WASHINGTON — Key lawmakers from both parties agreed Thursday to try to craft legislation aimed at improving safety at regional airlines in the wake of the Feb. 12 crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Clarence Center, which claimed 50 lives.

While the details of the legislation are yet to be drawn up, key House members said provisions are likely to include a provision requiring that airlines check the flight records of the pilots they hire.

In addition, the bill could modernize the federal rules aimed at preventing pilot fatigue and set tougher standards for pilot training.

Plans for the legislation were announced at a House Aviation Subcommittee hearing where Democrats and Republicans alike voiced frustration at the Federal Aviation Administration’s policing of the regional airline industry — and doubts about the industry’s ability to police itself.

“I don’t think we can rely on voluntary industry compliance,” said the subcommittee chairman, Rep. Jerry F. Costello, D-Ill. “I think we need to require all airlines to enact industry best practices.”

Rep. John L. Mica of Florida, ranking Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, agreed to work with Costello on the legislation addressing safety at regional airlines such as Colgan Air, the Continental subcontractor that operated Flight 3407.

Regional airlines have operated the last six U. S. commercial flights that ended in multiple fatalities.

“When we have commuter planes falling out of the sky and we have a good indication of why planes are crashing, but nothing’s being done, then we have a problem,” Mica said.

Thursday’s hearing was the second in two days regarding Flight 3407, and House members seemed equally as upset about the circumstances surrounding the crash as their Senate colleagues did a day earlier.

“These pilots did not know how to recover from a stall,” said Rep. John A. Boccieri, D-Ohio.

What’s more, the crew violated rules against inappropriate conversation during an approach to landing, and the pilot had a history of failing test flights but ended up getting hired anyway, said Rep. Chris Lee, R-Clarence.

In other words, the crash might have been preventable — and might be a sign that regional air carriers cut too many corners, Lee said.

“I am concerned that a culture of cost-cutting has pervaded the regional air carriers, leaving passengers at risk,” he said.

Lee concurred with other House members that any legislation is likely to include provisions requiring airlines to check the flight histories of the pilots they hire.

Current law requires airlines to obtain a privacy waiver from applicants before checking their test flight records, which means that some airlines — such as Colgan — have not searched out such records.

Dan Morgan, Colgan’s vice president for safety and regulatory compliance, said after the hearing that the airline was concerned about the quality and availability of such records back when the captain of Flight 3407, Marvin D. Renslow, was hired in 2005.

Morgan was the first Colgan official to testify at the congressional hearings.

Rather than focus narrowly on Colgan, lawmakers concentrated on improvements that would affect the entire airline industry — such as a modernization of the rules governing how much pilots are allowed to fly and how much rest time they must be given.

Noting that the current rules are 50 years old, Randy Babbitt, the FAA’s new administrator, said they are long overdue for an overhaul. “I think we really need to look at this in the light of science” that would indicate how much rest pilots need, Babbitt said.

John H. Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, said pilots who say they are too tired to fly are often threatened with discipline, including firing.

Costello said he had asked the inspector general at the Department of Transportation to investigate the issue of fatigue among pilots.

Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, DFairport, said in the hearing that there’s much more digging to be done regarding the safety issues at regional airlines.

“I think we’re just scratching the surface of ‘anything goes’ and ‘safety can come second to profit’ ” she said.