Flew with a 9/11 truther a couple times, and not just a politically-bent "Bush knew ahead of time" truther, but a full-on "controlled demolitions took down the towers and a missile hit the Pentagon" moron. Part 121 captain...chew on that one for a while....

As far as the legacy of Colgan 3407 goes, think of all the changes in the last six years that were a direct result of the dirty laundry aired during the NTSB hearings...Part 117, new ATP rule, universal adoption of ASAP and FOQA, increased oversight of regional training. Meanwhile, consider Colgan's journey since the crash: gobbled up by Pinnacle, went bankrupt, bought by Delta, sold off the Q400s, forced concessions on the pilots, renamed Endeavor, became RA's bragging trophy for regional cost resets - oh, and now paying every pilot $20k/year extra to avoid shutting down prematurely due to lack of pilots! The 1500 hour rule plus 117 has the regional airlines sliding towards obsolescence, as planned, and multiple pilot groups take concessions to forestall the process even as their airlines offer huge hiring bonuses. What an industry.