WASHINGTON — The head of the Federal Aviation Administration is resisting a dramatic

increase in the required flight hours for new pilots, as well as new rules governing pilot

commuting, and the Families of Continental Flight 3407 are unhappy about it.

The group insists that a poorly trained and apparently fatigued crew was what caused Flight

3407 to crash in Clarence Center in February, killing 50 people, and it wants Congress to

mandate that new pilots have 1,500 hours of experience.

However, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said Thursday that he prefers new training rules

that would prepare pilots for particular situations rather than concentrating on just the

number of flight hours.

"Raising the quantity of hours without raising the quality and nature of the time ... may

not ensure the improved proficiency we all want," Babbitt said during a hearing of the Senate

Aviation Subcommittee.

On the issue of pilots living thousands of miles from their base and arriving at work too

tired to fly — as appears to have been the case with the crew of Flight 3407 —

Babbitt said pilots should be responsible enough not to do that.

"We cannot regulate professionalism," Babbitt said. "No matter how many rules, regulations,

advisories, mandatory training sessions, voluntary training sessions, it still comes down to

the individual."

Hearing it all, the Flight 3407 families, who had been encouraged when Babbitt issued a

"Call to Action" on flight safety earlier this year, were aghast.

"Once again, it looks like corporate lobbying dollars are going to win out over the average

citizens," said Scott Maurer, whose daughter, Lorin, was killed in the crash.

Above all, Babbitt disappointed the families by stating clearly for the first time that he

will not endorse their call for requiring all commercial pilots to have an Air Transport

License — and the 1,500 flight hours the license requires.

"At least in our own state, for a hairdresser, for a tattoo artist, for a massage

therapist, they need more training than a pilot," said John Kausner of Clarence, whose

daughter, Elly, was among the crash victims. "It's not common sense, and I think anybody

hearing that should say we need [pilots] to have at least this much: 1,500 hours."

Currently, only airline captains need that kind of experience; co-pilots can have as little

as 250 hours of flying time. Babbitt said the current rules need to be strengthened, and he

said his agency is doing just that.

The FAA released a proposed new flight-training rule in January and has been overwhelmed

with comments on it. The agency expects to announce a revised rule in February, but Babbitt

said that it will be based on the quality and not the quantity of training pilots receive.

He said the FAA is looking at ways to make sure pilots receive specialized training in

exposure to icing, multiple-pilot operations and other facets of commercial aviation.

"We view this option as being more targeted than merely increasing the number of total

flight hours required, because it will be obvious to the carrier what skills an individual

pilot has, rather than relying on an assumption that a certain number of hours has resulted in

a comprehensive set of skills," Babbitt said.

Several members of the Flight 3407 families group said they agreed with Babbitt's call for

more comprehensive training, but they noted that such training could and should be

accomplished by increasing the number of required flight hours.

Family members also said they suspected that pressure from the airline industry —

which opposes the FAA's proposed new training rules — may have led to Babbitt's stance

on the issue of flight hours.

Jennifer West of Clarence, who lost her husband, Ernie, in the crash, indicated that the

airlines would not want to pay for additional training. "It seems that money is more important

than lives," she said.

The families also were disappointed that Babbitt played down the significance of pilot

commuting — even though the co-pilot of Flight 3407 commuted from Seattle to Newark,

N.J., on red-eye flights the night before the crash, and the pilot had commuted from Florida.

Babbitt, the former head of the Air Line Pilots Association, said pilots routinely commute

to their work posts, as he had done for a time when he was flying.

While the agency is working on a new set of pilot flight-time and duty-time rules aimed at

preventing fatigue, the committee that helped draw up those rules could not come up with a way

to address the commuting issue, he said.

"I do plan to put observations about commuting" in the proposed fatigue rule, which is set

to be released by the end of January, Babbitt said.

That wasn't good enough for the Flight 3407 families.

"One of the most disappointing parts for me was his hesitation to accept any

responsibility," said Marilyn Kausner, mother of crash victim Elly Kausner.

In saying that the commuting issue depended on the personal responsibility of each pilot to

appear for duty fit to fly, "he went back and used the exact same language Colgan Airlines

used" at a series of National Transportation Safety Board hearings on the crash in May, she

said. Colgan is the regional airline that operated Flight 3407 for Continental.

Babbitt also said during the hearing that Marvin D. Renslow, the pilot of Flight 3407, and

Rebecca L. Shaw, the co-pilot, performed poorly.

"Why someone could be trained to do something and not do what they were trained to do is

what befuddles most of us," Babbitt said.

Members of the families group and senators seemed surprised to hear Babbitt imply that the

crew's training was adequate.

"It was interesting today to hear that our crew of 3407 was well trained because we all

thought they really were lagging," said Susan Bourque of East Aurora, who lost her sister,

Beverly Eckert, in the crash.

Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, D-N.D., noted that Renslow responded the wrong way when the "stick

shaker" — part of the stall-recovery system — activated. Dorgan stressed that

Renslow had never been trained in how to respond to the stick shaker, prompting Babbitt to

acknowledge that more training may be needed in such equipment.

Like the families, New York's senators were less than happy with Babbitt's comments.

"It's an absurd statement that commuting does not have an impact on pilot fatigue," said

Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who, like other local members of Congress, met with the

Flight 3407 families Thursday.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said the FAA's opposition would make it more difficult for

him to get his legislation to mandate that pilots have 1,500 hours of experience included in a

larger aviation bill that's likely to pass next year.

But Schumer stressed that there's a strong moral argument that has come to Washington a

dozen times now to lobby for stronger pilot-training rules — the argument made by the

Families of Continental Flight 3407. About 35 members of the group were present Thursday, many

clad in red to make sure they would be noticed.

Schumer said he has met with many survivors of many tragedies over the years, "but I've not

seen a group that has been so steadfast, so effective."