WASHINGTON &#8212 The Families of Continental Flight 3407 hopes that the conclusions

reached by the federal crash investigation will help the group in its fight for greater

aviation safety &#8212 but airline pilots are not so sure.

The discussion at Tuesday&#8217s National Transportation Safety Board meeting to release

the report dwelt on the pilots of the plane that crashed in Clarence Center last Feb. 12,

killing 50 people.

Much was made of the pilots&#8217 mistakes, and comparatively little was said about Colgan

Air, the subcontractor that hired and trained the crew for the Continental Connection flight.

Kevin Kuwik, boyfriend of Flight 3407 victim Lorin Maurer and a key member of the families

group, said he understands perfectly well why that was, given the errors the crew made. And he

noted that Colgan&#8217s &#8220inadequate procedures&#8221 for setting the airspeed in icing

conditions was listed as a contributing factor to the crash.

&#8220You shouldn&#8217t have an accident where the report says the airline dropped the

ball,&#8221 Kuwik said.

But Capt. John H. Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, sharply criticized

the report for focusing so narrowly on the crew.

&#8220Creating a safer industry means looking at all the reasons why this tragedy occurred

and taking aggressive action to ensure nothing similar happens again,&#8221 Prater said.

&#8220The single, narrow focus of the probable-cause statement issued [by the safety board] is

an unfortunate move backward away from that goal.&#8221

The safety board said the probable cause of the crash was Capt. Marvin D. Renslow&#8217s

inappropriate response to the &#8220stick shaker,&#8221 part of the plane&#8217s stall-warning

and -recovery systems. Renslow repeatedly pulled back on the controls, fighting the system

that would have automatically worked to pull the plane out of an aerodynamic stall.

In addition to citing Colgan&#8217s procedures as a contributing factor to the crash, the

safety board listed Renslow&#8217s poor management of the flight and the fact that he and

co-pilot Rebecca L. Shaw failed to notice that they had allowed the plane to fly dangerously

slow.

Prater noted that during the meeting, the board discussed the need to improve training and

cockpit displays, enhance oversight and provide better weather information to crews.

The board issued safety recommendations addressing those concerns, which left Prater

perplexed about how it could omit them from its finding on probable cause.

&#8220Creating a safer industry means looking at all the reasons why this tragedy occurred

and taking aggressive action to ensure nothing similar happens again,&#8221 Prater said.

Yet Prater and other union officials were among the few to criticize the safety board in

the wake of the release of the report and the accompanying safety recommendations.

Lawmakers said they thought the safety board effort could help in pushing aviation safety

measures through Congress.

&#8220The NTSB hearing brought to light significant deficiencies in both Colgan Air&#8217s

procedures and the pilots&#8217 training, and it has only strengthened our resolve to get our

legislation improving and increasing pilot experience passed into law,&#8221 said Sen. Charles

E. Schumer, D-N.Y.

Colgan downplayed the fact that the safety board criticized the airline for never giving

Renslow simulator training on the stick pusher &#8212 which is supposed to automatically save

the plane from a stall &#8212 in the plane he was flying.

According to the airline, Renslow had received adequate training.

&#8220By all accounts, Capt. Renslow and First Officer Shaw were fine people,&#8221 Colgan

said in a statement. &#8220But they knew what to do in the situation they faced that night a

year ago, had repeatedly demonstrated they knew what to do, and yet did not do it. We cannot

speculate on why they did not use their training in dealing with the situation they

faced.&#8221

Since the crash, Colgan has added the proper use of the stick pusher to its pilot-training

program. In addition, the airline has tightened its hiring procedures to make sure that it is

hiring more experienced aviators.

&#8220Recently, Colgan Air has worked together with its pilots to address safety issues and

capitalize on safety-reporting programs as a way to identify and solve issues before accidents

or incidents occur,&#8221 said Capt. Mark Segaloff, chairman of the Colgan pilots union.

&#8220We are seeing signs of progress.&#8221

Instead of continually finding fault with Colgan, some members of the families group set

their sights on the Federal Aviation Administration, which had ignored previous safety board

recommendations aimed at bolstering pilot training &#8212 a criticism also voiced by safety

board Chairwoman Deborah A.P. Hersman.

The FAA has contended that it has dramatically bolstered air safety by getting airlines to

agree to voluntary measures in its &#8220Call to Action,&#8221 a report released last week

that is the subject of a House Aviation subcommittee hearing thutoday. However, Scott Maurer,

father of Lorin Maurer, dismissed &#8220Call to Action&#8221 as &#8220that 200-page piece of

lip service.&#8221

Told that the families were increasingly critical of FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt in the

wake of delays in new regulations on pilot training and fatigue, Transportation Secretary Ray

LaHood said: &#8220Nobody cares more about safety than Randy Babbitt.&#8221

LaHood noted that the FAA held 12 safety summits across the country after the crash and did

what it could unilaterally to address the issues raised by the Flight 3407 tragedy. But

issuing new regulations takes time, LaHood said, because &#8220you&#8217ve got to give all the

stakeholders a chance to respond to these things.&#8221

But some lawmakers, too, sound as if they are getting tired of the delays.

Asked for his reaction to the safety board meeting, Rep. Chris Lee, R-Clarence, said:

&#8220I hope it just leads to action. For every day that passes without action, there&#8217s

the opportunity for some other sort of tragedy to occur.&#8221