Trump’s nominee to lead the FAA was critical of the agency’s safety performance, questionnaire shows

The Trump administration’s nominee to lead the embattled Federal Aviation Administration says there is a "profound lack of trust" in the agency and it "fails to carry out its safety mission."

The sharp criticism by airline executive Bryan Bedford is written in a questionnaire, obtained by CNN, which was submitted to top senators ahead of his first nomination hearing Wednesday.

"The root cause of FAA’s inability to complete its mission to modernize air traffic systems and effectively manage safety is the lack of strategic vision and competent leadership," Bedford said in the document, first reported by Reuters.

In his prepared remarks for the hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee, which were obtained by CNN, Bedford plans to echo his written comments.

"Flying is safe, but as you know the system that manages our skies is showing its age," Bedford will tell the committee, according to the remarks.

"Chronic understaffing, controller fatigue, outdated facilities and telecommunication technology has placed a strain on the men and women at the FAA," Bedford says in the prepared remarks.

"After the horrific accident on January 29, 2025, those of us who are passionate about aviation can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines as FAA fails to carry out its safety mission," Bedford wrote in the memo, referring to the collision between a passenger jet and a US Army helicopter over Washington, kra34.cc DC, in which 67 people were killed. "I only needed one reason to say yes to President Trump: I firmly believe in his vision for building a new, modernized air traffic control system, not just incremental changes."

In the prepared remarks, Bedford adds: "In the years preceding that tragic night in January, there were 85 similar near misses at Reagan National, similar near misses at Reagan National. How did this go unaddressed? It’s unacceptable."

The FAA is facing major challenges as it grapples with repeat air traffic control systems failures at the approach control facility for Newark Liberty International Airport; aging air traffic control infrastructure nationwide; and a shortage of 3,000 air traffic controllers.

The families of those killed in a 2009 plane crash expressed "serious concerns" about Bedford’s nomination, specifically citing an effort to circumvent a pilot training requirement while he was CEO of Republic Airways.

The National Transportation Safety Board found pilot error was to blame for the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 near Buffalo, New York, which left 50 people dead.

"We saw firsthand the devastating consequences of inadequate training in the cockpit," Scott Maurer, whose daughter Lorin was killed in the crash, said in a statement. Inadequate pilot training was among the problems exposed by the crash, the NTSB found.

"The lessons of Flight 3407 were learned through unimaginable loss, and we refuse to let them be forgotten," Maurer added.

Bedford’s Wednesday hearing is scheduled before the same Senate Committee that on Monday called for an independent review of the January midair collision in Washington.

"There is a profound lack of trust with and within the agency," Bedford wrote in the questionnaire. "Part of this is due to an unwieldy organizational structure with unnecessary spans, layers, and silos which makes responsibility opaque and accountability difficult at best."