Cabinet official promises reform of pilot training
WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday voted to authorize a congressional study of pilot training in the wake of the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407, and the secretary of transportation vowed to implement new safety recommendations stemming from the tragedy.
The House action and the comments by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood indicate that the Feb. 12 crash in Clarence Center, which killed 50 people, could have a profound impact on Federal Aviation Administration safety regulations for regional airlines.
Approval for a Government Accountability Office study of the Flight 3407 crash, proposed by Rep. Chris Lee, R-Clarence, was given in the House by voice vote.
“While it is horrifying to think that this tragedy could have been avoided, this investigation would provide answers for the families and expose information that will help the aviation industry reform its training practices to ensure passenger safety and confidence,” Lee said on the House floor.
LaHood, speaking at the National Press Club, said the FAA will follow safety recommendations that the National Transportation Safety Board issues in its final report on the crash.
The safety board held hearings last week revealing that Flight 3407’s co-pilot earned about $16,000 a year and commuted from Seattle to Newark, N. J., on a red-eye flight on the morning of Feb. 12. In addition, the investigation revealed that Flight 3407’s pilot did not receive simulator training in every aspect of the plane’s stall-recovery system.
“Obviously there are some things that probably need to be changed,” LaHood said. “There will be recommendations in the NTSB final report, and we’ll follow those, and we’ll follow their lead.”
Lee’s amendment, co-sponsored by Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, and Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, calls for the GAO — the congressional watchdog agency — to conduct a study of all commercial airline pilot training and certification programs, including the FAA standards that govern them.
“I hope that we can shine a light on the appalling job that the FAA has done in recent years in regulating this industry,” Slaughter said.
The GAO also would study the training that pilots receive on new technologies and the warning systems currently installed in planes.
“This review will determine whether our pilots are receiving the training and experience they need to operate their aircraft under times of extreme difficulty and stress,” Higgins said.
Lee’s amendment was added to an FAA reauthorization bill that the House subsequently passed.
The Senate still must approve that bill in order for the Lee amendment to become law. But the study is expected to be conducted even if the reauthorization bill languishes in the Senate. The GAO conducts studies on the request of individual lawmakers without the approval of the full Congress.
The Lee amendment was meant mostly as a signal that the House is going to keep a closer eye on airline safety because of the Clarence Center crash.
“It’s an important step to prevent similar accidents in the future,” Wisconsin Rep. Tom Petri, ranking Republican on the House Aviation Subcommittee, said of the Lee amendment.
The congressional study will likely be more wide-ranging than the safety board report on the Flight 3407 crash, which will aim to determine what caused the tragedy and include safety recommendations.
The safety board report is not expected to be released until next year, but when that happens, “then I’ll be grabbing as big a bullhorn as I can grab and a microphone and I’ll be talking about it,” LaHood said at the Press Club. “Safety is No. 1 at DOT.”
LaHood declined to discuss specifics regarding the Clarence Center crash, saying the safety board should complete its investigation first.
“And once that report is available, we’ll make comments on it, and we’ll do all that we can to make sure the flying public feels safe when they get into a regional or any type of aircraft,” LaHood said.
LaHood said that he commuted on regional jets between Washington and his home in Illinois during his 14 years in the House and that he never felt unsafe doing so.
“Americans ride on regional jets every day, and they do it safely,” he said.
The plane that crashed in Clarence Center was not a regional jet, but a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, a twin-engine turboprop plane.
Meanwhile, federal regulators fined a Florida-based regional airline $1.3 million for overworking its pilots and dispatchers.
The FAA said Thursday that Gulfstream International Airlines of Fort Lauderdale had violated regulations on how many hours pilots and dispatchers can work and had improperly maintained equipment. Agency spokeswoman Laura Brown said an investigation last summer found instances in 2007 and 2008 in which flight crews were not provided a minimum of eight hours rest in a 24-hour period and in which they flew more than 34 hours in a seven-day period.
Brown said the FAA also found 148 instances in which flight dispatchers worked more than 10 consecutive hours, the maximum permitted under federal regulations.
News wire services contributed to this report. jzremski@buffnews.com
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