President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, Bryan Bedford, acknowledged Wednesday that he doesn’t hold a commercial pilot’s license — despite claiming to for years on his airline’s website biography.
Bedford, the CEO of Republic Airways, confirmed in a written response to questions submitted by members of the Senate Commerce Committee that he does not have a commercial pilot’s license, despite the website saying so since at least 2010. Politico first reported the discrepancy.
“It is true I fully completed all my commercial flight training, including the FAA written exam and FAA oral exam,” Bedford told lawmakers during a Senate Commerce Committee meeting. “However, due to weather, I was unable to complete my FAA check ride before switching jobs and therefore did not formally obtain my commercial flight license.”
Bedford, who has a private pilot’s license, also holds additional credentials allowing him to fly in a variety of specialized circumstances, including operating multi-engine planes and piloting at night or in bad weather. Pilots working toward their commercial privileges would have to pass a more comprehensive flight test that includes successfully performing complicated maneuvers in midair and during landing or takeoff, a certified pilot instructor told Politico.
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“Bryan never misrepresented his credential; it was an administrative error that was immediately corrected,” the Department of Transportation said in a statement to Politico. The agency did not respond to questions about what the “error” was or how it had been fixed.
The discrepancy doesn’t seem to be a deal-breaker, as Bedford moved ahead for a full vote on the Senate floor next Wednesday.
His nomination comes at a crucial time for the beleaguered agency, which has dealt with a series of recent incidents.
The agency is still reeling from the deadly crash earlier this year near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that killed 67 people, and subsequent questions from lawmakers about safety protocols. The agency is also attempting to modernize communication systems that have malfunctioned and caused outages at Newark airport in New Jersey and elsewhere.
Layoffs at the FAA in May also prompted safety concerns from senators — though Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy argued that those terminated were not “critical safety personnel” like air traffic controllers, which the agency is actively trying to recruit more of.
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Amelia Benavides-Colón is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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