An Unwavering Commitment to the Highest Standards
by Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI)
It was 1969 when I took control of an aircraft for the first time. I was a 22-year-old second lieutenant in the Marine Corps, and I’d been given a choice of what I wanted to fly. I requested either fighter jets or helicopters. I was drawn to helicopters. Behind the controls of those birds, I felt an incredible sense of freedom and, at the same time, a sense of overwhelming responsibility.
The idea that freedom and responsibility are companions stuck with me, and it’s guided me over the course of my career in the Marine Corps, as an airline pilot, as a business owner, and now as a Member of Congress.
That desire to serve others has always been a driver for me, so when I was hired as a second officer by Continental Airlines in 1978, I considered it to be a dream realized. It was the second time in my life that I felt the weight of being in charge of a situation in which I was responsible for the safety of other people if things went south. Flying for an airline and flying in the military have that in common.
I was still flying in the reserves when I was furloughed in 1980, but I thought my days of flying for the airlines were over. It wasn’t until 1985 that a buddy of mine convinced me to interview with Republic Airlines. I got the job and remained there until the end of my career as an airline pilot. I flew my last flight as a pilot for Northwest Airlines (Republic had merger with Northwest) in April 2005—some 35 years after my first flight as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps.
Over the course of my career, I participated in two strikes as a member of the Air Line Pilots Association—first with Continental in 1983 and then with Northwest in 1998. Why? Because, like ALPA, I believe that when the cause is just, you fight.
The cause and the mission are what motivated me to run for Congress. But I wouldn’t be where I am today without the lessons I learned in flight.
First and foremost, flying taught me that to be a good leader you must first be a good follower. Pilots know that you don’t start out as a captain. You start out as a copilot. You have the opportunity to learn from people who are more experienced than you. They mentor you, guide you, share their experiences with you—and then you pass that knowledge on to the next generation.
It’s no different in Congress. Sharing information is important, because there are real consequences if you don’t get it right.
Similarly, flying helped me to learn when and how to communicate. You wouldn’t want your pilot making decisions before he or she has all the pertinent information, so why would you want your Member of Congress to act before he or she has all the pertinent information? As leaders, we should listen first, then assess, and communicate last. We can’t have all the answers before we know all the issues. That’s just common sense.
As a pilot, I learned that when it comes to standards, there’s no room for compromise. Not every landing will be perfect. But every landing needs to be safe. That commitment to professionalism, training, reexamination, and keeping what works and culling what doesn’t is what makes pilots so dependable. It’s why passengers trust that they’ll safely arrive at their destinations. Congress could learn a lot from how ALPA maintains standards.
Just as passengers place trust in their pilots, the American people place trust in their Members of Congress. It’s our responsibility to ensure that trust isn’t misplaced. It’s our responsibility to ensure that every landing is safe.
My passion for flying remains. It’s just taking a secondary role now. The task might look a little different, but the tools are the same: leadership, honest assessment, and an unwavering commitment to the highest standards. That’s how you successfully get from point A to point B.
