President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration faced scrutiny on Capitol Hill Wednesday, as Democrats pressed him about his past opposition to a pilot training rule adopted after a deadly airline crash in upstate New York. 

Bryan Bedford, who appeared at a confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate Wednesday morning, previously publicly labeled a rule mandating commercial airline pilots log 1,500 hours of flight training “arbitrary.” Under his leadership, Republic Airways unsuccessfully petitioned the FAA for an exemption. 

“Now is not the time for less actual cockpit time for pilots. This is a perilous moment for aviation safety,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois said during the hearing. 

What You Need To Know

  • Bryan Bedford, President Trump's FAA pick, previously publicly labeled a rule mandating commercial airline pilots log 1,500 hours of flight training “arbitrary.”

  • The 1,500-hour requirement was codified in a 2010 law approved by Congress in the aftermath of the deadly 2009 Colgan Air Flight 3407 crash just outside of Buffalo.

  • At his confirmation hearing, Bedford suggested there are better ways to train pilots.
  • One family member of a victim of the crash told Spectrum News, “The fact that he could not commit to not touching the 1,500-hour rule — our stance is that we would not be for his nomination."

The 1,500-hour requirement was codified in a 2010 law approved by Congress in the aftermath of the deadly 2009 Colgan Air Flight 3407 crash just outside of Buffalo. That crash was attributed to pilot error in a snowstorm. 

Relatives of those who died in the crash fought for the rule change. Some traveled to Washington to be on hand for the confirmation hearing.

During the hearing, Bedford was asked repeatedly if he would preserve the 1,500-hour rule. 

“I don't believe safety is static,” he replied at one point, insisting that, if confirmed, he will not roll back safety. 

He suggested, however, that there are better ways to train pilots, saying, "We’ve worked closely with our military evaluating how they're training pilots, and the way they're training pilots today is not the same way they were training pilots in 2020, 2015 or 2010. They're taking advantage of emerging technologies and utilizing them in ways to create more pilot proficiency.”

John Kausner, whose daughter was killed in Flight 3407 crash, and Ron Aughtmon, who lost his uncle that day, were among those in the room for the hearing. Afterward, both expressed frustration with Bedford’s responses to questions about the 1,500-hour rule. 

“You ran an airline. I lost a child,” Kausner said. “Look from the perspective of losing a child and the lives we have to save and implement rules for that, not for the bottom line of an airline.”

“The fact that he could not commit to not touching the 1,500-hour rule — our stance is that we would not be for his nomination,” Aughtmon said.

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, has labeled Bedford’s nomination “dangerous.” Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz, the top Republican on the committee reviewing Bedford, questioned the efficacy of the current 1,500-hour rule. 

Provided Bedford advances out of committee, he will also need to win approval in the full Senate.