This time, it is personal for veteran aviation expert Miles O’Brien. He’s the correspondent on tonight’s compelling edition of “Frontline” that focuses on the Feb. 12, 2009, crash of Flight 3407 in Clarence that killed 50 people. Titled “Flying Cheap,” it airs at 9 p. m. on WNED-TV.



A pilot who worked at CNN for 16 years, O’Brien has covered the last six major crashes since 2002—which were all on regional airlines—and studies accident reports.



“To me, they read like suspense thrillers,” said O’Brien in a telephone interview.



O’Brien was “horrified” and “flabbergasted” reading about the cockpit conversation between Capt. Marvin Renslow and co-pilot Rebecca Shaw on Flight 3407, which was operated by regional carrier Colgan Air through an outsource arrangement with Continental Airlines.



“It took my breath away that a professional cockpit…would be so unprofessional,” said O’Brien. “It became a cause for me, a mission… I was determined to understand this crash and what the roots were.”



He considers the Buffalo crash “the most horrifying” of the six since 2002. “This one brings together these trends that all of us in aviation have been watching,” said O’Brien.



The trends included pilots being fatigued, commuting long distances, being paid surprisingly low salaries. “All of that kind of funneled into that cockpit on that night a year ago, making this accident kind of the manifestation of a lot of troubling trends,” said O’Brien.



He knew that “pilot error” would be the official cause in the National Transportation Safety Board’s final report because there is a “knee-jerk tendency to blame the dead pilots,” which limits the liability of airlines. But he saw something much larger.



“The more I got into it, the more I realized there were systemic failures here that created that egregiously bad cockpit performance,” said O’Brien. “It doesn’t excuse what they did, but I understand this accident had roots long…prior to that incident.”



“Flying Cheap” lays it all out in understandable fashion and even gets into the politics of flying. It describes how the deregulation of the airline industry in the late 1970s led to the major airlines outsourcing smaller routes to regional airlines—which don’t need to pay union wages and benefits—to get passengers cheaply to their hubs for longer flights. The regionals hire less-experienced pilots, and the pressure they put on them to fly for financial reasons can compromise safety. Additionally, the big guys avoid knowing about the difference in the safety standards of the regionals to avoid liability.



“[The crash has] become the symbol of everything that’s wrong with the industry,” notes Clay Foushee, a congressional investigator and former airline executive, on the program.



“Flying Cheap” also notes there were safety concerns about Colgan as early as 1998 and questions whether the Federal Aviation Administration acts more like a promoter of the financially strained airlines than a regulator or watchdog.



Of course, “Frontline” humanizes the story, opening with interviews with relatives and friends of those who died and closing poignantly at a funeral. It is strong, emotional material that’s been done by the local news departments.



It is interviews with two former Colgan pilots, Corey Heiser and Chris Wiken, that illustrate the disturbing trends involving safety and pay issues.



“This whole system that we’ve built of outsourcing our flying to these low-cost providers has so little incentive for safety,” said O’Brien in the interview. “Almost everything about this system contravenes safety.”



Heiser and Wiken address the low wages that cause regional pilots—hoping someday to fly for better-paying commercial airlines — to rent small apartments with up to 14 people sleeping on floors, couches, bunk beds and air mattresses and waiting in line for the shower.



“Guys rented a closet—a big walk-in closet,” said Heiser.



Wiken notes how quickly the regional airlines promote pilots to captain compared with major airlines. He became a captain after only nine months and was sure passengers had “absolutely no clue” about his inexperience.



Passengers also may not realize that Colgan’s profit from Continental depended on whether the flight was completed, which suggests an incentive to avoid cancellations even at the expense of safety. Roger Cohen, the president of Regional Airline Association, disputes that on the program, saying “that safety is the No. 1 priority.”



“They said safety was a priority a lot,” countered Wiken. “In my experience ... being on time and completing the flight was more important. Much more important.”



In the telephone interview, O’Brien said the NTSB plans to address the relationship between the major carriers and the regionals in symposiums. He hopes it isn’t just “cheap” talk and the major airlines take greater responsibility for the flying that is done under their logos.



“McDonald’s tells their franchise owners more about how to make their french fries than Continental tells Colgan how to fly its airplanes,” said O’Brien.



In the telephone interview, O’Brien said major carriers “point their finger at the [Federal Aviation Administration] and say, ‘You are responsible [for safety].’ These [regional] airlines all meet the FAA minimums. But the majors go way above and beyond the FAA minimums. You’ve got to raise that bar. The FAA has to step in here.”



O’Brien’s goal in reporting “Flying Cheap” is a simple one.



“I got into journalism to make some change,” said O’Brien. “I’m hopeful that this accident because it was so horrifying ... is focusing attention on a real problem and creates an atmosphere to change this ... So when you do get on those small carriers you’re getting something equivalent to the ... big guys.”



TV Review



“Flying Cheap”



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9 p. m. today WNED-TV