WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Federal Aviation Administration is being scrutinized over safety concerns during a hearing on Wednesday. This comes after a deadly midair collision in January and several other crashes and near misses that have occurred since.
The majority of the industry, including leading airlines and their associations, endorse Bryan Bedford’s nomination. However, pilots unions and Democrats are worried he may reduce pilot training standards.
Since 1999 Bedford has been the CEO of regional airline Republic Airways and brings over thirty years of industry experience. He has committed to prioritizing safety at the FAA and aims to restore public confidence in air travel. Additionally, Bedford has expressed his intention to collaborate with Congress on Trump’s extensive plan to revamp the nation’s air traffic control system.
The National Transportation Safety Board has said the FAA should have acted before the crash in Washington, D.C., because there had been 85 near misses reported around Ronald Reagan National Airport in the years before the disaster. The FAA has since banned some helicopter routes to make sure helicopters and planes no longer share the same airspace, but there have still been additional near misses in recent months.
FAA’s acting administrator and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have acknowledged the FAA’s shortcomings in not recognizing the risk and pledged to review all the agency’s data to identify any similar concerns nationwide about helicopter traffic near airports. That review prompted the agency to put new limits on helicopter flights around Las Vegas’ airport.
Even the air traffic controllers union backed Bedford’s nomination because of his support for the effort to modernize the outdated system and bolster controller hiring. Two different radar outages this spring in a facility that directs planes in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport highlighted the problems because the FAA had to limit flights at the airport after five controllers took trauma leave after the problems.
“Flying is safe, but as you know the system that manages our skies is showing its age,” Bedford said in his prepared statement to the committee. “The stresses of this antiquated system truly came into view as we all returned to the skies after COVID.”
Pilots’ unions and Democrats have raised concerns that Bedford may support weakening the 1,500-hour experience standard for airline pilots that was adopted after a 2009 crash or even might consider allowing some airlines to operate with only one pilot. Republic previously asked for permission to hire pilots with less experience because the standard was making it hard to find enough pilots.
“People are going to want to know … whether you’re going to lead any effort to change that rule,” Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell said. She asked for a firm written answer because “you helped fund and lobbied for a change for it.”
Bedford acknowledged Wednesday that “problems persist and more work needs to be done” to ensure the safety of flying around the nation’s capital. He said his own airline’s planes have received at least three alarms about conflicting traffic around Reagan since January.
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