INDUSTRY CONTINUES TO SHIFT BLAME TO REGULATIONS AS CULPRIT FOR REGIONAL AIRLINES' INABILITY TO FIND PILOTS TO WORK FOR FOOD STAMP-LEVEL WAGES

Buffalo, New York - April 29, 2014 – In a show of support for new federal aviation safety guidelines geared at avoiding a repeat of the tragic and avoidable crash of Continental (now United) Flight 3407, the 'Families of Continental Flight 3407' will attend Wednesday morning's House Aviation Subcommittee hearing. The hearing, to be held at 10 a.m. in Room 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Building, will focus on air service to small communities, at airports served almost exclusively by regional airlines. The family group will also make rounds on both sides of Capitol Hill to highlight a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on Pilot Supply that exposed the myth being propagated by the airlines that there are not enough ATP-licensed pilots to fill their cockpits.

“You are seeing a tried-and-true page out of the airline industry's lobbying playbook being put into full effect - just stay the course with the campaign contributions and the behind-the-scenes pressure, and over time you will get what you want,” declared Scott Maurer of Moore, South Carolina, who lost his thirty year old daughter Lorin in the crash. “Unfortunately we have some bad news for them: five years later, we are not relaxing and we are certainly not going away. We are going to continue to stand up for the traveling public who deserve what Lorin and our loved ones sadly did not receive, a true 'One Level of Safety' for every passenger boarding a flight operated by a regional airline. And we are most definitely not going to allow them to scare everyone in Washington with their dire predictions of a pilot shortage, not when the GAO report makes it clear that the issue is not whether there are enough ATP-licensed pilots out there, it's whether the airlines are going to continue to drive them away with food stamp-level compensation."
Maurer was referring to industry efforts in the past few months to sabotage recently-implemented regulations regarding pilot fatigue, entry-level hiring qualifications, and airline pilot training protocols. The new rules came about as a result of a landmark regional airline safety bill that was unanimously passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Obama back in August 2010, bipartisan legislation engineered by the leadership of both the House and Senate Aviation Subcommittees. Despite the unanimous passage of the law, some veteran members appeared to waffle on their support of the safety provisions at a House Aviation Subcommittee hearing back in February.
“With the way the political landscape constantly shifts here in Washington, it is imperative that we keep showing up and reminding any members who may be wavering five years later why this bill made such strong sense to everyone back then, and should continue to do so now; namely that safety must always come first,” stated Karen Eckert of Williamsville, New York, who lost her sister Beverly Eckert, a noted 9/11 widow and activist. “Regardless of how economically tempting certain positions may be when it comes to the airline industry's bottom line or a member's reelection campaign war chest, the fact remains that these critical safety provisions were the right thing to do back in 2010 and they remain the right thing to do now. We ask anyone who feels otherwise to take a minute to think of their loved ones - their spouse, parents, children, siblings - and imagine having them taken from you by a needless and preventable tragedy like this one. We are counting on our elected representatives here in Washington to challenge the regional airlines to step up their game when it comes to safety, not to cut them more slack like they did in the decade leading up to Flight 3407.”

 

Then you should HEAVILY campaign for applying Age-65 to Part 135 and Part 91 flying.

How do they do it now? AS sent a query out to all its older Captains asking when they planned on retirement. Then the bond rate changed and guys realized they were going to take a HUGE hit on the lump sum payout. What happened? 60 pilots AS hadn't planned on losing pulled the plug in November and December.

Did they plan for that? No. However, this summer/fall's hiring will cover for the loss. Hasn't slowed AS down one bit, especially when they have enough pilots willing to pick up extra time and sell vacations.

That's how they do it.

Agreed. However, how do you then justify NO AGE LIMIT for Corporate/Fractional pilots? I've personally flown with a number of pilots who are about to age out who can and do fly rings around the younger guys.

Pass your FAA physical, keep flying. That'll take a small but significant chunk out of the "pilot shortage."

 

Like was said earlier - 121 is common carriage of the general traveling public, while 91/91K is not.

FWIW, courts have recently upheld 91 flight departments having the same mandatory retirement age as 121 airlines.

 

Substantiation, please. I recently flew a Part 91 ferry with a 76 year old Captain, so I think you may be wrong.

 

What? Really?! Have I been living under a rock?

 

Perhaps I wasn't clear.

The ruling wasn't that Part 91 pilots *had* to abide by the 121 mandatory retirement age...simply that if a Part 91 flight department used the 121 mandatory retirement age as policy it did not constitute age discrimination.

Federal Court: Mandatory Retirement Age for Pilots Is Not Age Discrimination | Age 60 | Personnel Considerations | NBAA - National Business Aviation Association

In short - there is no regulatory mandatory retirement age for Part 91 operators (in part because private carriage is not common carriage) but operators are legally entitled to set an age limit as a BFOQ.

 

Yes absolutely. Enough with the double speak. The pilots flying the regional lift should have the full support network and resources that mainline pilots have; Training department, maintenance, leadership, mentorship, the ability to take care of oneself (compensation). The ability to make judgment calls without worrying if it will black list them at a future mainline interview.

 

In the last 10 years, how many passengers have been killed on regional airplanes vice mainline? Just sayin... But yes the "one level of safety" argument, to then have a regional mgmt tell someone they're not good enought to move up... Kind of amazing.

Sort of like what's his name from XJT writing that letter saying that "we're not getting enough pilot candidates that meet our high standards" and in the same breath says the FAAs new standards are too high.

Bingo. The hour increase is not a bad thing, and certainly not the mountain guys have made out of the mole hill. The written, classroom, sim etc training however is way over the top for a vanilla entry level ATP.

 

There definitely is a gap. Bottom feeder regionals run their applicants through training several times to get them through. I know some majors have done that when the govt. was pressuring them under EEOC rules, but that is not the norm. Everything done at regionals is to meet the min. stds possible. Look at Pinnacle 3701 crash, have you ver heard of something so lame-brained happening at a a major airline?

Why is that? Because those guys built up hours in forgiving airplanes long enough to scare themselves out of doing foolish things.

 

Yes, let's raise the retirement age, again. Stagnate the industry.... And I for one sure as hell doesn't want to be in a tube until 65 or beyond. Jesus.