Trump's FAA administrator pick facing tough questions on safety at hearing

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration is facing tough questions about safety during a hearing Wednesday in the wake of January's deadly midair collision and a string of other crashes and near misses since then. Much of the industry, including the major airlines and their trade groups, supports Bryan Bedford's nomination. But pilots unions and Democrats have raised concerns that he might weaken pilot training standards. Bedford has been CEO of regional airline Republic Airways since 1999 and has more than three decades of experience in the industry. He has pledged to make safety the FAA's top priority and work to restore public confidence in flying. Bedford also said he'll work with Congress on Trump's multi-billion-dollar plan to overhaul the nation's air traffic control system. The National Transportation Safety Board has said the FAA should have acted before the crash in Washington, D.C., because there had been 85 near misses reported around Ronald Reagan National Airport in the years before the disaster. The FAA has since banned some helicopter routes to make sure helicopters and planes no longer share the same airspace, but there have still been additional near misses in recent months. FAA's acting administrator and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have acknowledged the FAA's shortcomings in not recognizing the risk and pledged to review all the agency's data to identify any similar concerns nationwide about helicopter traffic near airports. That review prompted the agency to put new limits on helicopter flights around Las Vegas' airport. Even the air traffic controllers union backed Bedford's nomination because of his support for the effort to modernize the outdated system and bolster controller hiring. Two different radar outages this spring in a facility that directs planes in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport highlighted the problems because the FAA had to limit flights at the airport after five controllers took trauma leave after the problems. "We shouldn't have to lean into the second or third or fourth level of redundancy to keep the system moving. The system is old. It needs upgraded, massive upgrading. So we have to do better," Bedford said. But he said the $12.5 billion that Republicans have included in Trump's massive bill is only a down payment on the upgrades. Pilots' unions and Democrats have raised concerns that Bedford may support weakening the 1,500-hour experience standard for airline pilots that was adopted after a 2009 crash or even might consider allowing some airlines to operate with only one pilot. Republic previously asked for permission to hire pilots with less experience because the standard was making it hard to find enough pilots. Families of the victims of that 2009 Colgan air crash and the D.C. crash attended the hearing. "People are going to want to know ... whether you're going to lead any effort to change that rule," Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell said. She asked for a firm written answer because "you helped fund and lobbied for a change for it." Bedford refused to commit to maintaining the 1,500-hour rule during under questioning from Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. "What I'm saying is I don't believe safety is static," Bedford said as he talked about how the military has changed pilot training to use more technology. But later he said, "I can commit to you that we will not have anything that will reduce safety." Bedford said even if European officials have had some conversations about possibly allowing only one pilot under some circumstances, America is "a long ways away" from ever considering it even if some companies are developing new technology that might be able to land a plane. "I do think that there are ways we can absolutely use technology to improve aviation safety," Bedford said. "I don't think it goes so far as to tell us we need to remove a trained aviator from cockpit." Bedford acknowledged Wednesday that "problems persist and more work needs to be done" to ensure the safety of flying around the nation's capital. He said his own airline's planes have received at least three alarms about conflicting traffic around Reagan since January. Bedford said his priority is modernizing the air traffic control system, and he reiterated that there is no plan to privatize the system because a debate over privatization derailed Trump's previous effort to upgrade the system in his first term. If confirmed, Bedford will also lead the FAA's effort to incorporate drones and flying taxis into the nation's airspace safely. Trump signed executive orders last week to encourage development of that emerging technology.