pinnacle airlines

Feds overdue on airline pilot regulations

U.S. regulators haven’t met deadlines to establish four programs required by a 2010 law to improve oversight of airline pilots, the Transportation Department’s inspector general said.Calvin Scovel, testifying before the Senate aviation subcommittee, said the Federal Aviation Administration failed to raise pilot-training standards, increase minimum qualifications, establish mentoring programs or enhance captains’ leadership skills.the FAA did make “noteworthy progress” on other areas, such as the pilot fatigue regulations issued in December, Scovel said.”Although some of the provisions have taken longer than Congress anticipated, we have made significant strides in accomplishing many of the objectives,” Margaret Gilligan, the FAA’s associate administrator for safety, said in written testimony.the FAA needs to update training standards so pilots can handle emergencies and understand increasingly automated cockpits, the Government Accountability Office said in a report prepared for the committee.the agency is completing such a rule, Gilligan said.the 2010 law contained more than a dozen safety directives designed to address issues that contributed to the 2009 crash near Buffalo, N.Y., of a flight operated by Pinnacle Airline Corp.’s Colgan Air.the crash, which killed 50 people, was blamed on pilot error.the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation looked into pilot fatigue, pilot commutes to work and training for emergencies.Relatives of the crash victims have praised the pilot fatigue rule while criticizing the agency for exempting cargo carriers.Relatives are concerned that their voices will be drowned out by the “well-oiled industry lobbying machine” as time passes after the Feb. 12, 2009, crash, said Susan Bourque, whose sister Beverly Eckert was killed.”Hopefully this hearing will help keep the FAA focused on doing the right thing,” Bourque’s statement said.Regulators announced a proposal Feb. 28 to increase the minimum flight hours an airline pilot would need to as many as 1,500 from 250.Pilots who receive training in the military need 750 hours, while those at approved colleges require 1,000 hours.Airlines for America, a Washington-based trade group that represents large carriers, like Southwest Airlines, opposes the change.

Looking for comments?