By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Federal Aviation Administration says the agency faces serious leadership, trust and culture issues, according to a Senate questionnaire seen by Reuters.
The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday on Trump’s nomination of Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford to head the FAA.
The FAA has come under scrutiny after a series of safety incidents, especially a January 29 mid-air collision between an American Airlines regional jet and U.S. Army helicopter that killed 67 people.
“The lack of steady and qualified leadership helps to explain the lack of any coherent strategy or vision for the agency,” Bedford wrote in the questionnaire reviewed by Reuters. “A malaise has set in whereby managers believe the agency is helpless to make the necessary changes, and furthermore, they rationalize it isn’t really their fault.”
Bedford, a pilot and industry veteran of more than 30 years, was nominated in March. He previously headed two other carriers and oversaw a significant expansion of Republic Airways, which operates regional flights for American Airlines United Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
Bedford said there was a profound lack of trust with and within the FAA. He described the agency’s organizational structure as “unwieldy” and said there was a need to urgently address the agency’s “reactive” safety culture.
“The lack of trust makes many managers at FAA reluctant to speak up for fear of retribution,” Bedford wrote.
He cited “failures” like the FAA’s Boeing 737 MAX certification, oversight of chronically delayed air traffic control implementation, and continued controller shortages.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wants Congress to approve tens of billions to reform air traffic control and boost staffing.
“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 wrote.
The FAA does not encourage risk-taking for innovation, Bedford added.
“There appears to be no incentive for anyone at FAA to take any innovation risk for fear that it could fail,” Bedford wrote. “You could say there was an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ attitude, but that has morphed into a quiet resignation that ‘we can’t fix it, but we can do our very best to make the system work safely today’ mindset.”
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Nia Williams)
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