Agreed, some of these proposals are some of the dumbest ideas and concepts I have ever heard, but then again I wouldn't expect anything else from Washington these days. The rationale for these rules, with regard to icing, is ridiculous.

Basically, this rule will entice newly-minted, freshly-certified commercial pilots to fly into icing conditions prior to applying at a regional airline. I'm not sure what metric the FAA will use to determine an individual's particular background and experience level with icing conditions, but it'll be interesting to see what they come out with. I guess we need to start adding an column for icing in our logbooks as well now.

End of the day, icing had very little/nothing to do with this crash, so it seems amiss to try and tap in new regulation for a "unrelated factor" contributing to the crash.

It comes down to substandard treatment, compensation, and work rules which need to be addressed at the federal level. The fact that pilots, regional ones especially, operate hundreds of thousands of flights every year safely while giving and committing so much only to get back so little in return.

Washington expects and regulates towards nothing less than perfection from the pilots in this country, yet the politicians will not even attempt to understand or commiserate with the hardships many pilots are dealt with.

If only, we as American Citizens, held our Elected Public Servants to the same Professional Standards that we act upon day in and day out, if only.