Congress takes notice as victims’ relatives visit
Families’ silence, accompanied by a loved one’s photo, and their voiced concerns make impression on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON — Nikki Tolsma turns 17 today. Normally, she would likely be having cake with friends, maybe after running with her school track team. Instead, the Lancaster teenager is in Washington, where she spent part of Wednesday sitting in an ornately decorated room as a Senate subcommittee was discussing the technological future of aviation.
Nikki didn’t speak at the hearing. Instead, she; her mother, Robin; and brother, Darren, 20, sat quietly in the front row, each holding a small picture of the elder Darren Tolsma — husband and father — on their laps. He was among the 50 people killed when Continental Connection Flight 3407 crashed as it approached Buffalo Niagara International Airport on Feb. 12.
The Tolsmas’ presence apparently did not go unnoticed.
At the start of the hearing, Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Byron Dorgan, D-N. D., expressed shock over some of the testimony coming out of this week’s National Transportation Safety Board hearings on the crash. Dorgan announced his subcommittee will have its own hearing soon to discuss issues related to the accident.
“Today we heard someone in the cockpit is making $16,000 a year, flew in from [her home in Washington state] the night before, has to have a second job, doesn’t apparently know much about icing and hasn’t flown in icing,” Dorgan said. “I gotta tell you I was really, really troubled by what we now learned about the experience of those in the cockpit. We have a lot of great people flying airlines, but I was stunned to read the circumstances of that cockpit.”
Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., a subcommittee member, was glad to hear about the planned hearing.
“Family members from the Buffalo crash came in to see me,” said Johanns. “First of all, it’s enormously sad, and secondly, when you read the transcripts from the last minutes, it’s appalling. I hope we dig deep there — training, the condition of the equipment. I just think there are a lot of questions. We owe it to these families who have been so profoundly affected.”
That’s all that was said about Flight 3407 during the Senate hearing, which then went on to address the issues on the agenda dealing with future technologies in aviation.
But that was enough for the Tolsmas, who, like many of the families of Flight 3407 victims, came to Washington not just to learn details of the crash, but to do whatever they can to prevent such tragedies in the future.
“I wish we didn’t have to do this, but we have to,” said Darren, a University at Buffalo student. They are doing it for their dad, he and Nikki agreed.
The Flight 3407 families have only been in Washington a few days, but it was clear Wednesday that their presence is being felt.
Earlier in the day, the Tolsmas and other family members met with a string of congressmen and senators, going from office to office, asking lawmakers to support efforts to increase air safety. They got lots of encouragement.
Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, told family members that he, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, and Rep. Chris Lee, R-Clarence, will ask the Government Accountability Office to evaluate pilot training manuals to determine if they are adequate in today’s flying environment.
“A policy enacted five years ago or five months ago may not be as relevant as it seemed back when,” Higgins said.
The GAO will be asked to evaluate Federal Aviation Administration pilot-training standards as well as manuals of the individual airlines, Higgins said.
He said the idea to approach GAO originally was suggested by Lee, and that he and Slaughter agreed to be involved in the request.
Depending on the results of the GAO study, Congress could consider enacting new laws, or asking the FAA to adopt new regulations to address the issue, Higgins said.
Later in the day, Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told the families she will confer with Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. and propose amendments to a bill expected to be voted upon this summer reauthorizing the FAA for another five years. Safety recommendations that followed past airplane accidents, including Flight 3407, should be included in the reauthorization bill, Gillibrand suggested.
While the safety board’s investigation into Flight 3407 is continuing, Gillibrand said it seems at this point that the crash points to a need for improved pilot training.
“It seems to be a training error,” Gillibrand said of the accident. “The co-pilot had never flown in icing conditions. Never. How was she supposed to help [the pilot]? What was she going to do? How is she allowed to fly having never flown in icing conditions? She was put in a position she probably shouldn’t be in.”
Susan Bourque, whose sister, Beverly Eckert, was killed in the crash, told Gillibrand that during the hearings, witnesses said the pilots met “industry standards” for experience and training.
“The industry standards are inadequate,” Gillibrand responded.
Gillibrand offered her full support to the families, just as Schumer did Tuesday.
When speaking with the senators, and also with members of Congress, family members praised the safety board for the sympathy it has shown them, as well as its investigation into the crash.
Family members were less supportive of the FAA, which regulates the aviation industry.
“I despise the FAA,” Schumer told the group. The agency, he said, put saving money before saving lives during the Bush administration. Hopefully, Schumer said, the FAA will be more responsive in the Obama administration.
Schumer said he will meet with President Obama’s nominee to head the FAA to discuss the concerns families of Flight 3407 expressed and said he will get assurances that the issues will be addressed.
“You can be assured I will be with you,” Schumer told the group, “not just today but in a year, in two years. We will get to the bottom of this.”
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