WASHINGTON — Federal investigators plan to release their report on the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 next week, while relatives of the crash’s victims are gearing up to mark its one-year anniversary Feb. 12 by walking from the Clarence Center accident site to Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga.

The National Transportation Safety Board has scheduled a 9:30 a. m. meeting Tuesday to approve and release the report. For the families, that will be the start of an emotional 10 days leading up to the anniversary.

More than 50 members of the Families of Continental Flight 3407 plan to attend the safety board meeting, said Scott Maurer of Moore, S. C., whose daughter, Lorin, was killed in the crash. Others will gather in the Millennium Hotel, 2040 Walden Ave., Cheektowaga, to view the proceedings.

Family members, loved ones and friends will take part in the Feb. 12 walk, which is intended to honor the victims and to call attention to the air safety lapses that have not been addressed in the wake of the crash.

Fifty people died when the Continental Connection flight from Newark,

N. J., plummeted into a house in Clarence Center on that icy night last year.

Investigators are not discussing details of the report, but many key findings have trickled out in the year since the crash.

Pilot training and fatigue are expected to emerge as key factors behind the accident, which led the Federal Aviation Administration to initiate a “Call to Action” urging airlines to voluntarily boost safety efforts..

The FAA released its “Call to Action” report Tuesday, and it mainly repeated previous announcements the agency had made on aviation safety.

But in a speech to the Aero Club of Washington, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt acknowledged how much more needs to be done—particularly with regard to pilot training.

“We know we need to re-examine pilot qualifications to make sure commercial pilots who carry passengers have the appropriate operational experience,” Babbitt said. “They need to be trained for the mission they are flying.”

The Flight 3407 families have been pushing a requirement that co-pilots, like pilots, have 1,500 hours of flying experience before they are hired.

Babbitt previously expressed skepticism about that idea, but he sounded more open to it during his speech Tuesday.

“There are proposals that raise the number of required hours, and we need to look at that possibility,” he said. “But we must have qualification and training requirements that elevate the importance of mission-appropriate experience.”

The FAA is planning to issue a revised set of pilot training rules early this year.

In addition, this spring the agency will release a proposal for new rules setting limits on pilot flight time and duty time.

Babbitt had targeted that proposal, aimed at combating pilot fatigue, for release by the end of 2009. He said he had set “an overly ambitious schedule” for its release.

With his speech and the release of the Call to Action report, Babbitt appeared to be trying to get out in front of a wave of publicity about airline safety that’s likely to ensue with the release of the accident report and culminate with the crash anniversary.

John Kausner of Clarence, whose daughter Elly died in the accident, is organizing the crash anniversary walk with Maurer’s help.

Details are still being worked out, and it’s unclear how many family members will make the 10-mile walk and exactly who will accompany them.

But Maurer said it’s a fitting way to honor the victims on the anniversary of their deaths.

“All of our loved ones were coming to Buffalo for some specific reason, and they didn’t finish the trip,” Maurer said. “We thought we would complete the journey for them, to do that in honor of our loved ones.”

The walk will culminate with a news conference in which the families will continue to push for federal legislation mandating that co-pilots have a minimum of 1,500 hours of experience, up from 250 today.

Kausner acknowledged that a 10- mile walk in the Buffalo area’s February weather could be a challenge, and he said the group is making contingency plans if there’s a big snowstorm.

“But unless it’s a Jimmy Griffin sixpack day, I’m walking,” Kausner said, referring to the late Buffalo mayor’s suggestion that people “stay inside, grab a six-pack and watch a good football game” during the Blizzard of 1985.

In addition to the walk, Robin Tolsma, who lost her husband, Darren, in the crash, is organizing an effort called “To Light the Way Home,” urging local residents to leave their porch lights on the anniversary of the crash in honor of its victims.