First-term Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a multimillionaire who recently sold control of his family’s electrical contracting company and now represents one of Pennsylvania’s poorest congressional districts, appears to have taken steps to hide one whirling aspect of his wealth: his new personal helicopter.
The helicopter — a 2024 Robinson R66 that retails between $1 million and $1.5 million — has not yet appeared in Bresnahan’s personal financial disclosures. But NOTUS was able to determine that the helicopter belongs to Bresnahan by analyzing Federal Aviation Administration records, other congressional financial disclosures and commercial flight data obtained through the website ADS-B Exchange. Those records indicate that Bresnahan purchased the helicopter in late 2024, through a limited liability company named “RPB Ventures LLC.”
The helicopter has made more than two dozen flights originating from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area in the heart of Bresnahan’s Pennsylvania district, according to a NOTUS analysis of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast data, which in part helps air traffic controllers determine the location of aircraft. The reasons for the trips are unclear. A handful of trips crossed state lines, with destinations in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
When presented with the data, a spokesperson for Bresnahan confirmed the congressman purchased the helicopter last year while he ran for Congress. But the lawmaker appears to have taken steps to conceal the helicopter’s flights, and there’s no record of him ever publicly discussing his helicopter purchase and usage.
Searching the comings and goings of Bresnahan’s helicopter on popular flight tracking website FlightAware, users are met with the message: “This aircraft (N422RB) is not available for public tracking per request from the owner/operator.”
In a statement to NOTUS, spokesperson Hannah Pope said Bresnahan bought the helicopter with the intention of using the aircraft for business purposes.
“In emergency situations such as downed power lines or washed-out roads, helicopters play a critical role in inspecting infrastructure and identifying areas in need of urgent repair,” Pope wrote in a statement. “His goal was to work toward a commercial pilot certificate with a rotorcraft-helicopter rating and use the aircraft to provide emergency response and inspection services that help keep seniors warm, hospitals powered, and schools open.”
Pope added: “Since being elected to Congress, those business plans have been put on hold. No taxpayer or campaign funds were used to purchase the aircraft, and no taxpayer or campaign funds are used to store, operate, or maintain the aircraft.”
Bresnahan has previously disclosed obtaining a helicopter pilot license — including during a congressional hearing about the fatal January collision of an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet. Bresnahan’s official work in Congress includes oversight of aviation, as he sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Aviation.
While there’s nothing illegal about a member of Congress purchasing a personal aircraft and flying it, “it’s incumbent on members of Congress to be transparent about these kinds of things,” said Philip Hensley-Robin, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, a government watchdog organization. “We don’t know if it’s being used for official purposes, campaign purposes — it’s a mystery.”
In May, Bresnahan — like all members of Congress — was scheduled to file a new congressional disclosure detailing his personal finances for all of 2024, the year in which he purchased his helicopter. Bresnahan requested, and the House granted him, a 90-day disclosure extension, and the congressman is now slated to disclose his 2024 personal finances by Aug. 13.
Pope did not answer detailed questions about Bresnahan’s helicopter use, including: For what purpose does he use his helicopter now? Who are his helicopter passengers, if any? Why did he fly his helicopter to the destinations he did? Why does it appear Bresnahan has made efforts to keep his helicopter ownership quiet? And to what degree, if any, is the congressman concerned owning a helicopter will make him seem less in touch with his constituents?
Among Pennsylvania’s 17 congressional districts, the 8th District, which Bresnahan represents, ranks second-to-last in median household income — $61,140 as of 2023, according to U.S. Census data. Roughly one in four of Bresnahan’s constituents who are 25 years old or older have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher — west of Philadelphia in District 6, about half of residents have earned a bachelor’s degree.
On the campaign trail, Bresnahan pitched himself as a Pennsylvania everyman who grew up sweeping floors, wiring electrical junction boxes and driving work trucks.
”Throughout his childhood, Rob’s routine went something like this: Up at 4:00 a.m. to plow snow for his neighbors, then off to school, followed by hockey practice, then off to help out his mom at the family’s bowling alley or his grandparents at their electrical shop, before finally heading home,” his campaign biography states.
Flight data indicates that Bresnahan’s helicopter first landed near Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 19, 2024 — weeks before the election.
On Sept. 22, during the height of Bresnahan’s toss-up campaign against incumbent Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright, the helicopter made the first of what would become regular flights — a series of tight loops between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, followed by a relatively long jaunt out about 40 miles northwest and back.
On Oct. 8, the helicopter traveled from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to Harrisburg and back. The helicopter flew around Pennsylvania District 6 again on Oct. 12 and Oct. 20, ahead of the Nov. 5 election, when Bresnahan defeated Cartwright by about 1.5 percentage points.
Since then, ADS-B flight data shows that Bresnahan’s helicopter has made regular flights around Pennsylvania from its Scranton/Wilkes-Barre home base.
It’s also flown out of state. On May 25, it traveled to Newport, Rhode Island, and back. On June 29, it flew up to Auburn, New York, returning the next day. And on July 5, it flew to the southern tip of New Jersey.
If any government official ever flies in Bresnahan’s helicopter, they should take care to mind federal rules governing travel gifts, said Melanie Sloan, a senior adviser for government nonpartisan watchdog organization American Oversight. Likewise, if Bresnahan ever chooses to use the helicopter for campaign purposes, his campaign should properly account for any related charges, she said.
As for Bresnahan’s secrecy surrounding his helicopter? Sloan said a “rich person with a rich toy” who’s serving in Congress walks a tight line between mitigating security risks by concealing their travels and alienating constituents.
Bresnahan made a splash last year when he advocated against federal lawmakers buying and selling stocks — a stance popular with Republicans, Democrats and independents alike, according to recent polling and studies.
In May, Bresnahan introduced legislation — one among several similar bills pending in the House and Senate — that would prohibit or otherwise limit members of Congress and their immediate family members from engaging in personal stock trades.
“It’s important for your people back in the district and the people that elected you to have total trust in what you’re doing here,” Bresnahan told NOTUS at the time. “That you’re not doing it for ulterior motives.”
But since coming to Congress, Bresnahan has continued to trade personal stocks via financial advisers at a torrid pace. In an interview last month with public news broadcaster WVIA, Bresnahan chafed at the idea that he’d ask his financial advisers to stop trading stocks on his behalf.
“And then do what with it? Just leave it all in the accounts and just leave it there and lose money and go broke?” Bresnahan told WVIA, adding that he wants to create a congressionally approved blind trust for his wealth, but “the ethics process is prehistoric and it’s downright excruciating.”