Unless there are bigger more political issues at play.... Republican tax reform for instance...

Except that the 1500 hour rule has absolutely nothing to do with safety or the Colgan crash. Please stop repeating union talking points, this has long since been settled.

I have no idea what the Union's talking point is and not sure who you "settled" with, but my experience when this came about was that is specifically has to do with safety and specifically the Colgan crash

I think it has indirectly improved safety by indirectly improving work rules.

It would not have done anything to prevent the colgan crash directly since both crew members would've been legal.

No, the Colgan pilots crashed because they were fatigued and ill-trained. It had nothing to do with their total time.

No union talking points. This is politics pure and simple. The media has created the belief that those pilots crashed because they didn't have experience. The politicians acted on that. The one thing that trumps all is safety. The media has created the impression that the 1500 hour rule has made things safer. That gives Chuckles Schumer and his ilk the ability grand stand and say they are standing up for safety. If you don't think those Colgan families scare the hell out of every politician on the hill you are being very naiive. Union talking points and your protestations to the contrary are meaningless. The reality is the previous rules were too lax and resulted in the 1500 hour rule which is overkill. The 1500 hour rule was much more than Colgan as aviation safety advocates had been after it for a long time. But the politics will not allow a change to the 1500 hour rule because of the perception, right or wrong by the media that it has made things safer and the story of the brave Colgan families that stood up to the industry and politicians did the right thing in passing the 1500 hour rule. That is the narrative, and until that changes the 1500 hour rule is here to stay.

Save some of UNDs Kool Aid for the rest of us.

Standing firm on the new pilot training...
 

Viewpoints: Standing firm on the new pilot training standards
Viewpoints: Standing firm on the new pilot training standards - The Buffalo News

Thune Suggests Willingness to Drop Pilot...
 

https://www.bna.com/thune-suggests-w...-n73014473157/

By Shaun Courtney

A Senate committee chairman told Bloomberg Government he is open to dropping a contentious pilot-training provision from a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill so the measure can move to the floor for debate and a vote in the new year.

Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) wrote a provision into the Senate’s FAA bill (S. 1405) to create flexibility in how pilots earn training hours. The language would loosen the federally mandated 1,500 flight hours minimum for commercial airline co-pilots to allow other forms of non-flight training.

The provision aims to curb a pilot shortage among regional airlines, such as Mesa Air Group Inc., Great Lakes Aviation Inc., and SkyWest Inc.

“It may be that the bill is not the best place to get that addressed, if we can get that addressed in another form,” Thune said. “If we feel like we’re making sufficient headway on the 1,500 hours or at least on the pilot shortage issue in some other venue then we might be able to just start moving our bill.”

The 1,500-hour rule resulted from the deadly 2009 Colgan Air crash in New York. The proposal to change that rule has generated enough opposition to stall the bill’s progress since it was approved in committee in June. Opponents include Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s attention to the pilot shortage and willingness to address it through regulation give Thune reason to believe a legislative fix may not be needed, he said.

The current FAA authorization runs through March 31.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shaun Courtney in Washington at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Hendrie at [email protected]

Copyright © 2017 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

For those that don't know, that is Mitch McConnell's wife.