II. Background

A. Statement of the Problem
The 2009 Colgan Air accident outside
of Buffalo, New York, focused public
and Congressional attention on multiple
aspects of current air carrier
requirements, including the level of
training and experience of pilots in part
121 air carrier operations. The accident
raised questions regarding whether SICs
should be held to the same training and
flight hour requirements as PICs, and
whether a pilot’s overall academic
training and the quality of the flight
training were as important as the total
number of flight hours. The accident
also raised questions regarding pilot
professionalism and whether pilots
received sufficient experience in a
multicrew environment.
In an effort to address these questions,
the FAA evaluated recent accidents in
parts 121 and 135 to determine whether
current certification requirements are
sufficient to produce pilots who can
enter an air carrier environment and
train and perform their duties
effectively. The accident reports
revealed deficiencies in several areas
involving training in aircraft manual
handling skills, stall and upset
recognition and recovery, high altitude
operations, pilot monitoring skills,
effective CRM, stabilized approaches,
and operations in icing conditions. The
six proposals in this NPRM are the
result of analysis of the accident reports,
recommendations of the First Officer
Qualification Aviation Rulemaking
Committee (FOQ ARC), and the
requirements set forth in Public Law
111–216. The proposals are directed at
improving the knowledge and skills of
pilots before they serve as a required