I'd be willing to bet I have a lot more time in a regional cockpit than you do. Let's not make me out to be a "lowly regional pilot" hater.

I think this accident will also be one of the first where the NTSB will come out and say fatigue was one of the main factors.

I dont think anyone is disputing how much time you have the point is you as a pilot should know that speculating on what might have happen when the investigation is ongoing is unfair to all involved let the NTSB and FAA do their work yea I know you are entitled to your commentary but you are a pilot in a forum mostly visited by Pilots, your comments so far are starting to turn people off.

Food for thought if you were involved in an Accident would you want to be Judged by the Masses prematurely I know I would not want that maybe you do tho, I am not Defending what Marvin and Bekky did cause I was not there and I will not Dishonor them in the mean time by speculating, I will Hold my judgement and comment on this matter until the NTSB and FAA give their final ruling.

RIP Marvin and Bekky

I nor any here has a problem with you offering your opinion however, when its condescending in nature towards one particular group thats what I am concerned about. You took a pretty hard hit at the regionals which doesn't affect me since I'm corporate, however I know many regional pilots who are highly qualified in their craft and this was a insult to single out one group. I felt like as a corporate driver you felt as if this doesn't happen on our side as well and just focused on one segment of a vast industry. However hindsight is 20 / 20...

Well, I definitely don't feel that way. 121 ops have always been statistically safer than part 91 and 135 ops.

When did I ever say anything about flight time??? I have flown with FO's with less than 1,000 hours straight out of training who could fly circles around others with LOTS more time.

I'm just gonna shut the hell up about this before more words get put into my mouth. Sorry I hurt everyone's feelings. :)

Well what exactly is your opinion of this Mr corporate driver? We are all kind of confused. Is it that the pilots had no skill because of regional airline training like you stated in the other post? Or are you trying to blame these guys for pilot error before the investigation is concluded? I don't know but that's the way your opinion comes across to me.

Didn't they already come to that conclusion about the AA crash in Little Rock?

NTSB Public Hearing on Flight 3407 Begins Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) public hearing, being held as part of the investigation into the Colgan Air Flight 3407 accident, will begin next Tuesday, May 12, 2009 in Washington, D.C. ALPA Executive Air Safety Chairman Capt. Rory Kay has been asked to provide testimony during the hearing, which is expected to last three days.

ALPA has specifically been asked to comment on Association positions, industry efforts, and Association programs in fatigue education, training, commuting, and professional standards. Several of ALPA’s formal standing committees are providing input and support to the testimony development. As part of our preparation, members of the CJC ALPA investigative team—which includes Colgan pilots, other ALPA pilots, and staff—as well as the Accident Investigation Board and members of the MEC attended a pre-hearing conference at the NTSB where they received a briefing on the protocols and ground rules for the hearing.

During the public hearing, the four-member NTSB will hear testimony from 19 witnesses on a variety of topics including icing, operations, crew training, and safety programs. Witnesses will then be questioned under oath by a technical panel of NTSB investigative group chairmen and a Transportation Safety Board Canada-accredited representative, as well as the NTSB members. ALPA, as a party to the investigation, will have the opportunity to question witnesses, as will all the other parties (i.e., the FAA, Colgan Air, and Bombardier).

In addition to the ALPA safety team officially representing the Colgan pilots and the Association during the hearing, ALPA staff from the Engineering & Air Safety and Communications Departments will attend the hearing. Your MEC officers will also attend the hearing on behalf of Colgan pilots.

The MEC officers, in conjunction with representatives from ALPA National, will act as spokesmen for our pilot group in interviews with reporters regarding the hearing. AS A REMINDER: IF YOU ARE CONTACTED OR APPROACHED BY ANYONE REGARDING THE HEARING, PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT. Instead, direct them to [email protected], or have them contact Linda Shotwell of ALPA’s media relations team at 703/481-4440.

We will keep you informed with daily updates from the hearing. The CJC MEC FastRead will include these updates, so look for them in your e-mailbox.

The NTSB investigation process will continue after the public hearing with further fact-gathering, followed by analysis. ALPA will continue to be fully involved, performing its own analysis and submitting its report with recommendations to the NTSB. The final report on the accident will likely not be released for at least a year.




The above is from our MEC Fastread...

If I remember correctly, and I'm probably wrong, but I believe that they concluded it was a "contributing" factor, but not a "primary" or "main" factor. I believe the CORPEX accident was the same.

When you read through the reports and look at the error chain that evolved in those wrecks, it's all too easy for the investigative agencies to conclude it was "human factors", etc with fatigue being contributing but not primary.

I PERSONALLY don't feel that way, but thats the way they are seeing it. Until fatigue is the PRIMARY causal factor in an an accident that kills people, flight/duty times more than likely won't ever change.

However, one positive thing that came out of the AA/LIT was the change to reserve time being considered for duty time.