Whoever is named to succeed Russ Chew as COO of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) faces particular challenges as Congress debates controversial FAA funding proposals that would take place over the next decade and are scheduled to start in October. Chew, a former airline pilot who led the ATO since its inception in 2003, resigned last month. The purpose of the ATO is to oversee conversion of the ATC system into a “performance-based organization,” by which government agencies operate more like a business with clear lines of accountability.