Congressmembers Langworthy & Higgins, Along with Flight 3407 Families & Air Line Pilots Association Pledge Vigilance in Fight to Protect Flight Safety
Push Comes as Congress Holds Hearing on FAA Reauthorization
Congressmembers Nick Langworthy (R-NY-23), and Brian Higgins (D-NY-26), together with the families of Flight 3407 and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) stood together in front of the U.S. Capitol following a hearing on Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization to stress the need for Congress to protect flight safety standards, including the 1,500-hour rule for pilot training.
“The mere suggestion that we should put Americans on an airplane with pilots that are undertrained is absurd and dangerous,” said Congressman Higgins. “In Western New York, we learned the risks that come with this thinking the hard way. The families of Flight 3407 have worked tirelessly to see that other families don’t face the same fate. Together we will continue to fight for the safety of the flying public.”
“I’m proud to join with my colleague Congressman Higgins, the families of Flight 3407, and the Air Line Pilots Association in this bipartisan fight to protect airline safety,” said Congressman Langworthy. “Since the 1,500 hour training requirement was implemented, there hasn’t been a single crash of a U.S. airline and making any changes this rule would undermine passenger safety. We can never get back the souls we lost on Flight 3407 but we can fight to ensure that no other travelers of U.S. airlines suffer the same tragic fate. No business decision should ever trump public safety.”
The FAA’s funding and authorities are scheduled to expire on September 30, 2023. The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee held a hearing on April 19th to discuss FAA Reauthorization.
Witnesses at the hearing included:
- Faye Malarkey Black, President and Chief Executive Officer, Regional Airline Association
- Dr. Sharon B. DeVivo, President, Vaughn College
- Brad Thress, President and Chief Executive Officer, FlightSafety International
- Heather Krause, Director, Physical Infrastructure, U.S. Government Accountability Office
- Captain Jason Ambrosi, President, Air Line Pilots Association, International
“In response to the more than 1,100 lives lost in U.S. airline accidents in the 20 years prior to 2010, Congress heeded investigators who found that inadequate pilot experience and training had contributed to the crashes,” said ALPA President, Capt. Jason Ambrosi. “In the Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010, Congress established stronger pilot qualification, training, and experience requirements and made other aviation safety improvements. Since then, passenger fatalities have dropped by 99.8 percent. This pilot training framework has also produced tens of thousands more pilots over the past decade than airlines needed. The United States has more than enough pilots and the safest skies in the world.”
Captain Ambrosi recently visited the Flight 3407 crash site in Western New York as the community marked the 14th anniversary of the tragedy in February.
Like they have dozens of times before, the Families of Flight 3407 were in Washington, D.C. to attend the hearing and provide members of Congress with a reminder of the lives that are at stake.
“When our loved ones walked on that plane, they unconditionally placed their full faith and trust in every pilot, flight attendant, mechanic, ground crewman, air traffic controller, airline official, government employee, and so many others who played a role in ensuring that this flight, and hundreds of others that take off and land each and every day, would safely land at Buffalo Niagara International Airport just 53 minutes later. That full faith and trust was betrayed by economic pressures that lead to shortcuts, training standards that only met minimum federal requirements, and rushing pilots onto the regional airline flight decks without enough experience. Unfortunately, there is a multi-million dollar lobbying effort happening to return to the insufficient safety standards that took our loved ones away from us. We will continue to come to Washington, DC to honor our loved ones so that no one will experience the same pain that we do,” Scott Maurer, father of Lorin Maurer, member of the families of 3407.
Following the crash of Flight 3407 in 2009, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) identified contributing factors. The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-216) addressed the lessons learned following the tragedy with greater transparency for travelers, a database making pilot records available to airlines, and additional rest time and training requirements for pilots.
Regional airlines have objected to the pilot training standard often referred to as the 1,500-hour rule. The rule requires first officers (co-pilots) to complete 1,500 hours of flight time. Previously first officers could hold a commercial license which required only 250 hours of flight time training.