After multiple aviation catastrophes and troubling reports of problems at airports across the country, it’s safe to say that many Americans have been hopeful — if not optimistic — that the Trump administration would install a steady-handed, trustworthy leader at the beleaguered Federal Aviation Administration.
The fact that President Donald Trump has selected an individual for the job who seems to have inflated his credentials doesn’t inspire much confidence.
The Air Current, an aviation outlet, appears to have been first to report on Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford’s false portrayal of himself as a commercial pilot, and Politico shined more light on the nominee for FAA chief over the weekend. According to Politico:
President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Federal Aviation Administration long described himself in his official biography as being certified to fly aircraft commercially — but records examined by POLITICO show that he does not hold any commercial license.
Bryan Bedford’s biography at Republic Airways, the regional airline where he has been CEO since 1999, said until Thursday that he “holds commercial, multi-engine and instrument ratings.” (By Friday, after POLITICO’s inquiries, the word “commercial” had been removed.) The FAA registry that houses data on pilot’s licenses does not list any such commercial credentials for Bedford.
Similar language asserting commercial credentials for Bedford appeared in his Republic bio since at least 2010, according to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
Politico also highlighted footage of Bedford speaking at Liberty University in 2019, where he was introduced as someone with commercial credentials. And Bedford intimated as much during the question-and-answer portion:
When I was in Minnesota between like, 1994, 1997, I went through private, instrument, multi-engine, commercial, and by the time we got to our next labor negotiation three years later, I had all my ratings, and l’d actually been flying some of our turbine airplanes around.
So it looks like Trump’s pick to lead the FAA hasn’t been forthcoming about his true credentials. And that — after media scrutiny — he (or someone aligned with him) took action to paper over a falsehood that he allowed to linger.
Americans might be wise to ask themselves if this is befitting of someone they should trust overseeing the aviation system.
And I’ll note here that the Trump administration has seen multiple nominees now come under scrutiny for previously misrepresenting their credentials, including now-Education Secretary Linda McMahon and failed surgeon general nominee Janette Nesheiwat.
The Transportation Department, nonetheless, defended Bedford in comments to Politico:
“Bryan never misrepresented his credential; it was an administrative error that was immediately corrected,” DOT said in a statement. The agency did not respond to questions about what the “error” was or how it had been fixed.
The department also told Politico that Bedford has passed “written and oral exams” to become a commercial airline pilot and said he had not “personally nor publicly claimed to be a commercial airline pilot.”
That spin aside, false claims of commercial flying credentials have clearly been part of Bedford’s personal biography for years — until recently, at least. Which seems to make him an odd choice to oversee the FAA at a time such as this, when the agency has been stricken by a nationwide crisis of concern and distrust.