Shrugging off embarrassing revelations regarding his pilot credentials, Bryan Bedford saw his nomination for FAA Administrator take a step forward this morning. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has voted to advance Bedford’s nomination by a slim 15-13 margin. The nomination will now pass to the full Senate for confirmation.
The longtime Republic Airways CEO has drawn praise from multiple aviation advocacy groups as well as lawmakers, including committee chair Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who said, “Bryan Bedford is ready to be FAA Administrator. He’s just as informed about aviation safety as other nominees—if not more. This committee understands how important it is to have an FAA administrator with ACTUAL experience. Bryan Bedford will modernize the FAA to meet today’s challenges.”
Bedford countered criticism for inaccurately claiming to hold a commercial certificate by explaining he had completed the written and oral segments of the rating but never completed the checkride due to weather and a career shift some 15 years ago. He testified to the Senate committee that he currently flies regularly under his private pilot certificate.
Lie about your ratings for 15 years, still get the job
I worked Bryan Bedford while a pilot for Business Express Airlines. I’ve watched him go from there, to Mesaba and then to Republic. I can tell you, the Tiger does not change his stripes.
Bryan cares about only one thing, how to line his pockets and his fellow airline CEO’s pockets. Pilot pushing, he wrote the book. Unwilling to pay a living wage, that’s Bryan.
Let’s not fool ourselves. While he is a capable business administrator, he will pay lip service to safety if it means he and his fellow airline execs can make more money.
Rant off….
I’m sorry but you can see what motivates this man. He has a raging inferiority complex that he soothes with embellishment. If he’ll exaggerate to enhance his standing in the eyes of people he considers superior, what will he do to ensure his advancement in any job. Is this really the mentality we want running the most complicated National Airspace System in the world?
I guess it may be time to get gone before the next smoking hole appears.
If being in a drunk, philanderer, rapist, sexual predator, deranged or convicted criminal or just plain unqualified won’t keep you out of the job, there’s no reason why he won’t get this one. A lie I on a 20-year-old résumé is not a mistake he has was explained. But that won’t matter.
And what does this say about the venality of the folks who vetted, promoted, and are defending him for his new job? Their best defense is ignorance which, I guess, is par for those playing at the Bedminster Club.
It seemed like Republic was having more problems finding and keeping pilots than most of the other regionals. They advertised a lot for direct entry positions to the left seat and were a big proponent of lowering the 1500 hour requirement and operating a 135 operation pretending to be a 121 operator.
Another crook at the helm of a crooked government agency. What did you expect?
Reading briefly, apparently this candidate comes from the same scat trail this administration is known for dropping on the country. Now it’s the FAA top dog.
We do have to own what the government ate in the first place though - thru our vote. Seems more and more revealing as time passes, this is the best we can do. Garbage in, garbage out.
Stop the world -…
Well, that’s easy for you to say.
Bryan Bedford is the personification of a political hack. He brings so much baggage to the nomination but will be confirmed because of political party majority votes. He represents a clear conflict of interest and will grant regional airlines any relief they seek. Also, trustworthiness is not his strong suit, witness misrepresenting pilot qualifications.
He’s the wrong guy. If he ‘exaggerated’ his credentials by saying he had a Commercial license, what’s next? AND if he didn’t know he didn’t have a Commercial license, even though he did t take the checkride, well that’s an even bigger problem