The president's signature the other day on aviation safety legislation didn't just mark a victory for the Families of Continental Flight 3407. It was a triumph for the flying public.

Safety regulations put in place will have an impact for generations beyond the immediate effect of comfort and peace of mind for the friends and families of the victims of the crash nearly 18 months ago. The rules just passed should have been in place all along. A tragic shortcoming now has been rectified.

With the help of politicians and advocates, the families were able to push -- through the final hours and a series of political twists having to do with unionizing FedEx workers -- until the House and Senate signed onto safety provisions attached to a temporary extension of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration. President Obama signed the measure last Sunday.

Those 50 people who died as a result of the crash of Flight 3407 in Clarence Center in February 2009 paid the ultimate price -- and that loss would later unveil a series of shocking revelations about pilot training, pilot fatigue and the airline industry.

There were many variables unknown to those who took that fateful flight, including the fact that Colgan Air, a subcontractor, was running the flight instead of Continental, the airline whose name was displayed.

Now, this legislation mandates that Web sites selling plane tickets have to say on the first page of any search the name of the carrier operating each leg of every flight.

Once tickets are purchased and plans made there is another assumption by most of the flying public -- the assumption that the person in the cockpit has received a significant number of training hours. But that wasn't the case for small regional carriers. As a result of this legislation, the current 250-hour minimum flight hours aviators need before they can be hired as co-pilots of a passenger airplane has been substantially increased, to 1,500 hours.

Moreover, a database of pilot records finally will allow airlines to check the flight backgrounds of the people sitting in the cockpit. One of several tragic revelations after the Clarence Center crash was that the pilot of Flight 3407, who failed to respond properly to a stall, had failed flight tests before being hired.

Just as important as having a trained professional pilot in the plane is knowing that those persons have had the proper amount of time to prepare. Neither the pilot nor co-pilot had had a full night of sleep before the flight. Attempting to operate an airliner through heavy winter weather at night without proper rest is unthinkable -- or should have been.

The families of those aboard Flight 3407 set aside their own grief so that they could lobby for the rest of us. Now, with the president's signature, the law is set -- but in typical form, the families have vowed to continue so they can make sure regulatory agencies follow through. Their efforts are greatly appreciated.