Pentagon to study hiring more civilian test pilots
H.R. 9889 — PILOT Act · Filed by George Whitesides (D-CA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jul 22, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill tells the Secretary of Defense to study hiring more test pilots from outside the armed forces. The study must look at how many test pilots the armed forces need now. It must check if the armed forces can accept all graduates from civilian test pilot schools. The study must suggest a way to check that civilian schools meet armed forces standards.
Who it affects
This bill does not create jobs or cost money right now. It only orders a study. If the armed forces later act on the study's findings, civilian test pilot schools could be affected.
One thing to notice
The bill requires a check to prove that civilian test pilot schools meet armed forces standards. This could make it harder for smaller or newer schools to work with the armed forces.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Jul 22, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 22, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Armed Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,705 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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