision to ground air traffic

Terrible first day, but he had a senior position at New York TRACON (which controls nearly all air traffic in New York) for years before getting the federal position. He was definitely experienced.
- Still a rough first day. I wonder if his relative inexperience in the position had any effect on the outcome of that day

This guy is going to completely ace his next job interview.

"Tell us about the last time you had to solve a difficult problem"

"Yea got a funny story about that..."

It was his first day in charge, but far from his first day with the FAA. He still had a lot of experience.

He also played himself in United 93.

Think of better things that happened that day.

That video really took me back, what a vibe. And so very Berlin.
That looks really cool.
Are you in Czech Hunter?
- Maybe. Which character do you think I am?

Trial by fire, literally.

Coincidence?
One word. This is why there will always be conspiracy theories I guess.

Yep I remember seeing this “cited” as a “dead giveaway” for the whole “inside job” theory.
- You’d think they would make it less obvious than that if they wanted to hide a conspiracy.
  
  Funny how they always think that there are some intricate hidden conspiracies, yet that they are obvious enough that some dumbasses on Facebook can figure it out.

I just hope he didn't bombed his first day.