As CEO of Republic Airways, Bedford led - and lost - effort to weaken 1,500-hour rule; refused to commit he wouldn’t weaken it as Administrator 

Nominee evaded, twisted, turned when asked opinion on impact of Republican spectrum auction plan on aviation safety before admitting “the record is clear” 

Cantwell: “We must have an Administrator who is an unwavering champion for safety, who strengthens safety standards, rather than seeking a way around them” 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, Ranking Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, grilled Trump’s nominee to serve as Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Bryan Bedford, on his failure to commit not to weaken the 1,500-hour pilot training rule if confirmed. Bedford spearheaded the lobbying effort against the safety rule enacted after the tragic 2009 Colgan Air Flight 3407 crash that killed 49 people, and as CEO of Republic Airways, petitioned the FAA for an exemption from it. Sen. Cantwell also pressed Bedford to confirm his concerns that Republicans’ spectrum auction plan would threaten aviation safety.

“The tragic mid-air collision in January between the Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines flight 5342 took the lives of 67 people and is a stark reminder what happens when the system fails,” said Sen. Cantwell. “These failures underscore why we must have an Administrator who is an unwavering champion for safety, who strengthens safety standards, rather than seeking a way around them. Your nomination does not come in a vacuum, so the Committee has obviously heard from other Trump administration officials, and we are concerned about light touch approaches in general.”

Mr. Bedford has for years criticized the 1,500-hour rule, claiming it “does nothing to further the goal of increased flight safety.” However, since this rule took effect in 2013, commercial aviation fatalities have dropped by over 99 percent compared to the two decades prior. As CEO of Republic Airways, Bedford petitioned FAA for an exemption to the rule in 2022, which FAA denied. During today’s hearing, Mr. Bedford refused to rule out that as Administrator he would not work to weaken the safety rule.

“Okay, 1,500-hour rule. There's a lot of concerns because you worked for a company, you were part of a lobbying effort, you came here and tried to change this rule,” Sen. Cantwell said to Mr. Bedford. “[P]eople are going to want to know. Families who've lost loved ones because of the safety implementations that have taken place, they want to know whether you're going to lead any effort to change that rule while you're Administrator. I think a lot will be depending on that answer…”.

Sen. Cantwell also pressed Mr. Bedford to reiterate his concern about the impact Republican spectrum auction plans would have on aviation safety. Last week, Sen. Cruz released the text of the Commerce title of the Reconciliation bill that proposes to sell off at least 100 megahertz in the upper C-Band for high-power use within 2 years. This band is directly adjacent to the band that aircraft radio altimeters use which studies show will lead to interference. Earlier today, Democrats wrote to Sen. Cruz about these concerns.

“A very important issue we also discussed in my office is this C-band sale that my colleague and others are proposing as part of this bill, and last time we ran into a lot of interference on that. So, we have joint studies that say this is a safety issue. What is your view?” Sen. Cantwell asked.

When Bedford refused to state his opinion, Sen. Cantwell reminded him that, “I had a very different conversation in my office, and you told me that the last interference was a big problem and you told me that this would be a big problem. So, I need consistency because it follows the 1,500-hour thing. You can say now, ‘I'm not going to do 1,500 hours,’ but if you get in there, and then you get pressured, and you do 1,500-hour changes, it's a different story.”

“And on this in my office, you clearly said there were interference issues, it was a mess, and you definitely didn't want to have future altimeter problems.” Sen. Cantwell continued. “We can't have sale of spectrum and then have altimeter interruptions or problems. We need to work cohesively on testbedding these issues.”  

Bedford then acquiesced, admitting, “I couldn’t agree more. The record is clear. We had significant challenges with the last spectrum rollout. We had interference with radio altimeters. We needed to invest in our aircraft with filters to make sure that they could operate safely. I said, for the record, that we should learn those lessons of the past and act more collaboratively rolling out.”

“We're not acting collaboratively right now. I can tell you that,” Sen. Cantwell concluded.

Joint studies by NTIA, the aviation industry, and the Department of Defense have concluded that new altimeters will need to be installed on all aircraft to safely operate with this interference. The standards for those altimeters are not slated to be finalized until 2027 – the same year this band is set to be auctioned.

VIDEO of Sen. Cantwell’s opening statement can be found HERE and Q and A can be found HERE

Full transcript can be found HERE

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