Hmm. The alphabet groups, that is, AOPA, NBAA, EAA, NATA, HAI, and others, who initially supported Bryan Bedford’s nomination are now in a tricky spot. Good piece, Russ. Needed to be said.
Russ,
You hit it right on the nose with this article!
Raf,
Amazing how quiet all of those groups have been since that session with the subcommittee!
n8274k,
I respectfully disagree with you on the ATP rule. I have lost count of how many FO’s I have had who could not even fly a visual traffic pattern in a jet. If you don’t learn the basics how can you expect to learn advanced concepts like flying a transport category turbine airplane. The military has their own way of training, if you can’t learn at their pace you are out, plain and simple. In the civilian training world where the candidates are paying their own way it doesn’t work that way. Now if the airlines want to actually pay for candidates training, that’s different. Unfortunately the US airlines don’t want to do that. And they won’t as long as there are pilot candidates who are willing to pay their own way to an airline job.
The Bedford situation has some distant echoes in the Jack Pelton mess uncovered by 60 Minutes about twenty years ago. While the circumstances are different, and Pelton was not accused of lying, there are some similarities. Pelton at the time was CEO at Cessna. He has served as EAA chairman since 2012 and CEO since 2015.
Well, Russ, ya piqued my interest in Bedford’s qualifications to become Administrator, so I did my own due diligence before I answered the poll question elsewhere on Avweb.
Since 1958, there have been 19 Administrators; Bedford would be the 20th. I realized I’ve been a pilot during 16 of them. (Yikes!) I took the time to read the FAA Media bio’s on all of them. Then I looked up Bedford’s bio. He doesn’t look any better or worse than previous people who have warmed that chair up and – in fact – does have a fairly lengthy association with aviation. I can see where he’d seem qualified to do the job when comparing his background to the others. I think I see a propensity toward making decisions that would benefit the airlines but that’s about it. As to his lack of a commercial certificate … SO WHAT? At least he is a pilot. The vacating Administrator, Whitaker – a Biden appointee – only held a private certificate. Michael Huerta wasn’t a pilot at all. I doubt if he knew hot air comes out of a jet?
While I don’t disagree that Bedford shoulda cleaned up his bio, I don’t see it as a show stopper. Since you think the Administration could do better … let’s hear YOUR nomination preference? You hit the nail on the head when you said running the FAA is a ‘special sort of hell.’ That anyone would want the job surprises me.
If Bedford doesn’t take get or take the job, I’ll accept it … I’ll fix it. Lots of folks won’t like how I do it but I will fix it.
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The issue here is about character, not about what rating you have. Bedford, by continuing to lie about having a commercial rating, shows all of us he lacks the proper character necessary to hold the position of FAA Administrator…
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I met and had an interesting discussion with Bryan Bedford at an RAA convention. Before that discussion took place I introduced myself as an FAA Air Carrier Operations Inspector 1825 currently serving as a Principal Operations Inspector of a 14 CFR Part 121 regional carrier. Mr. Bedford lectured me on how FAA was dragging its heels on granting an exemption/waiver to the “1500 hour rule” and mistakenly compared Republic’s flight academy equal to military Undergraduate Pilot Training. As a former military trained aviator, retired major air carrier Captain and now FAA Inspector I just let him run amok. The other two Inspectors that were in attendance came to the same conclusion and it wasn’t complimentary
I shared this information with every Senator on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee who conducted his nomination/confirmation hearing. To a person I received no responses.
Here ya go:
I fly with many military pilots who fall behind a highly automated, but not especially difficult aircraft to fly. After their hitch is up, they are many years removed from primary training with a disproportionately low total time. Why should 750 hours be sufficient for them? And why the current push towards mentoring? There is a bell curve to everything and military pilot training and qualification is no exception. As one military pilot reminded me, “ If the minimum wasn’t good enough, it wouldn’t be the minimum!” And don’t think for a moment that I have anything against those who stood up to bravely serve. My beef is with an arbitrary time requirement that allows a safety chasm between 250hrs and 1500hrs. By your own admission, 1500 is insufficient for some pilots and they should be washed out. But others with more pertinent experience in Part 135 two crew ops and turbine operation get no recognition for the quality of their experience.
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Thanks for posting the names. I too have attempted to contact some of the members of the subcommittee- no response - and this my friends is the problem.
A CPL is very important to a pilot who uses it to make a living.For a person earning a living in another area,a pilots licence,plus ratings,etc is problay a fun hobby,but the individual relevance problay on a different level
Russ, nicely done.
This one’s got more bite than usual, a welcome change. Direct, clear, and not afraid to call it like it is. Maybe it’s just long-overdue frustration coming through, or maybe you’re saying what a lot of us have been thinking for a while. Either way, you nailed it.
Really can’t accept that he is not responsible for “mistakes” on his resume. If he’s willing to bend the truth for purposes of self promotion this isn’t the right role.
Well spoken Russ and thank you for saying what needed to be said. The unfortunate truth in this era is that the willingness and ability to lie with a straight face is a prime qualification for the job.
Well … revisiting the subject and reading MoMule’s comments, it appears that HIS opinion is the moist poignant here. He wins the comments IMHO. It also mirrors my previous comment where I thought Bedford might ‘favor’ the airlines in decisionmaking based upon my review of his full bio. OK … Bedford gets my “no.” That said, the discussion of his not correcting what level of pilot certificate he possesses is irrelevant and immaterial.
In fairness to AOPA, when they endorsed Bryan Bedford in March 2025, they described him as “an instrument-rated private pilot with a multi-engine rating.” No mention of a commercial certificate—because there wasn’t one in the FAA’s records.
The controversy over the incomplete commercial checkride, that he passed the written and oral but never completed the flight test didn’t surface publicly until June via POLITICO. AOPA likely checked the FAA Airmen Certification database, saw what he actually held, and stuck to the facts. But no one else seemed to catch the discrepancy.
Republic Airways has a new interim CEO.
Certificate, not rating.
I agree with the rest.
He will work for Duffy and Trump so any qualification beyond the willingness to follow blindly and shut up is a net negative.
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I’m asking my two senators to vote no on him, for lying and being for the 750 hour FOs .
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