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By Shane Nolan |
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August 1, 2010 - Both houses of congress have approved H.R. 5900 the Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010.
Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement
Act has incorporated higher standards for pilot training, support for
safety advocacy programs and a new pilot fatigue rule to help improve
air passenger safety.
The senate on Friday received H.R. 5900 from the House Of Representatives. The bill was read twice, considered, read the third time, and agreed to without amendment by Unanimous Consent. The bill has been sent to the White House for President Obama to sign. |
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H.R. 5900 is a
result of a deadly crash that occurred on February 12, 2009, Colgan Air
Flight 3407, N200WQ operating as a Continental Connection flight crashed
during an instrument approach to runway 23 at the Buffalo Niagara
International Airport (BUF), Buffalo, New York killing all 49 onboard.
The National
Transportation Safety Board determined the crash was due to pilot error.
The pilot’s response to the activation of the
stick shaker which led to
an aerodynamic stall from which the airplane did not recover was
inappropriate.
Contributing to
the accident were the flight crew’s failure to monitor airspeed in
relation to the rising position of the low-speed cue, the flight crew
failure to adhere to sterile cockpit procedures, the captain’s failure
to effectively manage the flight, and Colgan Air’s inadequate procedures
for airspeed selection and management during approaches in icing
conditions.
In current
practice, many smaller carriers hire pilots right out of flight school
with as little as 250 hours (Commercial pilot certificate) of flight
experience and very little night, heavy air traffic or adverse weather
flying experience. On all scheduled air carrier flights all flight
crewmembers will be required to have an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP)
certificate. The ATP rating
requires 1500 hours of flight time and experience in various conditions
before flying passengers for an airline. |
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