Originally Posted by
bedrock
Well, Ford & Harrison coached BB pretty well. Build a rapport and a reputation for reasonableness by supporting "safety" and FAR 117, answer a question with a statement you want to make, create a strawman, provide half of the facts, and praise your adversary--Moak.
F&H finally found a way undermine 1500 hr rule while dissociating from the Colgan crash. Make it a "Colgan only problem". Yet the same FAA is responsible for overseeing Colgan and all regionals.
I don't think there is the political will for this committee to reverse itself and recommend changes in the form of a new or amended bill to the full congress. The FAA is of course still within their congressional mandate boundaries to alter the 1500 hour rule somewhat to ease the burden on regional airlines. But they didn't do that, they elected to put the hammer down on the regional airlines.
In the end, the committee also accepted testimony from the non partisan CBO who concluded that although the truth about a true pilot shortage remains mixed, there is no real evidence to support a pilot shortage finding. They did go on to say that there might be a shortage of pilots willing to work at a regional airline for other reasons.
I think the CBO testimony will carry a great deal of weight. If any changes are coming we'll see them from the FAA not Congress.