Benjamin Sliney

Mr. Ben Sliney

Mr. Sliney graduated from Dowling College, with a BS in Professional Studies in 1974 and was graduated from St. John’s University School of Law with a JD in 1978.

He began his career with the Federal Aviation Administration in 1969 and retired in 2006 having been in and out of the FAA several times. He resigned first in 1982, one year after the PATCO strike which resulted the termination of some 13,000 air traffic controllers fired by President Reagan for striking against the government. Mr. Sliney returned to active air traffic control as did many managers in the absence of the fired controllers. After resigning, he then represented 25 fired controllers in the legal process to appeal their removal. He returned to the FAA, while continuing his law practice, in 1985 for one year, then 1988 for one year. On both occasions he returned to assist the implementation of traffic flow management practices. In 2000 he returned to the FAA as a traffic flow manager at the Command Center. His first day as National Operations Manager for the Federal Aviation Administration at the Air Traffic Control System Command Center, which encompasses all the airspace in the United States, was September 11th, 2001.

He is a partner in the law firm Leventhal, Sliney and Mullaney, LLP, which is located in New York, although not actively practicing law at this time.

In 2006, Mr. Sliney portrayed himself in the movie United 93, which depicts the events of 9-11 and dramatizes the heroic actions of the passengers of that flight.