Senator Pushed to End Aviation Safety Rules as His Former Company Failed an Inspection
Washington, Tuesday, 9 June 2026.
Senator Tim Sheehy advocated ending federal safety inspections for firefighting planes the exact same month his former company, where he held millions in stock, failed a critical wing inspection.
A Collision of Public Policy and Private Interests
On June 8, 2026, reports surfaced detailing an extraordinary overlap between legislative action and corporate oversight [1]. In April 2025, U.S. Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT) proposed eliminating the U.S. Forest Service’s airworthiness inspections for private firefighting aircraft [1]. During that exact same month, an inspector from the agency discovered a major wing crack on a firefighting “scooper” aircraft owned by Bridger Aerospace, a company Sheehy co-founded [1]. At the time his proposal leaked in mid-April 2025, the Senator held between $13 million and $15 million in Bridger Aerospace stock [1].
The Push for Industry Self-Regulation
Senator Sheehy’s efforts to deregulate the aerial firefighting industry began gaining momentum in March 2025, when he formally asked USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins to end the Forest Service’s inspection program [1]. By mid-April 2025, his office had leaked a draft executive order aimed at eliminating the program entirely [1]. This legislative push aligns with the lobbying goals of the United Aerial Firefighters Association (UAFA), an industry group Sheehy co-founded in 2022 [1]. Tiffany Taylor, UAFA’s senior policy director, has publicly questioned the current regulatory framework, asking, “Why can’t we be inspecting ourselves?” [1].
Financial Ties and Blind Trust Controversies
The Senator’s financial relationship with Bridger Aerospace has drawn significant ethical scrutiny from watchdog groups [1]. Although Sheehy resigned from the company in July 2024, he retained a 21% share [1]. In May 2025, he transferred his stock into blind trusts managed by executives at Tallgrass, an energy company where his brother, Matt Sheehy, served as CEO until March 2026 [1]. Cynthia Brown, senior ethics counsel at the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, criticized the arrangement, stating that “Selecting a family member’s company appears to do that exact thing that the rules mean to prohibit.” [1]. A spokesperson for Senator Sheehy countered these concerns, insisting that “Senator Sheehy’s blind trusts are completely independent — he has no control over them.” [1].
Restructuring the Future of Wildfire Management
The push to alter federal firefighting operations extends well beyond aircraft inspections into sweeping structural changes [1]. In June 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to consolidate wildland fire programs [1]. Furthermore, Senator Sheehy introduced Senate Bill 441, proposed legislation that would move the Forest Service’s wildfire operations into the Department of the Interior [1]. This transition would severely impact the Forest Service, which currently spends three times more on aviation contracting and employs twice as many wildland firefighters as the Interior Department [1]. Doug Crandall, former legislative affairs director for the Forest Service, warned that stripping the agency of these responsibilities “would be a fatal wound” [1].